Live Show Etiquette

[GunpointMetal]

Re: banter

If no one in your band is good at it, buy an rc3/loop pedal, load some movie clips and make sure one pause is thanking venue/staff/bands/crowd. No awkward chat no awkward pauses and you get through.

Our instrumental band put some random shit through a robot voice app and then chopped it up, lol. Way easier than talking to the crowd.

 

[wheresthefbomb]

Someone gave me shit for basically saying this exact thing a few months back. “So you’re ok with lying to people?”

No, but I’m absolutely ok with throwing someone some support when they’re getting the balls to get up on stage to do their thing. At any given gig down here you can see anything from a 90’s Crate combo mic’d up to a Friedman amp with a Fractal in the loop. There’s maybe 2% of players who get on those stages that aren’t aware the gear they’re using is “subpar” in comparison to others doing the same kind of music, no one needs to be told anything negative about their gear at a show.

I'm also totally okay with telling people who are just starting off that they did a great job even (especially) if their set was rough. "Good" is relative. Good for your first show=/=good for your 100th show. My first show, I could hardly play because my entire body shook with nerves the entire time. It was obvious we were noobs, our set was sloppy AF. the headliners were a semi-pro touring ska band and they were so cool and supportive, chatting us up and giving us props for the things we did do well. I'll never forget those guys.

 

[lurè]

Not sure if mentioned but always be preared to play just guitar+amp.

I don't care of you spent 50k on your quad amp stereo setup plugged into a pedalboard with 50 strymons and 5 different klone pedals; if shit doesnt work stop crying that It was perfectly ok during reharsal and just play.

 

[SalsaWood]

Don't let the crowd clap. Shut em down. No clapping. Get violent about it if you have to.

 

[wheresthefbomb]

Don't let the crowd clap. Shut em down. No clapping. Get violent about it if you have to.

Standard noise show etiquette.

 

[SalsaWood]

I'm extremely serious about that one except for the violence part. I cannot stand the sound of incoherent clapping, and a room full of random drunk people is about the last hope I would have for coherent anything. I won't listen to live albums that have clapping in them at all. It's indescribably fucking repulsive to me.

 

[wheresthefbomb]

I'm extremely serious about that one except for the violence part. I cannot stand the sound of incoherent clapping, and a room full of random drunk people is about the last hope I would have for coherent anything. I won't listen to live albums that have clapping in them at all. It's indescribably fucking repulsive to me.

Years ago the post rock band I was in got invited to play on a bill with a bunch of percussion master's students playing marimbas and shit. Holding your applause is standard procedure in those circles. The show was in a bar, but the crowd was almost all music school types, so you had everyone waiting quietly until the end except these two hilariously drunk guys clapping after every single piece, looking around confused as to why the rest of us weren't. It was a pretty hilarious scene, but I was left with the distinct impression that the music school kids were onto something.

 

[TedEH]

I don't think I follow the clapping thing. Clapping is bad? Isn't applause better than just nothing?

 

[crushingpetal]

I don't think I follow the clapping thing. Clapping is bad? Isn't applause better than just nothing?

Under the right lens, it's just humans slapping their meat hooks together. That's kinda' weird, you gotta give them that.

 

[TedEH]

Under the right lens, it's just humans slapping their meat hooks together.

Under a similar lens, going to a concert is just paying to stand in a pressure wave for hours with a bunch of strangers.

 

[JimF]

Don't let the crowd clap. Shut em down. No clapping. Get violent about it if you have to.

Do you mean the whole "song finishes -> round of applause and woops" or clapping along to the beat?

 

[SalsaWood]

Do you mean the whole "song finishes -> round of applause and woops" or clapping along to the beat?

I hate all of it. It bothers me on a primal level and has only gotten worse through the years. It's my personal problem, not theirs. Though I do wish I could taze people for it regardless. Maybe society will demonize them if I keep pushing it and it'll end up being a catch and release charge for me. I'd do it then. Hard. While we play Ride the Lightning.

 

[JimF]

I could understand if it was clapping along - nobody in the UK claps on beats 2 & 4 like in other countries. The imbeciles in our general public clap 1, 2, 3, 4 and its infuriating.
Outside of clapping along, its just showing appreciation, but I could appreciate it if you're entering an atmospheric passage and the crowd drowns you out because they think the song is over.

 

[TedEH]

I could understand the clapping along part maybe. So many people have zero sense of timing or rhythm.

 

[gabito]

Clapping along at grindcore shows.

 

[velvetkevorkian]

IME if you can figure out how to setup tracks and splits you can figure out how to not go online with your show computer until it’s needed. It’s pretty much never the tech’s fault shit goes wrong, lol. Poor carpenter that blames his tools or whatever. That being said, you should probably still know how the songs go without the tracks.

I basically agree with this but in the last 9 months I've seen 3 bands (1 local, 2 support acts for bigger tours) have technical difficulties that made them look wildly unprofessional so I think you might be overestimating the average level of competence...

 

[budda]

I basically agree with this but in the last 9 months I've seen 3 bands (1 local, 2 support acts for bigger tours) have technical difficulties that made them look wildly unprofessional so I think you might be overestimating the average level of competence...

Less overestimating competence, more that a lot of bands dont act professionally..

 

[Screamingdaisy]

I basically agree with this but in the last 9 months I've seen 3 bands (1 local, 2 support acts for bigger tours) have technical difficulties that made them look wildly unprofessional so I think you might be overestimating the average level of competence...

I feel like for those bands this is step 1 in realizing why you carry backups of everything you're dependant on.