Thou Shalt Not Annoy Others At A Gig
I’m pretty sure that your first official blog should be a fluff piece (or an “OMGZ THIS IS MY FIRST POST” piece) but like Dave Grohl, I prefer to get straight to the point. If you don’t get that reference, you’re clearly yet to see the footage of a Foo Fighters ‘fan’ being ejected from a gig earlier this week (11.07.11) by the big man himself. As the ‘guy in the striped shirt’ was ordered to ‘get the f**k out’, the crowd rejoiced. Why? Because this crowd member was one of ‘those’, and by ‘those’ I mean someone who ruins everybody else’s fun. In this guy’s case, it was fighting (although I’m sure he’d claim it was friendly moshing) but as I watched that video I thought about all the other annoying things people do at concerts (taking 200+ photos, attempting to steal your hard-earnt space and most annoyingly of all talking throughout the music etc), and I also thought about how I wish more artists stood up to their so-called fans!
Of course, breaking up fights should be the security’s job but sometimes it takes one little push from the artist themselves to get people to listen. For instance, when a body guard tells you to put your camera away, what do you do? Be honest. We put it away and as soon as they turn around, get it back out again. But when a singer reminds the crowd to ‘live the moment, not record it’ (thank you Ana Matronic for that one!), we suddenly feel obliged to listen (no matter how annoying what they are saying is). Having said that, some artists are too strict and yes, Ms Goldfrapp, I’m talking to you! I was certainly less than impressed to find out that (when in the front row) if I took one single photo I would have it confiscated by the singer herself, and possibly cause her to stop the entire concert. Now that would have been awkward. Having said that, most artists mean well and they are there to have a good time as much as we are so let’s hear it for Dave Grohl!
He may not have saved crowd members from getting beer-drenched or being poisoned by their neighbour’s BO but he still saved the day/evening for someone. So fair play to Dave Grohl for kicking this guy out, I’m sure the ‘fan’ is sat at home regretting his actions and sobbing away into his stripey tee as if it were a hanky.
On that note, I’ll leave you with this NSFW video. Enjoy it and imagine the man he’s shouting down is actually that person stood next to you at your last gig who wouldn’t stop chatting/tweeting/fighting/filming, and then smile to yourself.
