Anyone else find modern concerts a bit depressing?

Capra

I’ve been a regular concert goer since I was 16. First concert was Witnness 2003 and then Metallica at the rds. Saw many dozens of bands over the next 10 years from Hatebreed to Bruce Springsteen to Coldplay. I enjoyed almost all of them. Rarely a bad concert or atmosphere in any of them. Took a bit of a gap from concerts between 2016 and 2020 but have been to a fair few since.

I can honestly say I think I haven’t been really impressed by a concert in the last decade. There’s something missing now at all of them. The atmosphere is just completely lacking. I thought maybe it’s me getting older but watching concerts from 2005 compared to recent concerts it’s very clear that crowds aren’t as engaged anymore. You never see crowdsurfing anymore, never see the crowds jumping in unison, way less pushing and crowd surges (which I always felt were intense but incredibly exciting and never dangerous unless the place was overcrowded) and way less singing along by the crowds. Moshing seems to be almost a thing of the past unless it’s a real hardcore metal band. Even bands like Feeder had mosh pits back in 2005 when I saw them. I always loved chatting to strangers at concerts. I can’t remember the last time that happened.

What’s gone wrong?

Just watch any modern performance by any band in any genre and then compare it to something from 20 years ago. The crowds are just so dead now. And to add insult to injury the prices are gone mental.

Padre_Pio

People too afraid to jump and mosh incase they drop their phones

Stillill42

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058367149/anyone-else-find-modern-concerts-a-bit-depressing

You're going to the wrong concerts buddy. Live music still fantastic. Just back from Green Man in Wales, crowd surfers everywhere, moshing, jumping around, everyone buzzing.

Tell me how

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058367149/anyone-else-find-modern-concerts-a-bit-depressing

Hard to know, I'd say things have a natural evolution to them. Sport events are a different experience now also than they were in the past. Things like health and safety play a part as well. Behaviour that was acceptable in the past would see you removed in certain events nowadays.

Also, I think in the past maybe there was a sense of this is it, this is our big event of the summer/year etc, lets make it count, whereas now, there's a lot more opportunities to go and do something that scratches that itch.

And obviously phones, jesus, they have changed things massively, mostly from an individual perspective I feel as people are thinking about capturing something for later rather than experiencing the moment and so that creeps in to their mindset as to how they react. I'd say the statistics for the amount of pictures that are actually looked at again versus the amount taken is in the region of 100:1 in favour of the latter.

Capra

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122569212#Comment_122569212

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122569212#Comment_122569212

very possibly. Never heard of Green Man. I’m all ears for more recommendations if it’s a problem with concert choice then I’m all for finding out what’s good. However, do you really have to go to obscure festivals in Wales to have fun?

I saw Bruce Springsteen in Cork this year. Totally unmemorable compared to his 2009 concerts. It was just a totally different experience despite him being the same guy singing the same massive hits to a similar crowd. I had to watch the entire Rammstein concert through multiple phones. Couldn’t see a thing. Zero mosh pits and that was supposed to be one of the concerts of the year. Don’t get me wrong, the visuals were amazing as were the band, but it was nothing special in terms of atmosphere.

I often feel the band/musicians are giving it their all just as they did in the past but the crowds isn’t really giving anything back to them. And when the band goes into the crowd for example, they are just instantly hit with a sea of phones recording them instead of maybe singing with a fan or shaking hands.

Count Hairyfoot

You need to go to smaller bands in smaller venues. I was always a metal fan and loved a rowdy crowd but I assumed I'd grown out of it. Then after missing all the years through lockdowns I was determined to see more bands this year so doing at least 1 a month. I check out the DME and metal Warfare websites to see who's playing and if the dates suit I go along. Now most of them I've never heard of but what the hell. The prices are reasonable and the smaller venues are great. Bands I'd never had bothered with in the past - best so far this year was Vended in Whelan's. Couldn't name a single song and all I know is they're the kids of Slipknot but it was a great night.

Capra

I’ve no doubt the smaller venues and concerts must be better. Less likely to have people posting stuff for bragging rights on social media. The best concert I’ve ever been at this this day was Hatebreed supported by Crowbar in Nancy Spains in Cork. Probably 150-200 people packed in there and I only knew a handful of Hatebreed songs at the time. It was intense all the way through. If I could experience that again in any capacity I’d love it.

This is just one clip that kind of set me off on this topic. Can anyone post me footage of a concert that was recorded in the last 10 years that has a crowd even half as good as that? The best I’ve seen are the South American crowds who still give it a good go but in general there’s nothing like this in any concert footage I see nowadays. All just very tame crowds standing still and taking photos/video.

https://youtu.be/gzUpkgQLbNI?si=iEkUPeFjQw8oxwjF

PixelCrafter

It’s smartphones. Nobody lives in the moment anymore. They’re spending all their time ‘socials’ - Insta, TikTok etc

They approach gigs like a TV producer or a camera person. It’s all about getting that perfect shot.

Strumms

it’s true about social media fûckwits and event junkies…

Been to lots of gigs where say a boyfriend and girlfriend go to see x band…. They have 2 or 3 friends in tow who spend 90% of the time during the performance yapping and sorting out photos, videos, social media yet pay zero interest and attention to the actual music.

I remember being invited to see a band years ago, in the Voodoo Lounge, they made such an impact as of now I forget the name of the band but about halfway through I just headed back to the bar, wasn’t my thing, but afterwards I enjoyed the rest of the evening with the people I went with, I wasn’t going to be such a ginormous poxbottle i was going to stand there yapping and whatever, I know people pay good money and look forward for months or years to see a favourite band or songwriter / musician… it’s their night.

Basically just gig behaviour has probably been on a downward spiral for years…

Say Your Number

Was at Iron Maiden last summer, sitting in front of me was a couple, don't think they even looked towards the stage once, shouting at each other and filming themselves, the woman wasn't off Facebook the entire time, they f*cked off after 30 mins and never saw them again, they paid the guts of a hundred quid each for that.

As said smaller gig crowds are usually better behaved, any big name acts with a few recognisable songs, you'll be surrounded by dolts not even pretending to be interested in the band.

Was at about 50 gigs pre-pandemic, while not perfect crowd behaviour was good for the most part, it's really gone to sh1t the last few years, most gigs I go to these days I have a feeling of dread that it'll be ruined by gobsh1tes yapping, never had that a few years ago, going to Flogging Molly later today, because they are more of a cult band it should be a lively crowd.

Even at AC/DC a few weeks ago and how loud they were I could still hear idiots shouting at each other, wish it could go back to the way it was ten years ago.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122569243#Comment_122569243

I thought you were saying Vended were the natural heirs to Slipknot. Just checked then out and they literally are the kids of Slipknot 😂 thanks for the tip

magicbastarder

Re smartphones - one of the funniest moments I've seen at a gig was at the end of a Rammstein gig in the point - they put on a spectacular show so there were loads of phones out. Anyway for the last song, the singer hopped on to a giant phallus which ejaculated foam into the crowd and all phones disappeared within seconds.

Stillill42

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122569486#Comment_122569486

Well there's your solution right there. Giant mickeys.

riddles

People talking is as bad as the phones. So annoying.

Deregos.

I think as you get older and wiser you buy into the hype less and less.

Stillill42

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122569239#Comment_122569239

Ah I was a bit quick with my response. I'm 54, of course I understand where you're coming from, of course crowds are different these days, no doubt the phones and the talking are ferociously annoying. I suppose the odd gig where that's all absent is all the more impactful. In the last 12 months I've had the likes of Øxn, Adrienne Lenker, Waxahatchee and Patti Smith in Vicar Street where there was total buy in, barely a phone, zero chat. I've had the Bug Club in the Workman's Cellar, mental, everyone bouncing for the duration., the Mary Wallopers in a tent in Wales, mighty craic, everyone going for it. It's still possible to hit that sweet spot.

Akrasia

I was at a sigur ros gig a few years ago and almost got into a fight with the guy who pushed in front of me, and then stood perfectly still holding his phone in the air filming the whole gig so all i could see was the glow of his screen (with brightness on full of course).

I asked him to please put his phone down or at least stand somewhere else and he tried to argue that it was his right to do this because he paid for his ticket and 'this' is what he paid for, 'the memories' as if his phone wad his only way of capturing memories

People are ****

AnnieinDundrum

i think smaller venues are better. Whelans, Olympia, academy, vicar street, the grand social, workman’s club…. That’s a few I’ve been to in the past year. Limelight in Belfast is excellent too.

I’m not a fan of arena gigs. I saw a the Boss in Slane in ´85. I saw Queen there too. He was brilliant, Queen not so much. The Boss at croker left me cold.
Rolling Stones and Guns & Roses at Wembley. Meh….

G&R at RDS was good, had my 14 yo with me, in the mosh pit. Pre phones!

Oasis at landsdown road was good, 2004 I think. But couldn’t be bothered to virtually queue for tickets this year.

The 3 Arena is ok for heavy metal gigs and not too much by way of phones annoying you. Still a certain amount.

Tell me how

I've gone to a couple of gigs where phones were banned, the set up where you had to put it in security wallet and I kinda felt afterwards that the phone itself wasn't the problem, it was more what phone culture has done to all of us.

As I said above, when you take a picture at a gig, or more pointedly, lots of pictures, you're head is in a different space, you're thinking of sharing it, posting it, looking at it later etc more so than experiencing the moment you are in. Phones have done that to us in many ways, we don't engage with the environment or with others around us because we have a focus or a distraction (whichever way you look at it) and so we go to things or out in public not expecting to interact.

I think this then fundamentally changes how we experience things and how we help others experience things in lots and lots of different ways, which actually shuts down our sense of adventure/excitement without us realizing it.

All my life, I've done things on own on occasion and while I would have preferred to have had friends/partners to share the experience with, I wasn't going to stop trying to enjoy things just because it wasn't an option for one person or another to come with me. When I was younger, I was fine walking in to these environments and interacting with people because I knew they were likely open to me doing so. In the last few years, I'm more conscious of interrupting someone or intruding on them because more and more it is the norm that people don't look to interact with strangers.

You go to a gig now, and the 100 - 500 - 5000 people there have mostly grown up in an environment where you make connections (of sorts) through the internet much more regularly than you do in real life.

In the history of the human species, written from the viewpoint of sometime hundreds/thousands of years in the future, the emergence and impact of phones will be coupled with a significant shift in our behaviour that will have an evolutionary morning.

P.S. I went to Bill Burr in Fenway a couple years ago and the whole thing was delayed by an hour because of the delays that resulted from people having to lock their phones up. Because it was an unplanned delay, there was nothing arranged to entertain those who were in so we had an extra hour in the stifling august heat, in the famously narrow Fenway seats without knowing what the situation was. Didn't help my friend did not stop complaining for 1 second for the full hour. So coincidentally, attempting to remove phones from that occasion actually had the impact of making me enjoy it much less.

Tell me how

Also, it's worth giving a counter argument, though I'm pretty sure these concerts are not the OP's scene.

Over last year I ended up paying attention to social media clips from Taylor Swift concerts. The attendees are most definitely from the internet generation so its unsurprising that there was no shortage of them online and once I ended up watching a few of them, the algorithms did their thing and I saw more and more.

It looked like people at those concerts largely experienced it like a once in a lifetime experience, clips of entire sections of the stadium of people who made massive efforts dressing for the occasion and who were enjoying it as much as they hoped they would. And I saw a lot of posts of people saying they just felt incredibly safe in that environment which is something a lot of people could do with having a think about.

So, I do know what the OP is saying, and as I said, I know they're not looking for gigs with friendship bracelets, but its worth pointing out that maybe the worlds biggest global tour ever was definitely not something that could be described as depressing.

Tell me how

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122569533#Comment_122569533

I go to the theater quite a bit. People who eat sweets from noisy bags during the performance should have their fingers broken. Slowly. One finger for every sweet.

magicbastarder

I suspect a lot of it is that the gigs may not have changed, but you have.. not in a bad way, but maybe it's just part of growing up that gigs will be so much better when you're in your teens.

jackboy

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122569639#Comment_122569639

I remember going to Oasis in Cork back in the day. I was sober and thought the concert was terrible. The sound and show was bad. The band were just going through the motions, did not want to be there and made little effort.

However, I knew others at the concert who thought it was the best concert ever. Now, they were tanked up, with at least alcohol, so I wonder if alot of the good times of youth are down to being drunk and on drugs, rather than experiences.

Xander10

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058367149/anyone-else-find-modern-concerts-a-bit-depressing

You enjoyed Springsteen and Coldplay. I was expecting they might be the type of acts you were referring to.

Therefore, can't help you.

AnnieinDundrum

drunk people talking loudly during a performance is my main gripe with gigs.

Like stay home or go to a pub but stop spoiling my night out

StevenToast

If you gave me 1000euro and free tickets to Oasis in Croke park....I wouldnt go...

Nothing against the band....its the other 80,000 thats the problem....why do people subject themselves to it?

Travel, accommodation nightmare etc....

Fùck that...

Indoor beats outdoor everytime. Even at electric picnic preferred the tents and the smaller stages like salty dog

AnnieinDundrum

outdoor on a Caribbean beach once… that beats everything else.

fits

Well as a small person I can’t say I miss moshing, crowd surfing or crowd surges. Was at the smashing pumpkins gig where a girl was killed in crowd surges. They are not fun.

magicbastarder

A mate of mine was punched by a bouncer after being pulled out of/off the crowd, crowd surfing at the Neil young/pearl jam gig many years ago. My other friend came home with a decent sized chunk of stone gossard's guitar from that gig.

riddles

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122569710#Comment_122569710

Was at Mick Flannery and Susan O’Neill at a tent at EP. They were putting on a great performance. Two Middle Aged women muscled their way through the crowd and proceeded to talk at the top of their voices. I leaned in and asked if they could please respect the artists - politely . They told me to F off but they promptly left much to everyone in the vicinity’s relief.