Tell me if this is a Minnesota/Midwest thing or if it applies universally.
Tell me if this is a Minnesota/Midwest thing or if it applies universally. I was at a rock show at a small club last night, and the crowd (mostly hipsters, punks, rockabilly guys and gals) stood at least 15 back from the stage for the opening act. It's like there was a force field. He was even good and got the crowd going. Still, at least 15 empty feet of floor between the edge of the crowd and the stage. This is a near universal phenomena for opening acts here. Is this some weird byproduct off the usual stand-offish Minnesota attitude or does this happen elsewhere too?
I've been to a lot of small venue shows and I've never seen that before here in California.
ReplyDeleteIn the South, and I have actually never seen this.
ReplyDeleteThat's a new one for me. Here in SLC the usual behavior is to get as close as possible to the act; when you've got places where there's no delineation between the stage and the floor, that can mean standing right next to the musicians.
ReplyDeleteThis is usually just an opening act phenomena. Everyone moved up to the stage for the main act. But it's like if the local crowd doesn't know the opener, distance will be maintained. I'm thinking this is local behavior.
ReplyDeleteI always hang back these days, but that's because I'm old.
The clothes in this gif need an update, but the behavior still applies:
http://byt.wpengine.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/depressedteens2.gif
I've seen it in Michigan. I think it's from some combination of not wanting your hearing blown out by the opener, wanting to give yourself some time to get in the mood for the mosh, or wanting to finish a beer or two before dealing with a mosh or stage diving by the opener. I've seen it more when there's a big disparity between how well known the opener is relative to the headliner. At bar shows with two openers or more before the headliner I've never seen it.
ReplyDeleteI've seen it before in the Portland area. People save their heavy drinking and whooping and stage crowding for the main act.
ReplyDeleteTotally a midwestern thing. People are literally standoffish.
ReplyDeleteDo Portlanders share Minnesota's passive-aggressive tendencies too, Brian Newman?
ReplyDeleteCasey Garske Kind of! Portland is an odd mix of West coast hippies, Midwestern reserved politenessniks, and displaced New Yorkers.
ReplyDeleteI've seen this in Pittsburgh too.
ReplyDelete