Are they always this silent and well behaved? Is it a Chicago thing?

Kinda boring.

ha! are you there?

nah, just been watching some of the live footage from Pitchfork.

ohhh. maybe it's not really picking up the energy. or it's too hot?

INDIE ROCK FANS STANDING STOCK STILL AT A CONCERT!?!?!

shocking

hey, there's a few people waving their hands now during Major Lazer.

Yeah I wonder how hot it is? That's probably a major factor.

thought the same thing when I went a few years back.

There was a mosh pit at the Best Coast show at the Empty Bottle last night.
Crowd surfing, too.

But it does seem like crowds these days are tamer than they used to be... even the youngsters.

Someone should bring in Sasha Grey and a vat of lube.

then maybe they'd

people in chicago typically do not dance unless explicitly instructed by performers on stage. i don't understand it.

however, to be fair, a lot of the crowds between the camera and stage were so packed yesterday and today that people could hardly move. in the fields behind the sound/video tents, lots of people were dancing. oh yeah, and it was hot as sin out there.

Yeah, its actually getting embarrassing. Even Glasgow which has traditionally had quite an 'enthusiastic' audience is totally crap these days.

And the really worrying thing is the kids in the audience are going and forming bands that have about the same amount of life in them.

I think it's the hipster "cooler than you" aesthetic/attitude beginning to reign supreme. You're not allowed to have fun anymore.
Rock is dead.

I don't want a mosh pit or crowd surfing.

But people standing still is lame.

And people sitting down in a crowd at smaller venues is the fucking worst, which seems to be a new trend popular with big city indie fuckstains in this country at the moment.

I tend to stand toward the back at shows and rarely "dance" or move. Depends on the music and in some instances I will, but most of the time, I am going to a show to listen and pay attention, not dance or promote some attitude of "betterthanyouness". Sometimes people just want to observe and listen, and sorry, but bands like The National (and other indie rock acts) aren't really moving/dancing worthy bands.

If everyone was just standing motionless during like an MGMT set, then maybe I'd be concerned, but if they're standing and watching Band of Horses, I'd say that's quite a bit of life because my expectation with a band like that is that they'd be slitting their wrists.

Judging people for dancing = lame, but judging people for not dancing = cool.

who's judging anyone?

Sorry that I missed you, Dale. And I hope that you enjoyed our town this beastly hot and humid weekend.

i was watching it online dude. but yeah, i'm sure it was rough weather. it's been dreadful down here in FL.

this baffles me. do you feel anything when you listen to music? how can you not even move at a show?

I'm usually guilty of this too. I get stuck watching the guitarists' hands / guitar choices / amp settings, then watching the looks between band members as they coordinate changes. I donno, it's like watching someone do a job you've tried to do before too - there's a lot going on and I get all entranced by the mechanics of it. If the music is incredibly dancey then yeah, I'm moving a little, but probably only in some pitifullly honkey-tastic way.


<- lame.

It's kind of like going to a movie after studying film. At some point, you stop just going for the entertainment value and mindless emotional enjoyment. I go to study and watch and pick apart.

I listen to music and weep sometimes, so yes I do have very deep emotional connections to music and song. I'd argue that there is hardly any music that really incites "movement", at least noticeable other than like tapping a foot or nodding a head, that I go to shows for. Plus, big deal if I don't jump up and down to the rock n roll music. If I am really into something, I will go to the front and will move when it's fitting, but I don't just dance to everything just because it's music. That implication is as silly as standing in the middle of a crowd with arms crossed totally motionless.

There are bands I've gone to see that do make me move (MGMT, Tigercity, a local GA band Today the Moon, Tomorrow the Sun, and the Wailers). But like I said, a good chunk of the music I go to shows for isn't exactly danceable music. Last shows I've been to: Appleseed Cast, Mono, Imogen Heap, Common Loon, Unwed Sailor, and then a handful of local bands.

I blame a combo of the latest hipster posturing and being too cool to get excited and that fact that indie rock bands are mostly kind boring and uninspiring. I guess I shouldn't be too critical, but it just doesn't seem to be like many of the bands at some big indie fest like this aren't exactly geared toward getting people hyped up, they're laid back by design. If you play in a group like that, do you even expect or want the crowd to do much beyond listen?

Oh, and I was dancing like an idiot at the Batusis show this weekend. Sylvain Sylvain is still a great showman and knows how to demolish the line between audience and stage, even directly addressing the audience with things like...the stage isn't where everything happens you know...and, I'm watching you as much as you watch me....etc... Letting random crowd members strum along while he held the chords during some songs, drinking with everyone before and after the show. I mean, sometimes an audience is really lame. But then again, it seems to me some performers are able to break through and make it happen.

Man, what a bunch of miserable saps.