Personally, this bothers me a lot. I can't exactly say why... I mean, I hate smoking to begin with.... but I find it just fuckin annoying when a drummer or bassplayer or whoever lights up during a few second break they have in a song... like, can't you wait until your hour set is over..? Are you not enjoying playing? You need to do something else?

Although it's not much of a problem here anymore, since they've banned smoking in clubs

Why do I ask? I'm watching a Guided By Voices set on fabchannel. 'Nuff said.

Greg Dulli smokes and drinks pretty much non stop throughout his shows

I like the classic, put the cigarette in the top part of the guitar move ala Slash.

But fuck smoking, Nikki Sixx SHOT HEROIN on stage.

I hate smoking. HATE smoking.

However -

... I don't care if a band smokes when they're playing. Whatever they need to do to get the job done right is fine by me. I won't tell them how to do their business, and they won't tell me how to do mine.

While I don't appreciate the additional smoke in the atmosphere, I have come to expect having my eyes and lungs burn when coming out of shows.

What do guys like him and Shane MacGowan do in cities where it is banned, like New York? Do it anyway and fuck the fine?

i remember when rock and roll was considered something "dangerous" that you liked in part because it was "rebellious".

I don't care. Let 'em do what they want. Smoking doesn't affect how they play so why should it bother me.

However- it REALLY bothers me when bands get TOO drunk before/during the set, they play like shit. I didn't pay to see your ass get drunk!

As long as I've access to cocktails, I don't mind the smoking. Even as a three-heater-a-day smoker, I can't stands the indoor smoke.

Dull has smoked everytime I have seen him since the ban.

Pretty much. Besides, the fine happens only if a cop or some sort of state health rep is in the house.

Hell, smoking at clubs seems to be on the up-and-up at NYC venues/clubs.

KPH

yeah i've seen people smoking in bars almost every time i've been in NY since the ban. they just start around 1.

i have no problem with acts smoking onstage. both times i saw grandaddy i was in hysterics because the drummer was just lighting them off one another between songs and ashing all over himself as he drummed between songs.

yeah as long as they're not too fucked up to play i don't care if a mini-meth lab is onstage.

i like lounge singers with their crushed velvet suits... drinking and smoking at the same time. they don't even put their sh"t down... now that's hardcore!

i really don't give a fuck.

kim deal chain smoked through a breeders set. she had someone behind her keeping her lit. sshe sang and smoked at the same time like a freaking ventriloquist.
she's scary but i love her.

not to mention the fact he goes off stage every 3 or 4 songs for a little "pick me up".

smoking has been banned in boulder for a long time, yet bands light up on stage all the time, and no one has said a word about it as far as i know.

I think I heard at some point that smoking bans don't affect bands onstage...they're excluded. Could be wrong, though.

it's the crappy bands dry ice machine

Smoking - one of the two main reasons why I no longer go to shows on a regular basis

I remember seeing blur ages ago and Alex never moved, as far as I saw, and yet kept a lit cigarette going continuously. That's how cool he was. I was impressed at the time. In this new era, how could Alex James show us how simultaneously indifferent and magical he was?

I would pay good money to go back in time and see one of the infamous "Shit Hits The Fans" shows from the Replacements at their absolute worst.

not a Strokes fan then?

*definitely* not a Bon Savants fan. i can't remember a good third of our shows...and in the spirit of shambolic, 'Mats-influenced live sets, i'm OK with this.

going forward though, i'm keeping the drinking too a minimum. unless it's water.

water. fucking. rules.

KPH

Although I drink socially, I think I've only had 2 drinks at one show (The Waxwings, of all bands) in my entire life.

Pissing = missing music

I hate smoking in all it's forms. In general, it doesn't bother me too much when a band does it though, because they are generally on a stage above you and relatively far away. So, the ass-like stench doesn't really affect you. Though, I'm sure the carcinogens somehow find their way into my lungs.

2 exceptions, though:

1. Doug from Built to Spill stopping the show to smoke a cigarette. Granted he sucked it down as fast as possible. But he basically left us with 2 minutes of dead air between songs while he sucked down his cigarette. If you're performing and you want to smoke, you've got to learn to multi-task.

2. Most of you probably don't care about Pearl Jam, but Eddie Vedder is a pretty heavy smoker. Through all of PJ's most popular years, though, he never smoked on stage. I always respected it, because I thought maybe he avoided it on stage on purpose so as to not set a bad example for the kids and whatnot. For the last couple of tours, though, he has clearly ditched this philosophy and started smoking on stage. It pissed me off. Maybe he just realizes that young kids don't really listen to Pearl Jam any more, but still...