What Do We Owe Bands?
Friday, July 22, 2011 at 12:01AM Do we owe our favorite rock bands anything? I mean, we buy their albums, T-shirts and concert tickets - isn't that enough?
The other day Nikki Sixx (of Motley Crue in case you stumbled upon this blog by accident) tweeted that he didn't like the crowd at a New York date of their current tour. From what I can tell, no one from Poison tweeted anything negative about the crowd. Nikki's tweet (since deleted) was basically that the crowd was lame. I assume he meant not rowdy. I'll agree it sucks to be in a crowd of people all just sitting or even staring off into space. Here lately, my biggest pet peeve is people watching an entire show... through their cell phone. So I do understand where Nikki is coming from in that regard. But is it okay for rockers to complain about paying fans from the stage... or via social media?
Nikki isn't the first rocker to rant about crowds and he won't be the last. It's hard when a band plays to a super small crowd (now I'm thinking back to Nelson at Rocklahoma a few years ago) or to crowds that get so insane it is dangerous (like when I saw Avenged Sevenfold in Columbus once and the crowd of mostly kids surged, busted the barrier and nearly took down the media area and almost ended the show), but still, performing as promised is just part of the deal. The prices of concert tickets is out of control (we've already had that discussion) so I feel like bands should be at least a little grateful for their fans that are still willing to pay to come out and see a show. And that goes for bands playing at every venue level, from the corner bar to Madison Square Garden.
I dunno. I just don't think it is very nice for any musician from any genre to complain about fans. That doesn't mean artists need to blow smoke or say "Our fans are the best!" or "This crowd is the craziest!" if it isn't true. What's that saying? If you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all?
Flame away.
Reader Comments (30)
I saw Crüe open for Aerosmith 4th Row at Jones Beach on Long Island a number of years ago and as cool as it was from seats that close, I couldn't help but notice Sixx and Neil both appearing to be going through the motions, taking turns half-strutting across the stage, back and forth, like polar bears absentmindedly doing laps at the zoo.
Instead of making "Saints Of Los Angeles" a half hearted effort, why didn't he genuinely apply himself to make the entire album on the level of the title track. There might be a couple of "okay" songs on it, but generally, let's face it, it sounds phoned in.
If it had been the kind of record he's capable of making and if they had put out one even better AND they performed more of their old stuff AND if Neil bothered to sing with some passion, then maybe, just maybe, the audience would be more enthusiastic and thus, so would he.
Instead, what we get is "The Same Old Situation".
And he gets the response he deserves.
p.s. I'm not lumpin' Marrs and Lee in with Sixx and Neil. The three times I seen 'em, Marrs and Lee are always knockin'
themselves out from the moment they hit the stage to the last note they play. Let's hope the audience is more enthusiastic and Nikki will think so, too, at OutlawFest a week from this Saturday in Frederick, Maryland.
I'm thinking the real answer is, Motley got the reaction they deserved for a mediocre performance.
I remember having a conversation with Vince Neil and Jani Lane back in 97 when Vince was doing the solo gig and before Jani got fired from Warrant. Jani asked Vince if he was going to get back to together with Crue to tour and he said " I f***in' hate those guys but you know what, for a million bucks, I'll do it"! That says it all.
At the end of the day, performing onstage is part of their job. They will go backstage and comment about the quality/lack of quality of the audience in much the same way as you might hang up the phone at the office and roll your eyes about a particularly difficult customer. It's just venting about work. We all do it. Plenty of us do it on Twitter and Facebook. It's not great business practice (especially when a lot of your customers follow you on Twitter), but that doesn't take away our right to vent. The relationship between fans and band is a business relationship, not a personal relationship.
A lame audience might indeed be a symptom of a mediocre show, but if you do enough shows and you get to know that some audiences are amazing, whilst others seem to be made of stone no matter what you do. I think I'm yet to meet a performer who doesn't feel annoyed or disappointed when that happens. And we comment on it. The crew comment on it. Yep, sometimes we even make fun of people in the audience when they can't hear us. It's a necessary boost to morale. If we had to love everyone who bought a ticket to the show... well, we'd go nuts. That's like asking a waitress to love every idiot customer she's ever had.
... Appreciating that Nikki's hardly my favorite person in the world, at least you can say he's showing the world who he is.
What likely happened is that Sixx wasn't at his best that night, and so as a result he figured it was the audience's fault.
For what it's worth, I saw the Crue/Poison show about a month ago in Toronto and Motley was great.
Simply put, Metalboy! is a genius... "taking turns half-strutting across the stage, back and forth, like polar bears absentmindedly doing laps at the zoo." Absolutely brilliant, man!
The Insider and Rita are also spot-on with their obervations. Good stuff!
That would be soooo sick haha.
As far as complaining about the crowd, they paid for a ticket they can enjoy the show anyway they want. Maybe at 40+ years of age they don't want to act like teenagers?
Nikki: please tweet how much fun the crowd in Camden, NJ was! And then complain that it's webmasters and other "VIPs" who get first chance at prime seats. good grief! If you really 'know' your audience and want your fans to rock, then change your way of doing things (case in point, New York show).
PEOPLE: please LISTEN! Go to a show to have a good time for you and for those who are with you; whether directly or by proximity b/c s'he is in your section- not whether Tommy is on a roller coaster (when isn't he?), or whether Vince is drunk (when isn't he?) or whether Nikki is 'acting' like gene simmons (when isn't he?).
But then again, everyone is a critic....some woman behind me commented as I left..."I really enjoyed rocking with you, until...but other than that, you rock!" Further, the teen age kid two rows behind me (who was with his dad), 'grabbed' my ear as I was leaving and said, "I wish my dad rocked liked you". I replied, "Thank you, but be careful what you wish for."
Thank goodness, I am able to compartmentalize and maintain a healthy balance between the aspects.
I've posted before and might again..."It" must come and remain from within...not from finger pointing and criticizing.
We all need a little shelter...
Al: Am I "flaming" enough for you?
Geez, you'd think somebody who wasn't mailing it in or maybe shit faced drunk (see Neil,Vince) may have noticed that on his own?
I'm honestly not trying to be a dickhead,and you made a helluva lot of valid points in your posts fletch, but Vince Neil just completely pisses me off anymore. Last 2 times I saw the Crue the actual band blew the roof off of the building, while Vince managed to "sing"/slur about every 4th word, and they were off key. I'm just of the school that at $100/pop, you owe the people a little more than that. It's pretty obvious that the boys are just doing a cash grab the past 6 years. Tommy is all techno'd out, Nikki's best writing has all been for Sixx A.M.(S.O.L.A. song itself excluded)and Vince is a douche bag alcoholic. Thank God for Mick Mars, as I firmly believe he is the last one still enjoying what they do, and he has to physically drag his poor ass on stage every night due to health conditions.