When did people going to a gig because it's a 'hot' ticket rather than because they really like the band become a thing? I assume that social media is at least in part to blame, people with more money than sense wanting to post selfies but not actually giving a toss about the music? Same with a very visible minority at City.
Elder son has already come to the conclusion that smaller bands at smaller gigs offers a better experience and that's nothing to do with the artists themselves but the type of audience so many bigger acts attract now. Alas the smaller venue remains a critically endangered species.
That is indeed a big part of gigs now. And unfortunately crowds like that somewhat push you into being this guy at gigs ;).
A MAN who is thoroughly enjoying the gig he is currently attending still, deep down inside, cannot wait for it to be over.
www.thedailymash.co.uk
I was maybe spoiled by seeing them before, in a whole different context. And also by seeing Biffy with a great crowd and venue, only the week before. So my bar might have been unnaturally high.
Biffy, ironically, who a few of us have over the course of the thread joked now 'attract huge crowds of screaming girls' and have become too big and a bit bland, now seem to have come round full circle. I compare them not for their music, but for the experience and as my most recent measure. But also partly because I think Idles now are pretty much where bif were with the Only Revolutions album, so the next part of their path really intrigues me.
Anyway, as mentioned, they themselves were great. Lots of energy. Could have been a bit less indulgent, and some of their political outbursts, in such a safe space like Glasgow, did feel a bit just too easy and obvious. Which made them feel a little bit champagne socialist gimmicky. But again, I maintain that in a different context, would have worked in a whole other way.
One of the biggest contributions of the crowd was the chants of 'one of us, one of us, Scottish ****' when he declared he was 'concieved in Glasgow' where his mother lived when she went to the art school, only moving back to Newport a month before he was born. The rest (excluding the hardcore its own microcosm circle right at the front) felt a bot tepid for large portions of it.
