David Gray closing the bar!

aero2k

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123403398#Comment_123403398

Horlicks FTW!!

odyssey06

DG has been around the block, he has played all sorts of venues in Ireland, Britain and abroad… That tells you how bad it was that it triggered this reaction.

sydthebeat

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123404910#Comment_123404910

i was there, it wasnt THAT bad. I heard it called the "gig from hell" on the radio today. Laughable, who ever came up with that has lead a sheltered life.

the problem was 3 fold.

1. it was an all seater gig. Ever person who needed to go to the bar / toilet had to disturb other people. Had the ground floor been all standing, you wouldnt have noticed the movements, people wouldn't have been disturbed, and those that were there for mainly for the drink would have floated around the back of the crowd.
2. the capacity of the 3 arena meant that you were getting a lot of casual fans who were there only to hear 'Babylon' and 'this years love' and then were there to have the craic with their mates. I have seen David Gray in much smaller venues, including the wexford opera house, and you could hear a pin drop, because its full of 'hardcore' fans there purely for the music.
3. it was a saturday night in dublin. There were plenty of people well oiled even before the gig. had that been a monday night etc it would have been a totally different atmosphere.

so my take away is if David Gray wants to play a full seated 13,000 crowd on a saturday night in dublin, and the financial award for doing so, he should expect to have some people there who arent die hard fans and are only there for the event.

There really should have been standing on the ground floor, i also think that was a mistake.

But anyway, lets see how this weekend goes. I think with it being a friday night it would have been less 'hellish' than the previosu on anyway.

flasher0030

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123404977#Comment_123404977

Ah. That explains it. I was was at many many gigs in 3Arena/O2/Point. But have never heard as strong a reaction as has been the case post the DG gig. Anything I have been to in 3Arena has been standing in the front area. People coming and going a bit, but wouldn't take an awful lot of notice. But if you have a large amount of people sitting in long rows, of course there is going to be disruption if even one person goes for a drink or goes to the toilet. I can understand folks going to gigs for the social element. The main thing that bothers me at gigs is chatter. That just gets on my nerves. People moving around looking for friends, going to the bar,. going to toilet etc. doesn't bother me too much, so long as they stay quiet.

I don't know why artists/promotors would have all an all-seating arrangement in 3Arena - unless a gig is expected to be attended my an older generation e.g. Andrea Rieu, Bocelli etc. Much better atmosphere if standing area, and avoids the crap that happened at the DG gig.

mrcheez

David Gray concert last year

dublincc2

A very strong argument could be made that if you’re going to a David Gray concert you don’t really have any interest in music to begin with.

99% of people attending are there for nostalgic purposes, to hear Please Forgive Me, Babylon, This Year’s Love and Sail Away. Everything else is just background noise for talking/getting locked with friends you haven’t seen in ages.

Fanirish

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123405064#Comment_123405064

hate to break the news but people in their early twenties when white ladder came out are now approaching their 50’s. I.E very much in the all seated category

TokTik

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123404482#Comment_123404482

People enjoying themselves at a gig!! It’ll never catch on!!

Irish Aris

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123404832#Comment_123404832

This is a very good point.

Some of the best gigs I have attended in Dublin have been in National Concert Hall and the Bord Gais theatre, where no drinks are allowed inside the auditorium and everyone is there for the music.

I also remember once an all-ages gig at the Academy and the bars were closed. Zero movement around the venue.

But 3Arena? Unfortunately it comes with the type of artists that play there. Unless you're close to the stage, you know that there will be constant interruptions from people moving back and forth. Depends on the artist of course: at Olivia Ridrigo's concert there wasn't much of that, because it was a different type of audience.

FrancieBrady

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123406032#Comment_123406032

No problem with people enjoying themselves as long as it isn’t at others expense and doesn’t destroy the reason they are there in the first place.

flasher0030

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123405760#Comment_123405760

Ha ha. I'm in that category. But would not appreciate an all seated gig.

Kaisr Sose

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123404421#Comment_123404421

But they are living their best life....and so what if it impacts on other just wanting to enjoy theirs

rovers_runner

Personally I'd wait for '26 in the hope for a Sell Sell Sell tour where he gigs that album in full.

Love that record, current setlist is fairly drab bar Wisdom and My oh My, nothing from flesh last time either.

Suppose he knows what's needed for these shows where it's just p*ss heads who are box ticking.

PIORUN

we were at Paul Heaton in the Milk Market, Limerick a few years ago and he had to interrupt people a couple of times from 'nattering' away to each other. Some people just happy to get out and and catch up with each other.

Hooked

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123404977#Comment_123404977

Great points, well made.

King Johns Castle is the venue tonight in Limerick. Outdoor. Fine Weather. All standing…

Should be a cracker.

sydthebeat

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123407246#Comment_123407246

Saw Paul Weller there last year, lovely venue.

Perfect for David Gray, smallish crowd, bars to the rear, fully standing. It will be a sing a long heaven.

Hurrache

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123405760#Comment_123405760

This hilarity comes up regularly here, that people approaching their 50s are only fit for sitting and you wouldn't see anyone upfront in the pit at a rock/punk gig giving it socks.

Hooked

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123407256#Comment_123407256

Not often we are guaranteed a dry, warm night, either. I hear he's doing one cover as part of his set list. My money is on a Cranberries tune. We'll see…

Fanirish

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123407277#Comment_123407277

nah it’s just coupled with the kind of music, folk electronica that seating suits the audience.

ShagNastii

I wasn’t at the latest DG gig but I was one for White Ladder late last year. I remember noting at the time it was a truly weird gig. Throughout the gig there was a constant hum of loud conversation across the whole arena. It was a bit mad honestly.

FrancieBrady

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123407527#Comment_123407527

Would do my head in and I'd probably leave a gig like that tbh. Why bother.

It wouldn't be acceptable at a cinema or at a play, why do people think it is acceptable at a gig?

o1s1n

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123407627#Comment_123407627

Gigs are participatory I suppose, people dance, people sing, people shout along. People don't do that at the cinema or plays.

Saying that, a constant hum of conversation through a whole gig would do my head in. Thank feck most of the gigs I go to are fairly loud 😁

sydthebeat

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123407315#Comment_123407315

theres one cover that hes doing in all gigs this year (apart from the soft cell one obviously) and in the previous Dublin gig he did another which, in my opinion, was spoiled because it was obvious the majority of the crowd didnt know the song, but it was a beautiful rendition. Maybe he'll play it again in Limerick, or he could do a cranberries cover which would be very likely.

if he does the same song again i really hope its better received in limerick than Dublin, though id have no doubt it would be there.

FrancieBrady

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123407638#Comment_123407638

If the cackle of your conversation is interfering with the artist and the gig, you are not 'participating' in the gig.

ergo

Saw him in Whelan's last year A Century Ends gig and same story, some arseholes in their 40's, not many but some, spent evening chatting, ignorant as f*ck , put me off ever seeing him again tbh and have seen him plenty of times since 1998 - must be head wrecking for him

Hooked

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123407693#Comment_123407693

SOC? 😜

sydthebeat

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123408296#Comment_123408296

Yep

techman1

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123407943#Comment_123407943

Yes that would be the demographic, people in their 40s and older that are doing the chatting etc, younger people are cash poor so are not going to waste money going to a concert just to chat through it, also they see their friends alot more so don't see the need to natter to them at a concert

Stillill42

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123408328#Comment_123408328

You're kidding, right?

brokenbad

David Gray and rowdy crowds are not something you would typically associate with each other…..