People who "shussh" at gigs

My name is Mud · 12-11-2005 04:42AM #1

If you want absolute silence when watching a band play (like Sigur Ros tonight)...

...HIRE OUT THE BAND YOURSELF AND HAVE THEM PLAY IN YOUR LIVING ROOM AND STOP SHUSSHING TO EVERYBODY ELSE

ITS A FREE ****ING COUNTRY

/end rant

sorry, first rant on boards.ie methinks. Im also locked right now

NoDayBut2Day · 12-11-2005 05:16AM

Yeah, it's not like the "shusshing" would do much good anyway; most people just keep screaming and yelling at a concert... that's what people do at concerts...

Don't worry about ranting

We all have days like that.

vibrant · 12-11-2005 10:51AM

I'm a shusher.

Call me old fashioned, but I really don't like hearing people at concerts having "I hate my boss/boyfriend/girlfriend/life etc" *shouting* conversations after I've paid €60 for a ticket. You wouldn't do it in the cinema, so why do it at a concert?

(Key word here being shouting - it's not fun to listen to people shout at the best of times, let alone at a time when you're trying to enjoy yourself. Feel free to talk amongst yourselves though

)

Maccattack · 12-11-2005 11:13AM

I agree with vibrant. why go to a concert if you dont want to watch /listen to it. nothing more irritating than people having a conversation while youre trying to watch.

shush on vibe. im with you.

Badly Drunk Boy · 12-11-2005 11:26AM

I'm not a shusher but I wholeheartedly agree with the sentiment, especially in last night's Sigur Rós situation. Some music has to be heard with no background noise...

FullBack Jam · 12-11-2005 11:27AM

I actually went to the Sigur ros gig last night.
Some concerts are made for silence - others aren't. In the case of Sigur Ros, it demands silence. It's not a gig where you get up and shout the house down. If it were Metallica or Pearl Jam etc, they would be wondering what the hell is going on if there were 5 or 6 thousand people just looking up at them in silence.

At the gig last night, there was one dick who thought it was funny to let out the odd yelp every 10 minutes. But the people who were shushing him ended up making more noise. It's a no win situation.

Fab gig though. Bloody touts! Cost me €100for a ticket. Some big fat c@nt who couldn't even pronounce the name of the band.

Deadwing · 12-11-2005 12:26PM

If you go to a metal gig, you expect people to be screaming thier head off, fair enough, im not gonna turn around in a slayer gig and say "god, would be quiet ffs, im trying to watch slayer??". But if youve actually heard a sigur ros album, you know its mostly quiet, sudbued, tender music that you dont sit there waffling your hole off through. If you go to a gig by them and sit there yapping, expect people to shush you, and with good cause. I felt like belting some of the people talking at that gig tonight tbh, they were ignorant ****.

Pigman II · 12-11-2005 12:39PM

flasher0030 wrote:

Some big fat c@nt who couldn't even pronounce the name of the band.

What did he call them?

Have to agree with the OP tho. If you're at a live gig you're in no position to tell people to 'schush' even if it's interferining on your aural experience.

If you want deathly silence at a public event then go to a ManU match at OldTrafford or an Ireland soccer international at Lansdowne.

Smurfpiss · 12-11-2005 01:03PM

Shhhushhing is a bit mammyish i have to say. telling them to shut the f*ck up is much more effective. Im sorry but i cant stand people who talk loudly at gigs. or idiots who ring their friends and say "YEAH IM AT THE DAMIEN RICE GIG! WHAT?"
same goes for......
Yelpers
"WE love you (insert name here)"
any kind of attention seeker really.
complete strangers who support themselves on my shoulders as they mosh. It is a concert, not leap frog, leave me the f*ck alone.
I know its a free country...but i still think we should be aloowed beat the crap out of annoying punters. just to channel all that rage rather than let it build up as an ugly tumour.

Maccattack · 12-11-2005 01:13PM

Pigman II wrote:

If you're at a live gig you're in no position to tell people to 'schush' even if it's interferining on your aural experience.

how do you figure that? You are in a perfect position to tell them.

obviously its horses for courses. as others have said. you dont expect silence at a Metal gig.

Likewise you dont expect people to be yapping away at quieter shows.

why bother going if all you want to do is talk?

Ro: maaan! · 12-11-2005 01:16PM

If you want silence, hire the band privately?
How about if you want to talk then don't go to the gig?

Seriously, you paid the same amount as eveyone else to be there. Why would you want to miss the gig by talking the whole time?

What annoys me more are people who ignore the support act and talk loudly over them while up at the very front saving their spot for when the main band come on. Who they'll probably talk during aswell.

Maccattack · 12-11-2005 01:21PM

And what about the bands? Imagine coming over here to play in front of a Yappers convention. It'd have to p them off.

Did any of you go to the Mark Kozelic gig in Whelans a while back.

some spaz shouted out. "Hey Mork, If you mayke a mistayke, play it twace and peeple wull think its jazz".

No one laughed and Kozelic paid out on him for the rest of the night. It was class. Shut the idiot up too.

Toast · 12-11-2005 02:44PM

The fact is sigur ros has a lot of orchestral work in it. You wouldnt scream and shout at an orchestra either. Yell all you like between songs but not during.

I thought it was amazing at the pause in the song that the above poster mentioned that practically everyone coped on what was happening, didnt think it was the end of the song and just held their breath except for that one F***ing idiot.

If you're so Idiotic that you cant cop the band is using silence then you probably do need to be told to shut the F*** up via shushing or a quick twist of the neck. Sadly the latter is illegal.

Its not the first gig I've been at with shushers (that would have been Slint(and if you thought the sigur ros crowd were strange then the Slint crowd were just plain weird)) so it didnt bother me much and I still enjoyed the best concert ever.

John · 12-11-2005 04:06PM

I thought the shushing was excessive but I also thought the people shouting "JERRY! JERRY! OVER HERE MATE! HOW ARE YOU? GOOD, GOOD? WHAT DO YOU THINK OF THIS MALARKY? YEAH IT'S ALL RIGHT? WHAT? YEAH!" were in desperate needs of sterilisation. If you don't know how to act at a gig then don't go. Sigur Rós are the kind of band that play opera theatres and concert halls, if you tried that at one of those venues you'd be asked to leave. Tickets aren't cheap so if you disrupt the show for everyone then you are a class A ****. For christ's sake there's more silence during the ads at the cinema then during the support act last night. They were great and most of the crowd were into them apart from the few dicks.

The last two times I've seen Sigur Rós you could hear a pin drop. It's not just respect for the audience members but respect for the artist to behave appropriately.

faceman · 12-11-2005 04:11PM

Toast wrote:

The fact is sigur ros has a lot of orchestral work in it. You wouldnt scream and shout at an orchestra either. Yell all you like between songs but not during.

I dont really like sigur ros and i wasnt there but it sounds like they werent very loud tho if ppl were asking others to "sshhhhhhh"??

I get worried if i go to a concert and ya have to tell someone to be quiet so u can enjoy the music. Look at christy moore, thats just a dude n a guitar, never been at one of his gigs where u had to tell someone to shut up!

therecklessone · 12-11-2005 04:13PM

If you want to talk at Sigur Ros, I want to poke you in the eye.

Free country and all that...

I was in the pit and have to say the crowd around me were reverant throughout.

John · 12-11-2005 04:15PM

faceman wrote:

I dont really like sigur ros and i wasnt there but it sounds like they werent very loud tho if ppl were asking others to "sshhhhhhh"??

I get worried if i go to a concert and ya have to tell someone to be quiet so u can enjoy the music. Look at christy moore, thats just a dude n a guitar, never been at one of his gigs where u had to tell someone to shut up!

They were as loud as they needed to be. They have moments of silence and quieter sounds which makes up the songs. If they turned everything up to 11 the song would be destroyed.

As for Christy Moore, no one talks at his shows because if they do, he's the one who tells them in no uncertain terms to shut the **** up. He's famous for hating mindless chatter disrupting a gig.

jmc · 12-11-2005 05:37PM

Have to agree with John2. They were definitely loud enough. Fannnntastic gig! Saw them at the TBMC, Temple Theatre, and The Ambassador before and I think this was probably the best overall show of the lot.

vibrant · 12-11-2005 08:18PM

Smurfpiss wrote:

Im sorry but i cant stand people who talk loudly at gigs. or idiots who ring their friends and say "YEAH IM AT THE DAMIEN RICE GIG! WHAT?"

Oh god! You've just reminded me of something I experienced a while back....

I was at a very small, intimate gig when the girl beside me decides to ring her friend and tell her all about it. Unfortunately for her (and all around her), the conversation consisted of "HELLO? WHERE ARE YOU? HELLO? CAN YOU HEAR ME? I CAN'T HEAR YOU! HELLO? WHERE ARE YOU? HELLO?"

A little distracting, I think you'll agree. Shushing wouldn't have been enough in her case; something along the lines of scalding would have been more appropriate! :mad:

BrianD · 12-11-2005 08:30PM

My name is Mud wrote:

If you want absolute silence when watching a band play (like Sigur Ros tonight)...

...HIRE OUT THE BAND YOURSELF AND HAVE THEM PLAY IN YOUR LIVING ROOM AND STOP SHUSSHING TO EVERYBODY ELSE

ITS A FREE ****ING COUNTRY

/end rant

sorry, first rant on boards.ie methinks. Im also locked right now

Fair play to them. I am tired of going to gigs where you have two people having a full blown conversation in front (usually facing away from the stage) and taking calls on their mobiles. It's almost as if the gig is some sort of back ground music to their consumption of alcohol and irrelevant chit-chat.

Sauron · 12-11-2005 10:13PM

I don't personally shush.. but I do agree with it..

when it's a small venue and the song is mellow or low-volume.. some people actually want to listen, it's exactly like being at a cinema, you go to view and hear something and get annoyed when people start chatting loudly as if they were the only ones in the room.. it disrupts the experience imo

If the gig/song is loud and energetic, fine, but when the music gets quieter, it isn't an intermission so you can get a chance to chat..

BrianD · 13-11-2005 12:07AM

Even in cinemas ...I have heard people take calls on their mobile. So you forget to turn it off ... it happens ... but you don't have to answer it. Just hit end and turn it off.

Smurfpiss · 14-11-2005 12:44AM

or leave.
It would give the bouncers something to do at the quieter gigs if they could kick those yobs out..

penguincakes · 14-11-2005 09:51AM

And surely if it's a free country they're free to tell you to shut the **** up if they want to enjoy their quiet gig without some loud bastard shouting?

Miguel_Sanchez · 14-11-2005 12:29PM

Shushing is a real tricky one.

If people are being way too loud then I think it's out of order - especially at a gig like Sigur Ros. At the last Smog gig in the Roisin Dubh people could chat away quietly and it was grand - however on the last, really quiet, song there were two knobs at the bar talking really loudly and it ruined the atmosphere for everyone in there. In small venues you have to keep your voice very low if you want to communicate during quiet songs, it's just good ****ing manners.

However having said that at a Jape gig a few months back people were shushing excessively during songs that were pretty loud and didn't need complete silence. I got really pissed off the people shushing because they were being more of a distraction than anyone talking. When a band are rocking out (to use the parlance of our times) it doesn't matter if there's a bit of conversation going on.

It's a bit of give and take I think.

Closing Doors · 14-11-2005 12:52PM

I've never understood why people go to gigs to talk. If you're just going to catch up with mates over a pint, you should do it in a pub, where you don't have to pay €25+ to get in. If you're there to watch the band, then WATCH THE BAND!

Perfect example of this sh*t was the Frames on Thursday. Damien Rice played a surprise support set. There were 3 birds standing behind me, and they screamed their heads off when they realised who he was....which of itself is fair enough. They then proceeded to spend his entire set ringing various people, going "Oh my God, Damien Rice is on stage....Oh my God, so is Lisa Hannigan....Oh my God, he's playing Blower's Daughter..."

If you're that excited, why not (shock, horror!) actually watch him play?

It's just pure f*cking disrespectful.

Miguel_Sanchez · 14-11-2005 03:37PM

Closing Doors wrote:

There were 3 birds standing behind me, and they screamed their heads off when they realised who he was....which of itself is fair enough. They then proceeded to spend his entire set ringing various people, going "Oh my God, Damien Rice is on stage....Oh my God, so is Lisa Hannigan....Oh my God, he's playing Blower's Daughter..."

[Going off-topic]
Anyone who gets that excited over Damien Rice should be neutered and/or be sterilised. Just my opinion. (But you know it's right)
[back on topic again]

I just got a mental image of this grumpy Irish dude standing at the front of a Beatle's concert and turning around going 'sssssshhhhhhh' really loudly at all the screaming girls.

breadmonkey · 14-11-2005 08:01PM

I hate people who talk during a concert which demands silence. Example: I saw Preston Reed (guitarist) in a small pub in Galway recently and there were all these stupid louts having full on conversations during the gig. I think that apart fromm anyhing else it smacks of disrespect for the artist. I wanted to smash heads against walls. Luckily, the rest of the crowd wanted silence and there was widespread shushing!

To the OP: You are a bad person

Closing Doors · 14-11-2005 08:31PM

Jeff_Lebowski wrote:

[Going off-topic]
Anyone who gets that excited over Damien Rice should be neutered and/or be sterilised. Just my opinion. (But you know it's right)
[back on topic again]

No actually it's people with attitudes like that, that need to be "neutered and/or be sterilised". Who are you to say which artists it's (not) ok to get excited over? For example, I can't stand the Arcade Fire, but I've never given anybody grief over liking them (which obviously a lot of people do). Just an opinion...but you know it's right.

ergo · 14-11-2005 10:15PM

I too am not a shusher but I agree with the sentiment behind it but sometimes it's overdone and just one loud "shhhhh" or one loud "shut the **** up" might be better at doing the trick

talkers particularly drive me nuts obviously when it's a quiet artist but soemtimes eg. on Friday nights in Dublin eg in Whelan's then you never have a chance of getting a quiet crowd, everyone's on the beer and that's that

I saw Glen from the Frames playing a so-called secret gig under a different name which was mailing list/ fan only type thing in Whelans back in May and the noise was unbelievable, and this was a "secret " gig presumably for the more hard core fans...

to hear the racket coming from the bar and to think that all these people had paid in for this gig, actually makes me wonder how many people are getting in for nothing to these things, but you'd imagine those on the guest lists wouldn't be the talker types

seated gigs mid-week in Vicar St; these are the only ones around where it's guaranteed silence and respect in my opinion

Le Rack · 14-11-2005 10:26PM

well it depends on the gig aswell guys, I've been to a heavy gig and some kinda quiter gigs and then there's the crappy town ones where you just shout a conversation through it anyway. At maiden you had people screaming during the music but they were either screaming the lyrics or jsut screaming for the band and at the quiter ones, people do irritate me sometimes, it's unfair to the band too.

People who "shussh" at gigs

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