Rock Concerts

[bracheen]

David, the girl helping out Paul McCartney would for sure be annoying.  That's one reason I don't go to a lot of events, not just concerts.  People seem to have forgotten how to act in public.  Granted, my tolerance level goes down as my age goes up.  My last big show was Eric Clapton.  My rant about that is here on the board somewhere.
 
Sam

[grateful]

My first show was The Who in 69; I can't remember the price but it wasn't a lot.  Even if the whole audience had sang along it would have been inaudible!!!  It took 3 days for the ringing in my ears to stop.  Those were the days!
 
Mark

[keith_h]

Although i DID see girls dancing to Gentle Giant and if you've heard G.G. you'd know how hard that must have been!  
 
Reminds me of the time I saw Brand X at the Beginnings concert club outside Chicago. My friend and I were talking to a couple of girls at our table when one pipes up and asks Can you dance to them?. :-)
 
Keith

[kmh364]

No Dave, you're certainly not the only one pissed about the screaming mee-mee attempting to sing next to you at a show. Unfortunately, there's not much you can do about it except for getting aggravated in a vain attempt to get her to stop before you yourself start screaming or by leaving/not going to the show in the first place. In any case, you lose, unfortunately. As a man of INFINITE patience myself (clearing my throat here due to the thick, er, um, irony here, LOL!), I try to grin and bear it as I am there to have a good time, to relax, unwind, and certainly not get aggravated. I also try to respect others rights to a good time, and I expect the same in return from them. Sometimes it actually works out that way! It helps to go see acts that are past their prime, as the resulting crowd tends to be slightly more mellow, LOL!

[David Houck]

Just for fun, here's another perspective from which to consider the girl singing along with Paul; she may have been having the time of her life.  The experience of the music that we anticipated has been diminished; but life is never exactly as we would like for it to be.  Being disappointed that our experience is not what we had hoped is entirely understandable.  But if we choose to let our disappointment rule the entire evening, then it is we who suffer as a consequence.  But, in understanding and accepting the situation as it is, we have a chance to make something out of it.  We can recognize the joy that the girl singing with Paul is experiencing; and we can be happy for her.  And being happy for others is a lot more fun than just being disappointed.
 
But then I've never actually been to a Paul McCartney concert

[chuckc]

Well guys as long as we're doing the time warp, my first serious concert was seeing The Who with a dapper JAE in a 3 piece Glen Plaid suit and Fender Jazz bass opening for Herman's Hermits.  As I recall our 4th row seats were $ 4.50. The Blues Magoos opened the show and then the Who came on and just tore it up.  The little teeny bopper girls were not quite sure what to make of Pete and Keith and were anxiously waiting for Herman.  We left before Herman was finished with their first song. I believe this was The Who's first American tour that ended up at the Monteray Jazz Festival; 67 or 68 I guess.  What a memory.  Most of the concerts after that smacked of the usual execesses of too many drugs, booze or whatever but that was just me. :^)

[lbpesq]

At a lot of shows I've been to the volume has been so loud that even if someone were singing along next to me, I wouldn't have heard it anyway.  There is an advantage to loud volume!  More seriously, I've often found myself wanting to sing along, but in deference to those around me have stood there like a schmuck mouthing the words.  I must admit that when the band invites the audience to sing along I've been known to let loose and belt it out.  On a few of these occasions I've had other people around me compliment my singing.  (Further proof that loud music scrambles the brain).  Admittedly, that feels good.
 
Bill, tgo

[sfnic]

If we're going to warp this conversation from the first concert I've been to to the loudest concert I've been to, I'd have to say it was The Pretenders an the Oakland Auditorium, sometime in the late '70s.  For some reason, they had Ted Nugent's _outdoor_ rig (by TFA Electrosound) stuffed into a 3600 seat auditorium.  They had The Clash's engineer mixing.
 
Now, I've been a sound engineer for  years, but that was the only time I actually experienced temporary deafness because the PA was so !@#$%^&* loud.  I heard something that may have been Good Evening, Oakland! followed by a blast of what might have been a snare drum, then near-total silence except for a telephone ringer somewhare off in the distance.
 
Now, I had worked some incredibly loud gigs before (Joe Walsh, blowing up half the PA at Santa Barbara; the Who in Phoenix; and we won't even discuss ELP at the US festival...), but this was a first.
 
Scared the shit out of me, it did, seeing as I used my ears for my living, at the time.  Pissed me off, too, as I really wanted to hear the concert.  
 
I had regained enough hearing to be functional by the next morning, but the ringing didn't go away for almost two weeks.  It took about 2 months until I could take a hearing test and get the basically same results I got before the exposure.  (I never did get that last 2db at 22Hz back, dammit.  Though my upper end stayed at 19.8k, same as always.)
 
I should never have taught those bozos at TFA how to wire speakers in-phase...
 

[richbass939]

I know this thread isn't really about TV concerts but I just got through watching the Eagles' Farewell I tour on NBC. Timothy B. was playing an old J-bass.  I don't know if he really plays Carvins when they're not taking pics for their catalog but I didn't see any onstage.
The guys' vocals seem to be aging very well.  Joe Walsh had some white-on-black polka dot parachute pants on.  He always was kind-of a different one.  They sounded really good.
Rich

[88persuader]

I saw some of the Eagles farewell show. They always sound very polished. As far as Carvin useage is concerned I believe Tim B. used them on the Hell freezes over tour and DVD. I remember seeing it some years ago on TV and I'm sure he used Carvins. Maybe he's pushing Fender now? And in regard to loud concerts ... a few years ago I saw a great tripple bill, Kings X, Joe S., and Dream Theater. I had great seats stage right but infront of the front end. The sound man did a great job but GOD was it loud!!! (At least where i was sitting) Kings X records with a lot of richness and bottom and it was there live too. Almost made my stomach sick! ;-) BUT they were awesome ... all three acts were!

[88persuader]

Oh and to davehouck's point ... I agree you don't want to hurt someone's good time. BUTTTTTT if they're hurting YOUR good time and others around you I believe it's they who should be more considerate. I saw Hall and Oats last year and two women sitting right being me TALKED LOUDLY over the whole show. Everyone in my area was pissed off at these two ADULT women holding a conversation (yelling) over each song. If they didn't like the song the talked and if they did they talked about how much they liked the song! I can tell you there were at least 8 adults ready to kill them. Now is that fair?? I think not! So i guess in regards to singing to the band ... my opinion is people in public should be kind to their neighbors ... regardless how they feel. The girl singing may have been having the time of her life ... but at others expense.

[dela217]

On the loud concert subject.....  I would say the loudest show I have been to is Stanley Clarke!!!  It was a small music club.  Not that the PA was terribly loud, but the level coming off the stage was louder than the mains.  It was painful.  I went to check out his Alembic, but ended up leaving after 3 or 4 songs.  TOO LOUD!