Concert manners in need of some work
APUBLIC car park has been sold so $48 million of ratepayer money can be spent on an arts precinct. New photographs were released this week. Our new amphitheatre has the sublime backdrop of Surfers Paradise.
We are excited. We are about to be entertained. But does the Gold Coast have cultural manners to fit with all these expensive new set pieces?
Will we know how to behave? Seems a ridiculous question, doesn’t it? But the performance of some fans at recent shows have struck a bad chord.
For concerts of the calibre of Neil Finn, a couple can expect to outlay $120. These tickets are printed out and arrive with big expectations.
At HOTA the outdoor stage and hard-working staff will deliver on those expectations. But remember this is a picnic blanket-toblanket stand-up venue.
At Finn, the young girls to the right keep chatting, prompting glares and stares. At Xavier Rudd at NightQuarter – another great new medium-sized venue – last Friday night it stepped up a notch.
A 20-something woman has her back turned to the stage for most of the concert. She turns only to take video on her mobile telephone.
She knows the songs, sings along, is obviously a big fan. But five bourbons on, she, like the other 20somethings around her, would be a better fit at a boozy family barbecue.
Another young woman runs across on stage and is removed by security. On return she lifts up her Tshirt, removes her bra and tosses it across the security fencing.
She attempts to film the concert, her raised hands blocking everyone’s view. An older fan who cannot see the stage tells her: “I don’t mind you taking shots of one song. But not the entire concert.”
Take a look sometime at what footage they’re shooting. All of it jerky and unfocused. Do they take home memories of just being boozed, all vertical and not in horizontal wide screen?
What do the performers think? In the front row, there is a mix of ages, all of them watching the rhythm section of the band, feeling every song.
But several rows behind are the booze brothers and sisters, and the hum of their chatter threatens an acoustic set.
Ask veteran concert reviewers and they blame all of this on the “fun police” for reducing sound levels at venues.
Andy Cartwright from the Commonside band has played at The Zoo in Brisbane and The Avenue, they will be at Snooker World at Mermaid Beach tomorrow night. He says the venues have different sound levels.
“There are so many laws now about decibels. At some venues you have to play with an electric drum set. It can’t be a normal kit where you mike it up. It’s not rock’n’roll,” Cartwright says.
The city is hosting marathon Eisteddfod performances at Robina where parents sit silently.
They might have attended opera in the park at Paradise Point where you must gently replace esky lids.
HOTA is searching for Finn-like success stories. NightQuarter will host homegrown star Amy Shark on September 8. Live venues are building audiences.
We all need to improve our cultural manners, for the performer and the paying customer at your shoulder.
“Xavier Rudd is really good. If there’s talk when he’s playing, it’s just rude,” Cartwright says.
“When you see a band, you can talk between the songs, not during it. Have some respect.”