Into The Cauldron - Part 3

(Kim Gordon, of Sonic Youth; she's my girlfriend, she just doesn't know it yet.)


What the hell is going on at music concerts these days?!?! When I started going to shows back in the early eighties, people would show their excitement by dancing or maybe playing some air drums/guitar, sometimes smoking a little weed, or sipping a beer while nodding their heads. Today, it seems like a lot of concert goers think that they're simply socializing at a club or bar, and that the band working their ass off upfront is just background music to their super-exciting life. I went to see Sonic Youth at the Greek Theater in Griffith Park in LA last week, and I was astonished by the total lack of attention or interest people seemed to have for the stuff that was actually happening onstage! Most people appeared to show up late, and I mean like 20 minutes late, and then proceed to get up every five minutes to go buy a $7 beer, or go to the bathroom to piss out said $7 beer, or check messages on their blackberry or iPhone, or in general, just have extremely loud, asinine conversations with the person sitting next to them, or on the phone. I calculated that the three middle-aged Silver Lake hipsters sitting in front of us actually saw maybe half the show, and that the drunken Irish women behind us probably witnessed a cozy 20 minutes of music. The rest was spent doing other shit that would NEVER come to mind to a person like me who paid $35 to come see one of his favorite bands play one of their best album in a fantastic setting by the hills of Griffith Park! Let me make myself clear: I do not care about anything you have to say, so shut the hell up! The only thing you should be doing is looking at the stage and enjoy the show. Forget the bad beer, and if you must have one, keep it at ONE, not five! Oh, and a music show is not the right place to catch up with your friend over the phone. If that's what you want to do, buy a six-pack, go home, put the fucking record on, and call your dumbass friend, but please don't ruin my evening! Into the cauldron, the lot of ya!!