Maybe its just me, but when I am at a concert or gig or whatever & I hear people start to clap along I feel like shouting at them: “WTF!!!!!!!! This isnt kindagarten…. & it sure isnt an old folks home, so WTF!?! I mean WWWWW TTTTTTT FFFFFFFFFFF!!!!!”
If you dont believe the source of my anger, listen to this recording as a good example:
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Ok apart from it obviously having been bootlegged on a cassette back in 1972, I think the audience got off lightly by dear old Uncle Lou…. but as a bassplayer, playing with other humans in days past, it always amused me that bass was the anchor between the beat & everything else. Depending on the drummer, you could either relax & play on (& around) the beat, or if the drummer wasnt so tight/reliable/sober then you had to drive/underpin the beat & keep everyone on time…. and depending on the guitarist, in tune!
On a good day I always thought of it as tuning the drums & syncopation of the beat….. & on a bad day, well, I would swap my empty beers for the drummers next full one, hopefully before he noticed….
But my point is; next time you get a baby sitter & go see some band, please dont try & clap in time with your favourite song! The joy of hearing music live is that hopefully the band will improv around the original song a bit and the last thing they need is an out-of-time offbeat slappy beat coming back at them…. Its like people talking during movies, unless you are under the age of six or seven you obviously have your contexts mixed up! Please, go somewhere else & sort them out!!!
Thank you! It drives me nuts when people clap and totally end up missing the rhythm and just make everything sound awkward.
Lol! I love that he says ‘you’re off-beat.’ If the clappees are loud enough it gets hard to concentrate on stage.
At some concerts it gets even crazier when some clap on beats 1 and 3 while others on 2 and 4.
Music is supposed to be fun you guys. I understand that clapping can be obnoxious and annoying, yet I think some bands would say they can appreciate the fact that the crowd is enthused. I mean thats why they are fuckin playing. And if you can’t hold parts down against a shitty clap from a crowd you should get the hell off stage anyway. For me… clap anytime and scream the words cuz you are playing and hearing and enjoying together artist and audience. Thats the point. You wanna see people sitting quiet at a Springsteen show?
Hey Sean, did you listen to that recording? Clapping ruined it, that is my point!!!!
& frankly people can do what they like at a Springsteen show cos I sure as hell wont be there… but as far as it goes, yes – I’ve been to plenty of concerts (in my opinion of course) far more transcendant/engaging/rhythmicly inspiring than Springsteen & I dont remember people clapping… yet the entire audience was 100% into the music & the response after each song finsihed was huge…. in my opinion its about context
“And if you can’t hold parts down against a shitty clap from a crowd you should get the hell off stage anyway.”
as i keep repeating; its about context & in many contexts that statement is entirely redunandant, sorry