By: Art Fredette
I am 5 foot 8-ish; I was a bit taller once and am probably a bit shorter now. Age and gravity are a bitch. That being said, when I go to a concert or show, I can pretty much always see the band. Long ago it dawned on me that people stand at shows and, believe it or not, may even dance. The horror! This just seemed to be part of the experience. A musical “It is what it is,” and that was cool. Recently, it seems to me that this mindset has changed drastically. People act as if a concert is a coffee house listening room and serious decorum is to be followed.
Over the summer I made a foray to SPAC for a show. This show was a tribute show. I know, I know, but when one of the performers invites you, you go. The bands were both covering classic rock giants, bands that have been around since the beginning of time almost, and as I found my seat, it looked like most of the crowd had been around about as long. The amphitheater was a sea of tie-dye and Cialis, white hair and hippie skirts. My first thought was … COOL. I am no kid myself and felt pretty good to see people older than me still into live shows. To be fair there were a fair amount of younger people mixed in, but overall the show was us oldsters. And then things turned. The opening act, which was a tribute to a quite famous British band that has something to do with a blimp made of base metal, hit the stage and the younger people stood up!!!! The horror, the humanity! And worse, they were dancing and singing along!!! Some even had the audacity to raise their arms!!!! A very serious offender dared to do the basic festival dance off the right side of the orchestra pit. She MUST be stopped. I watched the oldsters near me go apoplectic. Security was summoned, complaints were made, middle fingers were extended with hurled verbal insults added for flavor, and my question was … why?
So, let me get this straight: the generation that spent three days in the mud spreading bargain STD’s from one end of the Mid Hudson Valley to the other and was all about freedom is going to lose their collective minds because somebody younger than us AARP mfer’s was having a good time? The hypocrisy is glaring. I get it, you paid for a “seat”, but did you? Is it really about sitting or your entitlement?
I have often wondered: at concerts, are you really paying for a seat or are you paying for proximity? People stand at music events. Recently, the octogenarian Ringo Starr came to town, and the crowd was on its feet from song one. So, this begs the question: when may we stand, dear elders? Back to the proximity question, isn’t your row, aisle, and seat number just a private parking space for your ass for the next 2 hours? Isn’t it? Do I “have” to sit, or may I stand in the space for which I paid? Enlighten me. My money, my allocated space … your point? I can see being upset if someone was standing and dancing at the ballet, the symphony, or a Broadway show. Although the audience has been known to do the Time Warp at Rocky Horror revivals, I digress. This is rock and roll, the music of rebellion, freedom, and youth. It is not the dancers’ fault that you and I got old. It happens. I personally get a charge from watching the crowd have a great time, and it makes me smile. Why are you so salty?
Perhaps it had something to do with the venue, although I doubt that this behavior is isolated to only SPAC. But SPAC isn’t helping. In the way-back times, you could buy an affordable ticket and visit a magical place called “The LAWN”. You and your friends would bring in a blanket and whatever other contraband you got past security and sit on the grass. It was amazing; if you wanted to dance … dance. Sing along? At the top of your lungs!!! We were a tribe, and all was good! Now the blankets are gone, replaced by rented lawn chairs; you can’t bring your own, and the once wild lawn is just an extension of the amphitheater. Rent a lawn chair, watch the giant TVs, and behave. NO THANKS!
Here is an idea: let’s make all shows general admission. You get there early or are aggressive enough, you get up close; if not, you end up where you end up. This, of course, is an absurdist statement, but you get the point. People go to rock, pop, jazz, or any other genre of music to have fun, so have some fun for Christ’s sake and let others have fun too. That being said, I will see you out at the shows and, to quote Men Without Hats, “You can dance if you want to,” and I will enjoy seeing you do so.
