Today’s Independent has a quick review of Owen Brady’s recent gig in Whelan’s, Dublin. Reviewer Ed Power states that ‘…not everyone is even here to listen to Brady — when he lowers the tempo to strum the semi-acoustic ‘Sun Shining Down’ the hubbub from the bar threatens to drown him out.’ Power goes on to say that ‘If there’s a problem it’s that this kind of music — yearning, syrupy and anthemic — is designed for ringing out across adoring arenas, not wooing semi-curious punters in a darkened club.’
I don’t know anything about Brady, but as someone who has been in Whelan’s plenty of times, I find his comments absolutely bizarre. Nothing bar thrash death metal could drown out the constant ‘hubbubb’ that is in the background in gig venues all over Dublin. As far as I can see many members of the ‘audience’ (I’m not sure if that’s the correct term any more) at gigs these days in Dublin are ’semi-curious’ (perhaps ’semi-comatose’ might be a more appropriate term).
Maybe I’m a bit old-fashioned, but I kind of assume that when you pay money into a gig venue to see an artist, you are interested in listening to them, either because you know their stuff and like them or you’ve heard a bit about them and want to judge for yourself. Instead, what we get is a significant proportion of the audience who are much more concerned with getting pissed than listening to the music. I’m not just talking about little venues like Whelan’s. Vicar Street is no different. I’ve even heard Bruce Springsteen being practically drowned out by a mass of chatting ‘audience’-goers in the Point Theatre. As well as alcohol, mobile phones with cameras have made things worse. Now it seems the most important thing to do is get a picture of the artist on-stage; once you have that, sure who gives a **** about the rest of it??
There’s a distinct profile to these ADD (Attention Deficit Disorder) punters, who come in both male and female forms. They start off seemingly very excited about the impending arrival of the artist on-stage. They scream and roar a good bit (things like ‘come on ya good ting’). They go wild when the artist comes on stage. They might listen for the first song. But then they seem to lose interest, and proceed to start yapping with their friends as if they were down the local. Bizarrely, they return to screaming and yelping when each song ends, even though they haven’t paid a blind bit of attention to the song itself. Tension invariably erupts during particularly quiet music, with genuine listeners becoming fed-up. The shhhhhhh’s start going around. Depending on how pissed-up the offenders are, they either quieten down a bit or respond to the pleas to shut-up with ‘ah why don’t ye chill out’ or worse, some obscenity.
And the staff/management of these venues? They don’t seem to care. They probably make more money from the drink sales than the ticket sales.
Tags: ADD, Attention Deficit Disorder, Ed Power, Owen Brady, The Point, Vicar Street, Whelan's, Whelan's Bar
