AMP: Artists' Meeting Place and Resource Collective

Will they ever shut up!

A few weeks ago I went to my friends show at a local coffee house, the typical unsupervised, no cover, set up your gear and play for your friends, fans, and who ever walks in the door. It was her first local show, after being gone for a few years, and all her old friends came. The next day she came by my house and I said, “nice gig, but it seems the worst thing a performer can do is invite old friends to a show, all they want to do is yak! yak! yak!.” She said “Oh well they haven’t seen each other for years. What are you going to do?”

Well someone in the audience finally stood up and said something like “If you have to talk at least keep it down”, maybe not quite so nice. A few weeks before we had the same thing happen to us. Last Sat. we had the yak! yak!, but nobody said, will you ever shut up! And they never did.

As the performer it’s bad form to attack the audience, but as a listener please step in when appropriate. Don’t drag them out into the parking lot, but you could remind them there are people that want to listen. Thank You!