Tag Archives: #concert

Front or back of the crowd ? A social experiment.

Posted on December 17, 2024 | Leave a comment

Those of you who follow this blog and its sister the525toglasgow will no doubt have realised that I love a good concert. I also love being right down the front of the venue and on the rail if possible.

I’ve often wondered what its like to see a show from further back but have never wanted to risk spoiling a show by staying near the back…until now that is.

Around this time last year, I bought two tickets to see Slipknot in Glasgow for Boy Child for Christmas. When I bought them, I prayed that his friend could go with him as I’m not really a huge Slipknot fan. We encountered some Slipknot fans in November 2023 when we saw Corey Taylor, the band’s front man, live in Glasgow and let’s just say it was a rough crowd.

By the time this year’s Slipknot gig came round, Boy Child still had the other ticket as his friend hadn’t expressed any interest in going with him so guess who said they’d go? I said yes on one condition – that I didn’t need to risk getting crushed down at the front.

Not surprisingly the show was pretty much sold out. It’s a long time since I’ve seen the OVO Hydro in Glasgow quite so busy. We agreed to stand back at the sound desk. After queuing at the merch stall for over 40 minutes I went into the arena in search of Boy Child. He found me before I spotted him.

The stage seemed miles away! But I could still just about see it. Maybe this wouldn’t feel too bad or would it? I’m only 5’3” and blind as a bat hence the reason I much prefer to be at the front.

When the support act, Bleed From Within came on, I could hear them and see the lights but barely caught a glimpse of them. So, the first part of this social experiment was en epic fail.

Time for Plan B. Between bands, we agreed to move further forward but stay to the edge of the crowd. That spot was better, but I was still struggling to see the stage over all the heads. I consoled myself with the fact that there video screens….

By the end of the first Slipknot song, I was regretting staying back…seriously regretting it. Yes, I could just about see the band on the stage, but it was the lack of atmosphere that was the biggest issue. I felt disconnected from the performance by being so far back. The atmosphere among the fans on the periphery of the crowd was lacklustre…apart from the one girl in front of us who was passionately enjoying proceedings.

Possibly the biggest annoyance about being further back wasn’t really the lack of a view but the crowd itself. The constant stream of folk wandering about with drinks and food was driving me nuts. You paid a royal fortune for the ticket to this so why aren’t you watching it?

For the band’s three-song encore, Boy Child disappeared off in search of the mosh pit. (I’m surprised he hadn’t gone off earlier to be honest) Around me, about twenty folk all wandered off and a gap emerged so I ventured further forwards…closer to the stage but still not close enough.

It was a great gig, and I still really enjoyed it but standing further back in the crowd is definitely not for me!

 Lesson learned!

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To Mobile Phone or Not To Mobile Phone…..

Posted on November 26, 2024 | Leave a comment

Those of you who have followed this blog and its sister blog the525toglasgow know of my love for live music.

Recently though I decided against buying tickets to a gig not because of the price although it was a tad steep but because the band have imposed a mobile phone ban.

Now this may be a point of controversy but to me that was a step too far.

I totally understand adopting “theatre etiquette” and there being no filming or photography during stand-up comedy shows, musicals and spoken word tours as that material is not widely available to the public beforehand, Conedians don’t release albums after all but for a rock/pop band/artist to do it? Who do they think keeps them on the stage headlining shows?

It’s their fans who make them who they are and who buy all their albums, and some bands could so well to remember that.

In this age of e-tickets, fans don’t even have a ticket stub as a memento from aa gig so it’s only fair that fans might want a few photos or minutes of video.

I do agree it can be exceedingly annoying when folk have their phones held aloft for most of a show blocking everyone’s view, but band’s allow press photographers into the pit for the opening three songs so why not let fans take photos too at this time? I’m sure the majority of fans would comply with a request to only take photos or video at a certain point.

People carry phones for many reasons to a gig not just to take photos. For one, as I’ve already alluded to, your ticket is likely to be a bar code or QR code stored on your phone. Most fans will want to purchase items at the merch stall and/or the bar in the venue and the majority of these prefer card payments to cash…oh and the card is likely to be saved out in your phone, so you just need to tap to pay for your items. Bands make most of the money on a tour from merch sales so by banning phones they are likely to take a hard hit there.

If mobile phone bans at gigs become more commonplace, bands might want to put themselves in the fans’ shoes for a moment and think about how they’d feel if the ego maniac on stage was preventing them from sending a quick good night text to a child, or sending a message home to check that everything is ok, especially if you’ve left a young child or someone who is ill. Fans might have elderly parents that they check in with before bedtime. People who take medication at specific times often have alarms in their phones to remind them.

If the band has dictated that phones are banned then by having them locked in sealed pouches for the duration of a show none of the above can happen and that could be causing unnecessary risks.

Personally, attending gigs while The Big Green Gummi Bear was terminally ill was one of the few moments of respite, I got from the situation but if I had been forced by the band to be uncontactable for those few precious hours of normality, I would have had to stay at home and that would have been detrimental to my mental and emotional wellbeing.   

So, artists who feel the need to ban phones, next time pause to remember who keeps you on that stage doing what you love and reflect on how you would feel if your human rights were being infringed in such a manner.

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Continue The Story- When You Come Face To Face With One Of Your Idols.

Posted on January 31, 2022 | Leave a comment

She couldn’t believe it. Was it really him? It was the same feeling every time. This was perhaps the sixth time she’d been in this position. Each time she got nervous, became tongue tied then babbled like an idiot for a few seconds before her moment of opportunity passed.

She swore to herself that this time would be different. She’d hold it together. She could manage to have a short sensible “normal” conversation with him.

There was only one person in front of her in the queue. Her heart was pounding. She had her gift for him clutched in her hand. A 1978 original red vinyl copy of Gerry Raffety’s City To City album. Would he like it? Did he already have it?

His assistant beckoned her into the small room.

There he was in front of her behind the counter. Heart pounding, she said, “Hi. How are you today?”

She gave him the gift, said it was one to add to his collection and that she hoped he didn’t already have it then she asked if he could sign her ticket and the two CDs that she’d brought with her.

As he went to sign the first one, the Sharpie marker ran dry. His assistant was duly despatched to find the pencil case with some fresh pens.

They were alone in the room. Unsure what to say, she asked how it felt to see his name rather than a band’s name on the cover of the record. He paused for a moment to think, smiled then said, “You know. you’re the first person to ask me that. Feels kind of surreal but then, Coral, you know how that feels.”

Her heart almost stopped.

This Continue The Story is based on one of my most precious memories. It tells the short tale of what happened at a “meet and greet” opportunity with a musician ( I’m loathe to use the term rockstar here) several years ago. Those who know me will have figured out who it was.

The part two to this happened several hours later as he returned to the small stage in The Garage, Glasgow for the encore. Before he started the last song of the night, he looked over to where I was standing with my friends and played a few bars of Baker Street. My heart melted.

Folk say “Don’t meet your idols. It’ll spoil the illusion”. I beg to differ.

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After 572 days, “Cherry” is free again!

Posted on September 21, 2021 | Leave a comment

It’s been a long while since I took “Cherry” out of the wardrobe… 572 days to be precise.

I’ve written about “Cherry” before back in 2016 (  My Secret Chaperone….meet Cherry | Coral McCallum (wordpress.com) ) This bag and Cherry monkey still comes to every gig with me but, thanks to Covid, she’s been in enforced hibernation since 23 February 2020.

As I prepared to attend my first gig since the Covid pandemic shut the world, there was an additional item to be packed – a mask. (I always carried hand sanitiser anyway, so it was already snuggled into its pocket)

In the pre-Covid world I never thought twice about packing my gig bag before leaving to catch the train or to drive to the venue. It’s a fairly standard list of essentials – ticket, camera, phone, hand sanitiser, purse and rock n roll polo mints. (Ok these turned out to be well out of date! Thanks to Mr A for supplying me with a new packet)

However, last Friday night, I found myself more than a little anxious about going out to my first post-pandemic show. Is this one of the many legacies of Covid?

I was heading to Glasgow’s Barrowlands Ballroom with Mr A to see Black Stone Cherry – familiar location, familiar journey, familiar company and familiar band of choice (I’ve seen these boys from Kentucky at least ten times now)- so there was no natural reason to feel anxious… or is there nowadays?

Heading out to a show now takes a little more preparation than just packing your handbag. Preparations start 48-24 hours in advance. The venue recommendation and, in some instances the band’s request, is that you do a Covid lateral flow test before attending. That was it – I lost my lateral flow virginity to see these boys from Kentucky! Having successfully reported a negative test and received my email and text confirmation of this, I spent the rest of Thursday morning twitching my nose like Samantha from Bewitched! A minor inconvenience to get some safety reassurance about being in a crowd, don’t you think?

Another new skill had to be swiftly mastered upon arrival at Barrowlands – juggling! As the doors opened there was a whole new routine required – mask on, track and trace done via the QR code on the walls and the green tick confirmation kept visible on your phone (contingency bit of paper with contact details was in my jeans pocket just in case of QR code issues), ticket in hand plus bag open for the obligatory bag check. You need about three pairs of hands (and your reading glasses if you’re anything like me as I squinted trying to register the track and trace info LOL) to get in the door! I smiled as I realised it was the audience who were being scanned rather than the tickets – temperature check!

Masks need to be worn indoors at events in Scotland by law in certain situations, so the mask had to remain in place as we climbed the stairs and headed to the merch stall. Cue another first world post-pandemic issue – making yourself heard and understood by the merch guy behind the counter while wearing said mask. Mission accomplished though – two t-shirts and a BSC deck of cards duly purchased and stowed away inside Cherry.

The came the big dilemma for me for the evening – mask on or off while the band is on stage? Law says you don’t need to wear it while dancing in a nightclub or venue but does standing watching and intermittently dancing and headbanging count? Decisions …decisions…  

As I stood in the audience waiting for the support band to come onstage, I glanced round the growing crowd. It was probably 50/50 for masks being on before the Kris Barras band took to the stage. By three songs in, with the heat rising, I was struggling to breathe. Mask was duly removed for the remainder of the evening. I tried…

Several hours later, as the houselights came up, it was probably 90/10 for no masks. Trying to keep a mask on at a gig was a feat too far for me, I’m afraid.

The show itself was awesome. You can read my review of it on my sister blog- Black Stone Cherry at Barrowlands Ballroom, Glasgow 17 September 2021 | the525toglasgow (wordpress.com)

There’s also a new post-gig routine to be learned. Happy to report the post-gig Covid lateral flow test was also negative.

If stuffing a cotton bud up your nose and swirling it round in a plastic test tube before dropping X drops of the snottery liquid onto the test sample slide is all that’s needed to ensure gigs are a thing again then I’m all for it.

Cherry is delighted to be free once more too!

Cherry

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