What to do when you have to tune a lot during shows?

[coldbrightsunlight]

I would somewhat cheekily suggest that the people applauding after the first verse did so because they were entertained.

Music is, and popular music always has been, both entertainment and art. We can find examples of "the wrong kind of appreciation" from the dawn of time and examples of "the good kind of appreciation" from whenever the last day of gigs was.

[dubkitty]

i differ and say that they were saying "this is a good one." listen to the roar on 4WS when Graham Nash breaks out "Chicago," his song about the Chicago 8 trial, at the Auditorium Theatre in Chicago a few blocks from the Federal Courthouse. when he sang:

though your brother's bound and gagged
and they've chained him to a chair
won't you please come to Chicago
just to sing?

he was speaking for all of us in that moment, a gesture of solidarity far from "entertainment."

[dubkitty]

for me Radiohead is a modern version of that. they speak directly to my hopelessness, anomie, alienation, and general sense of being an alien alone on a hostile planet. hearing Thom i feel "thank lower-case god, i'm not the only one" in the same way CSNY channeled the horror of Kent State into "Ohio." or Black Flag did with "Rise Above."

[coldbrightsunlight]

I was being entirely tongue in cheek about the applause thing. But like, since before then, people applauded solos, or before "classical music" became this rarified thing they applauded at particularly good bits of an orchestral piece, etc. I think in a lot of these instances the line between "entertained" and "appreciating a piece of art" is not a line. It's all kind of the same, and I certainly don't think it's separated in any meaningful way between then and now. For all I know they're still doing this at folk clubs, I don't go to folk clubs.

As a sort of corollary to that, I get none of those things you mention about Radiohead out of them, at least on a conscious level that I would ever definitively articulate. But I still like and appreciate their music a lot as art and entertainment. I would wager a lot of people clapping at Radiohead gigs are just thinking "that song is great and they played it great". Or maybe some of them are thinking "this is boring when are they going to play Creep?".

[dubkitty]

of course. but there are also a sizeable number who, like me, hang on to their music like a life preserver in a force 10 gale. you can hear it when we sing along.

[coldbrightsunlight]

Oh no singing along

Now there's something that mostly bugs me at shows

[VREEEEVROOOOOW]

People often start clapping whenever we transition to a quiet part. Again, it would irk me if I were in the audience, but on stage, I honestly do not care.

Still haven't figured out a "solution" to this, and have a gig on Friday where there'll be a lengthy tuning session from DADGBD to CGCGBC, but oh well. People insist we have a good "stage presence", despite just standing with our backs to the audience, not talking at all, being fairly stationary, and spending a bunch of time tuning and catching our breath between songs, so I guess it's fine.

[coldbrightsunlight]

I guess clapping in the quiet part is better than zero clapping. Now I'm just jealous you have gigs

[voerking]

downtime between songs is fine, maybe even good. people in bands stress about awkward silences, but i think it's sometimes beneficial for there to be some relief during the set, especially if it's really loud music being played. i'd much rather have a short break to talk to the person next to me, or order a drink at the bar without having to scream than be assaulted by looper noise between every song!

[coldbrightsunlight]

Yeah I am inclined to agree. Quiet-ish between song noise can be nice too, or in some shows constant noise can work but not every day

[voerking]

this thread reminds of when i saw the For Carnation at a small basement bar back in the 90's & Brian McMahon spent a REALLY long time tuning between the first few songs. this particular venue had a pole in the middle of the stage. after his third or fourth lengthy tuning break, he was turning around to face the crowd & he smacked his guitar into the pole...so he started slowly tuning again & a huge wave of GROANS that turned into laughter & heckling rolled through the crowd. so maybe not all tuning breaks are great.

[dubkitty]

when i used to do solo acoustic stuff and broke a string i'd tell bad jokes while i fixed it as quickly as i could.

[chromandre]

oh yes, relief is the best word for it. it's the ultimate assignment in ambient music composition. you just need some kind of vague sound that is conversational in volume and interesting enough to keep the vibe going, and I guess some banter would do the trick, but on the other hand you have a closet full of weird ass pedals that would totally cover for your lack of personality

[coldbrightsunlight]

I think that is what pedals are for in general, so makes sense

[Dandolin]

i thought that was what keyboardists were for?