This is not a review of the Echo and the Bunnymen concert from their last show on their 2026 US tour in Minneapolis. I enjoyed myself. They played enough of their old songs to satisfy me, although I would have liked a few deeper tracks from Ocean Rain. It is no secret at all that was my favorite of their albums and the last one that I enjoyed 100%. Crocodiles was excellent, as was Porcupine, but I merely liked those albums “a lot”, whereas Ocean Rain was a near spiritual experience for me the first time I listened.
The performance aside (old guys playing old music well enough to justify the cost of admission), it was the people watching that intrigued me while waiting for the lads to come onstage.
The people were split into two groups by age: the geezers like me, and the early twenty-somethings. Almost none of them were between the ages of 25 and 50. And, while I am not generally very kind to myself when I look in the mirror (which is why I focus on brushing teeth or eliminating sprouting ear hair when I do so I cannot see the sum of the whole) — I was earnestly surprised at how young my peers made me look. Although almost none could have been even ten years my senior, many of them looked closer to my mother and father’s age than seemed reasonable, especially the men.
I forced myself to look in the mirror when I got home. Nope. That guy in the mirror had grey hair and a few more wrinkles than ten years ago, but I felt I looked what you can expect for mid-fifties. If I were generous to myself, I might even place me at pre-50s, but that is a bit of a stretch I think. I’m possibly not a good judge of that these days, so maybe I am mistaken.
The conversations overheard also leaned a bit on the absurd scale. Some of it sounded genuinely trapped in the 80s, but ludicrously out of touch with the era. Bragging about how hifi their stereo. Talking about bands from the era as if they were experts, but getting basic details wrong. Namedropping acts as if to prove they were there first, but unable to provide context.
At first, I was surprised that I didn’t see any of my peers who I clearly recognized from that time — a couple of faces looked familiar, but didn’t belong to people I actually hung out with. But it became increasingly clear that the majority of the crowd were not actually part of my peer group. And the younger were not recognizable for obvious reasons.
Watching people join sing-alongs during the performance, it became clear that people didn’t know any of the songs aside from those getting limited airplay on a single radio station in the cities. For the most part, people sang along with “Lips Like Sugar” and “The Killing Moon”, with a handful of others singing along with “Ocean Rain” during the encore, about the same singing “Rescue”. Other than that, it was mostly blank stares amongst both young and old.
It was surreal at times, especially when one of those people who looked ten years my senior (and probably wasn’t) caused the show to pause for a medical incident.
The man passed out. Being one of the more belligerent of the concert-goers, I put it at drink or dehydration, although it wasn’t all that hot in the crowd. When the show resumed, we had no further shenanigans from his area behind me. I expect younger crowds at concerts to be rowdy. Not 50-somethings who look like 60-somethings.
It made me rethink going to concerts in the future.
There are only a handful of shows that would interest me as I get older. I’m realizing that live music doesn’t hold the same appeal it did at one time. My tolerance for the crowds has largely evaporated — whereas I didn’t mind rubbing elbows in the past, I want and need more personal space these days and the shenanigans of some of the concert-attendees is worse than I remember it being when I used to see live music all the time.
On my list, if they come around (* = low likelihood):
- Kælan Mikla
- Heartworms (*)
- New Model Army (*)
- Heilung (more for the “ritual” experience, maybe give a pass to preserve the memory of the first time)
- Skinny Puppy (*) (their “last show” was a few years ago)
There a few others I’d see on the cheap, but not pay current pricing for. My threshold for paying to be annoyed by crowds has moved. Besides: People watching wasn’t as much fun of a pastime as it used to be.
29 responses to “Kissing the tortoise shell”
I’ve experienced similar experiences lately at concerts. My daughter and I recently went to see an artist she got me into, Alex G. Most of the audience was like 12-15 years old, the two of us standing out. I was confused as he’s neither young nor new, and his lyrics are poetic and interesting.
It turns out a few of his songs are trending on social media. The crowd would lose their mind at those and stare blankly the rest of the time. Interesting.
Wow. Dropping $40-80 on a handful of songs is kind of absurd. And then dropping another $50 for a concert T-shirt that you can probably get for $25 online…
But people are doing things for absurd reasons all of the time now. I’m not sure that I understand.
Agreed. Honestly, it felt like they did it only for a social media post. Sigh.
Also, at one point the teens were catcalling him and he said “I’m a human, you know.”
🙄 And people wonder why Gen X is dropping out.
I sympathise. I’ve thought of going to the odd gig in recent years, but thought better of it, probably for the best. It never used to bother me being in a crowd, but I’m far less tolerant of other people these days. Better to stay home and listen to what I like there. 🙁
With so many live performances on YouTube these days, and professional ones at that, I am less interested in being at shows in person. Same with movies. Why deal with unruly and rude people?
Exactly. We go to the cinema quite regularly, but there are still those who don’t understand the concept of QUIET so others can hear. That’s about as much as I can tolerate. 🤨
If you hit the weekday matinees here, you can usually get by with having the theater mostly to yourself. I usually work, however. There is also the little problem that there are so few movies I feel are worth the price of admission, even on discount daytime pricing. And the theater screens feel hardly bigger than my home television screen (I was spoiled by huge screens with balcony seating growing up).
Even so, it feels like there is always one person who needs to sit near wherever you sit, talking on their phone loud enough to be heard over the movie.
I had a friend in my teens who’d go to the cinema armed with noisy, crunchy snacks as well as garlic, to make sure that nobody sat near him! A bit extreme though. We have an historic cinema near us, dating from WW2, which has low prices and a ‘Senior Screen’ showing each week with lower prices – and their prices overall are less than the bigger cinemas. It’s much better, but we’ll never get rid of the munchers and the odd talker, I fear. YouTube and TV subscriptions do well for most of the time though.
I wonder why going to concerts doesn’t really entice me anymore, while I still love and need the music so much. It’s the people, man, the people.
The people and, frankly, the weird or just plain terrible mix at the board. People don’t go to hear the bass and drums, they go to hear the singer and the other instruments (I’ve noticed a recent trend towards leaning heavy on the beat over the melody in a couple of recent concerts. You’d think the singers would be screaming at the sound techs).
But yeah. Something changed for me a long time ago with crowds, around Lallapalooza I. They’ve just gotten worse over time. More intoxication, rowdiness and belligerence. No one seems to be there to listen. As Bridgette said, these days they seem to be there more for the instagram post than for the music.
I think the move to general admission entry has probably added to to the problem. With seats, you had at least a framework for order, even if people ignored the seating at times.
The first concerts I went to in my youth were the nearest things to communal religious experiences I’ve ever felt. it’s a symptom of our times that nowadays people are only there to post that they’ve been there, or to ‘act up.’
As for the music quality—like anything creative, the artists are scrambling to try to continue a life that has passed on by, or else scrambling to please the machine that keeps feeding them a bit here and a bit there. The artistry itself, the idea of working on something until it’s perfect and then presenting it-there’s little to be gained from that in today’s society. And that’s what made those great albums you’re talking about, and the performances we remember. I’m glad you went, but I’m also thankful for the memories. It was a glorious time to be young.
When everyone can claim to artistry, how do any of the gatekeepers matter?
I never thought in my youth that I would say this, but I now wish there was a real gatekeeper still around. There’s too much noise these days in order to find those diamonds in the rough or better — applied to all of the arts, not just music.
I think we have to be our own gatekeepers and find it for ourselves. I’m convinced that great artistry is a fundamental need for humankind. I’m not entirely sure humankind is destined to survive as we know it.
But I get what you mean, too. Gatekeepers do play a role in announcing things to the public and spreading the word. The problem is the clubs became too exclusive, and there’s so many voices now. Where’s the happy medium? Can we build it ourselves?
I’m not sure there is a solution. Until there is reliable curation, slop drowns out innovation. There is no reliable curation because it suffers from the same malady as creative arts — too much slop and a focus on monetization to be credible.
Not everyone is a great artist, whatever their skill set(s). We need to stop treating everyone as if they are great.
When everyone is exceptional, nobody is exceptional.
[waves his cane and mutters something unintelligible before leaving his front yard].
You know my position. Get rid of the money. Search for the beauty. It does exist, and more will be made if we’re willing to keep trying.
Yes, but there is plenty of noise to navigate. I think if there is anything I wish there was less of in the various arts after “monetization”, it is the noise (said this contributor to the noise).
Do you think the noise is because folks are trying to figure out a way forward, or just rattling their cages?
I think the noise on one side consists of people trying earnestly to be creators and well-intentioned people being far too generous with their support and praise.
On another side, there are people who are creating because technology allows them to create “junk food” (slop) for the masses.
Add to it the disingenuous “discovery” algorithms that promote views over quality, and you have an enshittified arts scene where the only thing that matters is how “loud” you can be. Out how outrageous you can be. Or, yes, how stupid you can be.
Unsung talent, in the meanwhile is demoted to the hinterlands, never to see the light of day. Like “good news”, it is less interesting than “bad news”.
But I’m being a grumpy old man again, uselessly waving his cane at kids trampling his lawn and selectively ignoring the emergent weeds he has wrought on his own.
It’s up to us and the quality of our work.
🙂
Yes, definitely the first two acts. Oh, and I absolutely agree regarding audiences. It’s bad enough when people don’t bother watching the support (I mean, for one thing you’ve paid a lot to get in to the gig, and expanding one’s musical palette can only be a good thing), but when people start chatting through the headliners…Well!
To be honest, it hadn’t been announced that local jazz musicians were being hired across the tour to act as supporting musicians (part of the heckling). I’m not clear on who chose the guy (who was good, mind you), but it did have a bit of a Peanuts/Schroeder feel to the jazz, which was a bit unsettling. Whoever was responsible should have chosen a more drums/upright bass ensemble (with guitar, keys, or both), which would have fit in better. But there’s no reason to be rude.
That said, yeah… Mocking the headliner and then passing out? Poor form. And it was far from being worthy of heckling. That crowd member was obviously there for the wrong reasons. Mac has a thick accent to American ears. That doesn’t mean he was three sheets to the wind, as implied.
Yes, sometimes I think the promoter’s agenda lacks a bit of forethought regarding the atmosphere the headline act creates. Fair enough for smaller bands, I can see where they’re coming from, but not with acts who are likely to attract larger audiences and partizan crowds.
A lot of music fans though, imo, can be somewhat inflexible in their tastes!
Absolutely. Especially when they are there to party instead of to listen! LOL. “Damn fool on that piano is harshing my rowdy mood!”
🤣
Amusing! Not sure if that was your intention! Getting pushed and shoved has never been my thing when it comes to live music venues! 😊
You gotta laugh or you’ll cry some days.
As time goes on I’m not sure if I’m cut out for live music anymore. Playing or watching.
I agree, on both points! If you don’t laugh sometimes then you cry!
😊