Why do you have to talk there?

Last Friday, the Boy Wonder, some friends and I all went to see Dr John and the Lower 911, supported by John Fohl from the Lower 911. Needless to say, the music was awesome, but the breathtaking rudeness of certain people there astonished me. While we were watching John Fohl we stood just in front of the seating area, with an area of about 50 square meters in front of us with nobody in it (the venue wasn’t full so we didn’t want to stand right at the front as that seemed a bit intense!). After a couple of songs, three people came and stood directly in front of us, to the point where one of them was almost leaning on me. With an entire venue almost empty they couldn’t have at least considered one of the many spots where they wouldn’t have been standing right in someone’s way. However, this poor behaviour is nothing compared to the girl with the squeaky voice who stood behind us (we were right at the front) and shouted constantly through about 3 songs in a row. In the end, I asked her to be quiet, very politely considering how annoying it was to listen to her, and she said ‘Oh, was I shouting?’. Now, I would have thought that the fact someone who was actually leaning on the stage could hear her would have indicated that, but I, again politely, nodded and smiled. Three minutes later, our friends heard her start talking again, only this time she was saying ‘I can’t believe that girl at the front could really hear me’ (as though I would ask her to be quiet for any other reason!), to which they all turned round as one and made it clear that, indeed we could all hear her. But we survived and the next day went to the 02 to the festival of New Orleans. This was a free festival, which it would have to have been because the main stage was in the outer circle of the 02, which, ironically is a little like the 9th circle of hell (where Dante put the Sowers of Discord). We saw some awesome people including Kermit Ruffins, Buckwheat Zydeco and Alan Toussaint who were stupendous. I had to move during Kermit Ruffins’ set because the guy behind me was singing along, badly, and I again had to ask a group of people to stop talking during Alan Toussaint’s set because they were shrieking at one another all through the music, and raising the volume during the solos, as though the band were being quiet to facilitate their conversation. Now, I am sure that people who go to gigs to talk loudly to their friends think that the Boy Wonder and I are terrible bores, don’t know how to have fun, and, worse, want to stop others from having a good time. But, what they fail to understand is that a shrill conversation with your mates can be had anywhere, anywhere in the world, but on Friday night, the only place to see Dr John playing was in St Albans. Why would I pay money (incidentally the tickets were a wedding present to the Boy Wonder) to stand in a room where Dr John’s playing, make my way right to the front and stand next to the stage if I just wanted to hear some squeaky voiced twat failing to appreciate the music that people have come all the way from New Orleans to play to those who want to hear it. Even at a free gig such as Saturday’s, there is no excuse – people have fought their way through crowds of unpleasantly slow-moving people to see a band who ooze funk through their very pores and to have it ruined by people who clearly don’t really appreciate what they’re hearing is an insult to the musicians and a complete pain in the arse to those who just want to get down and enjoy the sound of the music.