Last Chance To See 600 sq mi: Hidden
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H-Town Rock
Rock Talk, Vol. IX
[Marc Brubaker / Houstonist] Jenny Lewis and "Farmer Dave" Scher perform at Warehouse Live on June 24th, 2009.
Indie darling Jenny Lewis, famous for her songwriting both as a solo artist as well as with her band Rilo Kiley rolled through town on Wednesday night. There was a little drama when, after seven songs she cut off Trying My Best To Love You due to some talking. We could have done without her boyfriend Jonathan Rice's tasteless comment, "it was good enough for Austin and Dallas, but maybe Houston just can't hack it." That aside, however, we felt she handled it pretty well, moving forward and rounding out a pretty good set. We heard plenty of whining about the show afterward, so for those of you that felt differently, we have a couple suggestions:
- If you're paying money to see a show, shut up and watch it.
- If you think she was out of line, have some perspective - if you were on a tour bus all day, playing every night, you wouldn't want to deal with bullshit either.
Check out our photos, and let us know how you felt in the comments.
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"If you think she was out of line, have some perspective - if you were on a tour bus all day, playing every night, you wouldn't want to deal with bullshit either."
Does anyone expect a waiter at a restaurant to be an asshole simply because he's been in a restaurant all day & working every night?
Musicians choose their career and can quit whenever they feel necessary.
No, but I'm not going to be an asshole to my waiter, either.
Concerts should totally be on a tip basis :)
Haha! Well I have a few friends that play shows for tips.
No, but I'm not going to be an asshole to my waiter, either.
They do indeed choose their careers, but they deserve respect just like any other human. She didn't dwell on it and keep bitching about it; she moved on fairly quickly.
I'll preface my comment by stating that I was not at this show. That being said, having worked with artists and musicians for a very long time, I've always held the belief that the best test of an artist's ability to entertain is how they deal with a show when everything isn't 'just right.' (ie: bad sound, loud crowd, no one there, etc...)
Of course nothing gets my goat more than obnoxious people talking during a show, especially since the assumption is that "if they didn't want to see it, why are they there?"
Lewis, Rice, et al would have been much better served to rely on the will of the audience to police the loud talkers rather than insulting everyone for the sanctity of what could be perceived as artistic smugness. A better question is where was the promoter, venue management and other stakeholders in the success of the show?
The argument of "I paid, so I'll do what I want" doesn't float either. I wouldn't walk into a movie theater and have a chat with my mum about her grocery list during the movie Beaches and justify doing so simply by producing a ticket stub. (Come to think of it, I probably wouldn't watch the movie Beaches to begin with.)
At play here is 'social manners.' Most people are pretty good about knowing when they've crossed the line. Most other people are good at telling them when they've done it. It appears as though this occasion had a miscalculation on both sides.
I just hope no one talks at the Journey cover band show on Saturday...
Does pouring your beer on the six yappy girls having a committee meeting behind you at the G-Love show count? I stopped just short of that. It seemed like a great idea at the time, but I didn't want to have to stand in line at the bar again.
you didn't mention the awesome in-crowd encore of Acid Tongue. that was pretty cool and indicated that ms. lewis harbored no hard feelings towards the crowd.
Indeed. We thought that cool as well.
I was there and was talking during that song. Why? Well I've been to a lot of concerts and when bands play 'new songs' or quiet ones its always been the queue to go to the restroom or talk with your friends. It's burnt into my circuitry. Was this wrong and disrespectful to Jenny? Probably but this is getting blown WAY OUT OF PROPORTION. People were talking and she wanted them to listen to what she was singing. She wasn't feeling it so she moved on to other numbers. Then her no name idiot boyfriend guitarist had to slam Houston. That is what pissed me off. Who the fuck does this guy think he is? Did anyone pay(or not pay) to see him? I sure as hell didn't.
Jenny wrangled the crowd back in and moved on with the show. Sure it had it's hiccups, out of tune pianos et al but she put on a good show. Coming out into the crowd to sing Acid Tongue for the encore was tops in my books. Any bad feelings that were still left with the crowd should've gone away with her gesture to be with her fans. She went INTO the crowd that was booing her with her ENTIRE band and sang a song unplugged. If you can't see this as a gesture of peace then you're an idiot.
I'd have to agree here. Though I may be the teeny tiniest bit biased, because I've been madly in love with Jenny for the last 6 yrs or so. It is getting blown way out of proportion. She wasn't feeling it and she let the audience know. She did get a little cranky about it, but she more than smoothed things over. (Hello? Her encore was INCREDIBLE!) But really how much would it suck to get up in front of an audience and have them be disrespectful. You know it would hurt your feelings and lets face it, she's not a huge name down here so the people that go to her shows obviously know and care about her for the most part, so why would you want her to feel uncomfortable?
The same thing happened at the Andrew Bird show at House of Blues. People were drunkenly talking the whole time right behind me. Same thing at Miller Outdoor a couple of weekends ago. There was a group of girls behind me, who had been sitting and talking during the entire performance (sat through the intermission), who said at the end of the show when the lights came on and everyone got up. "Oh, it must be intermission. Want to stay for the second part?"
Go to a bar if you want to chat. Please don't ruin everyone else's experience.
I have no sympathy for anyone who's on a tour bus all day. Poor baby. What a hard life.
On the other hand, great pics Marc!!
I was there too and nothing makes me angrier than when people are talking bullshit when an artist is trying to pour their heart out to you. They sure shut up when Jenny started playing songs they know like "Rise Up With Fists." Either way, I love on-stage band drama and it certainly woke up everyone in attendance.
Wasn't there. But there has been an epidemic of people not shutting the fuck up at shows at the Warehouse. The generally bad sound in the venue doesn't help, either.
Talk somewhere else and let the people who paid good money to hear a band acutally *hear the band*.
I've been to two other shows where musicians have complained about the talking. Does this not occur in other cities?
I've heard people talking at shows with very small audiences during the headlining act. Who are these people that pay for shows of little known acts and then talk through the set? I could understand if you're going to see The Fray and only care to hear their radio songs, but who pays to see Manchester Orchestra and then ignores them?
I hardly go to concerts any more because the talking infuriates me. I stopped going to see big acts because the annoyances weren't worth the high cost of the tickets. But it's happening at the concerts of relatively unknown acts as well.