Chicago 2 - Wasn't the crowd's fault...

pjalive21 · August 2008

Vedd Hedd wrote:

Yeah, thursday was more laid back, more locals. I think there were more people from all around on Friday, as it was the last show on the tour, and a Friday night.

are you serious?

did you even go to the show thursday????

the crowd was enthusiastic and full of energy

i also met alot of people from Milwaukee and other surrounding areas, so i dont think it was all locals...including myself from St. Louis

DarbyCrash · August 2008

mkumer24 wrote:

I'm glad you still enjoyed the show even with some of the dbags around you.

Yeah, I did. You can't help but lose yourself and your surroundings in some of those songs. I was especially moved by Throw Your Arms Around Me.

efroten · August 2008

DarbyCrash wrote:

My friend Sashka and I went to the show last night (my husband is not a fan, I think I have mentioned that here before). I was in Balcony 1, row M seat 314...and around a bunch of total idiots who were not there to enjoy the show and Ed, but to chug beer, high five eachother and be as obnoxious as possible. The people in the row in front of us got up a total of 20 times (not kidding) to get more beer. DURING the songs. There was a couple sitting to the front/right of us making out the entire time and spilling beer all over themselves and us. At one point I got so pissed at the guy behind me for blowing this earpiercing whistle in my ear, I turned around and told him to shut the fuck up. We got into an argument about it and it almost ruined Masters of War for me. I felt kind of bad for flipping out on him, so I turned around to apologize and he promised not to whistle. Ok, all good.

But seriously, as for the other folks...WHY the fuck bother going to see Ed at such a nice venue, when it is CLEAR that he has had it with the people screaming out requests (I remember him mentioning something about putting quarters up his ass), only to get drunk, yell and scream YELLOW LEDBETTER!! Why??

And what was with the girl jumping up on the stage during Let My Love Open The Door??? It amazes me how some people lose total control of themselves when handed a beer.

Other than all of that nonsense, Ed was fantastic and fucking funny too!! It was great to see him in such a beautiful theater.

I was in Balcony 1, row X, seats 301-303 so pretty close to you I think. There was a huge drunk guy behind me yelling "INDIFFERENCE!" off and on. Not nearly as annoying as the Chelios Bitch though.

DarbyCrash · August 2008

efroten wrote:

I was in Balcony 1, row X, seats 301-303 so pretty close to you I think. There was a huge drunk guy behind me yelling "INDIFFERENCE!" off and on. Not nearly as annoying as the Chelios Bitch though.

Oh god, yeah I heard that guy. And the girl yelling "Chelios!!" over and over needed to go far, far away. There were a few guys around me yelling for her to shut the fuck up. I felt like I was at a college dorm party.

cubbieblue82 · August 2008

I wish I could have been there, but I wasn't able to get tickets.

The things people are complaining about though are common to basically any concert I have ever been to. People talking, drunken behavior, screaming during quiet songs... These are things I almost always experience at shows.

In particular, despite all the awesome people on this board, I have had some of the worst experiences with other fans at PJ shows. They just attract that 20-something drunken fratboy crowd. I wouldn't really expect an EV solo show to be much different, but what do I know.

Lighten up, and feel lucky you got to see one of the great songwriters of our time doing his thing.

NeilJam · August 2008

cubbieblue82 wrote:

I wish I could have been there, but I wasn't able to get tickets.

The things people are complaining about though are common to basically any concert I have ever been to. People talking, drunken behavior, screaming during quiet songs... These are things I almost always experience at shows.

In particular, despite all the awesome people on this board, I have had some of the worst experiences with other fans at PJ shows. They just attract that 20-something drunken fratboy crowd. I wouldn't really expect an EV solo show to be much different, but what do I know.

Lighten up, and feel lucky you got to see one of the great songwriters of our time doing his thing.

The reason people complain about others screaming song requests is because they would sometime scream over Ed talking. It's not like a PJ show where they have it turned up to 11. People also yell out dumb requests that Ed would have to have the whole band there to play.

Ed was trying to put on a more intimate show than a typical PJ concert. It's a shame some ignored this and acted so boorishly. Most of the crowd was respectful of Ed at the DC show I went to, but the yelling to start to getting a little out of hand. Ed was able to handle some of it with a little humor, but eventually had to tell those people to basically shut the fuck up. At one point when he was trying to talk to the crowd people yelled out silly stuff and Ed had to tell them "I think this is more important" (not a verbatim quote). I think he was talking about the war, but I'm not 100% certain of that either.

efroten · August 2008

cubbieblue82 wrote:

I wish I could have been there, but I wasn't able to get tickets.

The things people are complaining about though are common to basically any concert I have ever been to. People talking, drunken behavior, screaming during quiet songs... These are things I almost always experience at shows.

In particular, despite all the awesome people on this board, I have had some of the worst experiences with other fans at PJ shows. They just attract that 20-something drunken fratboy crowd. I wouldn't really expect an EV solo show to be much different, but what do I know.

Lighten up, and feel lucky you got to see one of the great songwriters of our time doing his thing.

Not sure why you were not able to get tickets, that sucks. But tickets were available for the shows the day before and the day after on stubhub.com (and probably other sites) for face value or even LESS than face value for nose bleed seats (where I sat night 1).

And I understand what you are saying about how concerts are normally noisy and full of people yelling, but this wasn't a normal PJ show. It was a sit down show, very relaxed, and Ed asked people to sit down and basically shut the fuck up.

When its just a guy and a guitar on stage playing slow quiet songs, people ruin the event by yelling drunk B.S.

Pearl Jam_ie · August 2008

Shit, I think you all must be jaded from Thursday night. I guess you would've had to been in Milwaukee to appreciate Friday nights crowd. I was towards the back of the balcony too. I enjoyed watching the "Chelios!" bitch get told where to go by about a hundred people. What a c*nt she was! No sense in arguing what show was better, just think of the people that didn't even get to go at all!

cubbieblue82 · August 2008

efroten wrote:

Not sure why you were not able to get tickets, that sucks. But tickets were available for the shows the day before and the day after on stubhub.com (and probably other sites) for face value or even LESS than face value for nose bleed seats (where I sat night 1).

And I understand what you are saying about how concerts are normally noisy and full of people yelling, but this wasn't a normal PJ show. It was a sit down show, very relaxed, and Ed asked people to sit down and basically shut the fuck up.

When its just a guy and a guitar on stage playing slow quiet songs, people ruin the event by yelling drunk B.S.

I guess I should have checked stubhub... I looked on ebay and only saw tickets for 2x's face value or more. After going to Lolla, just didn't have it in the budget to spring that kind of money, as much as I would have loved to go.

Believe me, I understand the frustration people feel when people cant just shut up. I've never understood why some people will fork over loads of money to go to a show, only to spend their time talking through every song. Could have done that for free elsewhere.

I just think you should expect this type of behavior regardless. I know it was supposed to be a more intimate show, but I'm sure it still drew many of the typical PJ crowd. I've seen worse stuff going on at PJ shows than any other band, so that's why I said what I did.

That being said though, I'm sure if I was there I'd of probably been pissed too. Just try to focus on the positives. You all got to see EV last night!:D

3days · August 2008

Thursday night was incredible, but I also went to Milwaukee and last night's show. While it wasn't AS bad as Milwaukee, there were an awful lot of disruptive people last night. What really chaps my ass is that he didn't finish playing "Brain Damage" due to some of those people. It was sounding so awesome, but it's a quiet song and people were yelling over it. I didn't mind people cheering so much, but I did mind hearing... "Pink Floyd! Woooooooo!" and "Floyd rules!" repeatedly as he was singing. I'm guessing that's why he stopped. So, even though it wasn't quite as bad as Milwaukee, I don't think Friday's crowd earned a gold star or anything.

esacks23 · August 2008

period. that's it. the drunk douchebag meathead assholes that couldn't keep their mouths shut ruined it. everything that should have been good about that show was overshadowed by the jerks in the crowd. it was hands down the most annoying experience i've ever had at a concert. we were about to hear BRAIN DAMAGE ACOUSTIC for probably the first and only time and eddie got so annoyed and pissed off because of these loud mouthed idiots that he stopped less than a minute into it, threw the sheet music aside, and moved on to the next song. people are morons. i just don't understand the "screamers". do they think it's funny? do they think other people think it's funny? are they trying to annoy everyone? are they trying to piss off the artist? i'm actually surprised there weren't any fights because for every screamer there were hundreds of agitated fans. there actually was an a bit of an altercation with some words exchange in the lower balcony just right of center close to where i was sitting but the two rows between the two prevented anything physical. anyway, thursday night was amazing and one of the best musical experiences i've ever had, but friday was ruined and left a very bad taste in my mouth. it was a shame.

DarbyCrash · August 2008

esacks23 wrote:

period. that's it. the drunk douchebag meathead assholes that couldn't keep their mouths shut ruined it. everything that should have been good about that show was overshadowed by the jerks in the crowd. it was hands down the most annoying experience i've ever had at a concert. we were about to hear BRAIN DAMAGE ACOUSTIC for probably the first and only time and eddie got so annoyed and pissed off because of these loud mouthed idiots that he stopped less than a minute into it, threw the sheet music aside, and moved on to the next song. people are morons. i just don't understand the "screamers". do they think it's funny? do they think other people think it's funny? are they trying to annoy everyone? are they trying to piss off the artist? i'm actually surprised there weren't any fights because for every screamer there were hundreds of agitated fans. there actually was an a bit of an altercation with some words exchange in the lower balcony just right of center close to where i was sitting but the two rows between the two prevented anything physical. anyway, thursday night was amazing and one of the best musical experiences i've ever had, but friday was ruined and left a very bad taste in my mouth. it was a shame.

I saw the argument in Balcony 1 that you're referring to. Totally knew it would happen, because the girl with them had been standing up and screaming a few times during the show. I myself wanted to go down there and give her a piece of my mind...but all that would have done is add to the noise.

Vedd Hedd · August 2008

pjalive21 wrote:

are you serious?

did you even go to the show thursday????

the crowd was enthusiastic and full of energy

i also met alot of people from Milwaukee and other surrounding areas, so i dont think it was all locals...including myself from St. Louis

Yes, I was at both shows, and there were less screamers at thursdays show. it was more laid back. It was an intense show, but not as raucous as Friday.

I didnt say it was all locals. I said it was more locals. Probably due to the fact that it was a friday, and more people could travel.

I know severla people who made the trip for the friday show only.

Vedd Hedd · August 2008

Honestly, being on the floor, I could not really hear all the yells as much as you guys in the balconies.

I assumed Ed only used Brain Damage as an intro to masters of war. He was constantly tossing his music aside.

Did any of you notify security of the screamers or yellers?

LotteryWinner · August 2008

I don't like people screaming a bunch either but hell people are drunk and do stupid things when drinking, that is part of being drunk. Did it run the show for me, HELL NO.

Ed is a drinker too and to say they should not sell booze there is just hypocritical. It is part of the concert experience. It was an experiment for Ed to play these gigs and he even said at the beginning, it is not a solo gig as we are just as much a part of it as him and the crew.

If you did not enjoy yourself at the concert you might want to rethink going to concerts.

ScottZeagle · August 2008

Vedd Hedd wrote:

Honestly, being on the floor, I could not really hear all the yells as much as you guys in the balconies.

I assumed Ed only used Brain Damage as an intro to masters of war. He was constantly tossing his music aside.

Did any of you notify security of the screamers or yellers?

I was in the 4th row (thanks 10C!) on Friday night, and I certainly didn't get the feeling that Ed cut Brain Damage short...I think he did the exact "teaser" that he wanted to do and them went on to MoW.

Yeah, there were some people who needed to shut up, but I really couldn't hear most of it where we were setting.

pearljim · August 2008

pjamamy wrote:

Am I the only one who thinks it's lame that Chelios brought the Stanley Cup to the show?

Only way Chicago will see the Cup!

Seriously he's from Chicago, why not bring it?

Jason P · August 2008

pearljim wrote:

Only way Chicago will see the Cup!
Seriously he's from Chicago, why not bring it?

HA!

It boggles my mind that someone would blame a few drunk screamers solely on the presence of Lord Stanley's Cup. What was their second leading theory??? George Bush?? Space Aliens?? Global Warming??

DarbyCrash · August 2008

LotteryWinner wrote:

I don't like people screaming a bunch either but hell people are drunk and do stupid things when drinking, that is part of being drunk. Did it run the show for me, HELL NO.

Ed is a drinker too and to say they should not sell booze there is just hypocritical. It is part of the concert experience. It was an experiment for Ed to play these gigs and he even said at the beginning, it is not a solo gig as we are just as much a part of it as him and the crew.

If you did not enjoy yourself at the concert you might want to rethink going to concerts.

I am pretty sure, even while drunk, Ed would respect a musician being on stage, asking everyone to "shut the fuck up."

tylerj1462 · August 2008

I thought the show was fantastic. The crowd was OK, much better then the Milwaukee crowd.

Being from Milwaukee I was hoping the crowd would have been respectable. I know it was only a few assholes, but it still makes for a shitty experience for Eddie and the security people.

Chicago 2 - Wasn't the crowd's fault...

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