University of Virginia Library

Colloquium

Idiots Stage Counter - Concert

By MICHAEL CASCIO

The idiot which comprises
much of today's rock audience has
turned the direction of the rock
concert from a valid musical
experience to the complete social
event. The audience should share
equal billing. It's their show. And
University epitomizes all that is
obnoxious and tasteless about the
teenybopper aspects of Modern
American Hip Youth.

It's a tax on the memory to
recall a decent, mature audience at
a U. Va. rock performance in the
past four years. It's getting worse.
Moreover, it's a trend which makes
us laugh at the above "ad of the
future" only because we can see it
happening now, today, right here at
the Old U (it hasn't changed a bit).

The Byrds-Beach Boys concert
Saturday was a fine example which,
in itself, proves conclusively my
hypothesis: University students here
cannot attend a performance, let
alone appreciate its musical value,
without displaying their inane,
childish, drunken-stoned Wahoo
revelry.

I do not particularly care if the
performers (the Beach Boys in this
case) were offended by the usual
immaturity of the University Hall
crowd. Performers are usually made
of harder stuff than the audiences
for which they perform. They can
take it. But I, the concert-goer,
cannot.

Deserved Encore

To their credit, the crowd
members gave a good response to
the Byrds. That is, to their hit
songs. The newer, non-Top 40
music was received tepidly (as
could be predicted by previous
displays of musical ignorance).

The Beach Boys then took a
long time setting up their
equipment. They rightfully
apologised for the unavoidable
delay. With foresight, an announcer
patiently told the crowd, "There is
a set order to the Beach Boy's
songs....At the end of the second
set they will ask for requests from
the audience." Certainly this would
keep the screamers quiet during the
generous two-hour show planned
by the group. But the audience
seemed to think it meant otherwise.

Anyone remotely familiar with
the Beach Boys of late (a bit much
to ask of the In-Crowd) would
know that they perform a mixture
of old and new material. The U
Boys, however, couldn't wait for
the Beach Boys. After all, they
came to hear the BIG HITS.

"We want oldies" they shrieked,
hardly embarrassed when the group
made it very plain again they did
not need to be told what to play.
The loud-mouthing kept up, and
the audience was not satisfied until
the Beach Boys did "oldies" in a
deserved (if only for sheer stamina)
encore.

Each concert, then, becomes a
vain attempt at a sort of Woodstock
Nirvana, and Saturday night's was
no exception. In the drive to
recreate their past, students
performed the outlines of what
may become a vague ritual, like the
Big Game or the Prom. Have I
jumped to conclusions? I don't
think so. A preview article in the
CD last week, filled with
inaccuracies, set the scene by telling
us the concert "would be only
complete by wearing saddle shoes
and a high school letter jacket.
Which may have been an
inadvertent code for, "Let's dig the
oldies. Forget the music."

Any Big Name will do. Big
enough to scream your lungs out
and no one will think you're the
complete ass that you really are.
Big enough to make listening
unimportant, because you already
know how it's supposed to sound.

Constructive inquiries are
probably futile. However, those of
you who have read this far may
want to ask or answer these
questions:

Does it really make much sense
to yell out what you want the
performer to play during the
performance? Or are you too
impatient to wait till the end?
What, then, is the purpose of an
encore?

Why don't non-screamers tell
the loudmouths sitting near them
to keep quiet?

Idiots

Why do so many students with
so little interest in the performers
or the music bother to attend the
concerts? Why not stay back at the
house and listen to records of the
musicians' "greatest hits"? That's
what they want to hear, isn't it?

And how much longer must
contemporary artists' performances
be ruined by the actions of
intolerable idiots?

I used to think Frank Zappa was
too harsh in his appraisal of such
rock audiences. But he is so right:
For the most part, the fans are
unsophisticated and do not know
how to listen or respond to a
performer in a mature manner to
indicate their pleasure or
displeasure. It is doubtful that 50
per cent of these rockers would
know a good performance if they
saw or heard one, even when they
have been exposed to the music all
their lives.

Listen First

At U Hall in 1969, Janis Joplin
could feel the shallowness of such
false exuberance. A "moved"
audience does not drown out the
performer or cause someone like
Miss Joplin to throw down her
microphone in disgust.

And, while classical-music
concerts are not always sterling
examples of audience expression,
they at least allow the paying
patrons to enjoy and receive the
full benefits of the performance
without overt hindrance by a
circus-parade of Frisbees, booze,
dope, and uncaged animals from a
college zoo.

I want to enjoy rock music
concerts. I, too, may become
excited by the music-after all,
that's what rock-and-roll is all about.
But I somehow feet cheated if I
don't get the chance to listen first.