Get up, stand up
Please do not remain seated
KERRI WOLOSZYN STAFF
Recently, I was at a small bar where a couple of local bands were playing. The bar was sparsely populated with the expected conglomerate of hipsters, all sitting down, drinking, and listening intently to the music. Then, as if bestowed from the rock gods above, a visibly drunk, mass of a jock came up to the front of the stage and began to dance. He did not just dance in the regular inebriated, stumbling manner. Instead, he did all of the classics like “The Lawnmower,” “The Shopping Cart,” and “The Watermelon.” And, in a final inspired move, he took off his belt, laid on the floor and did “The Worm” for a solid minute. When he was finished, the muscle-man took a bow and everyone cheered.
He got the most applause of the evening — none of the bands came close. And it was all for doing something that one is supposed to do at a rock show: stand up and dance.
Now I do not suggest that when going to a concert everyone should have a dance routine prepared, but getting into the music is part of the fun and part of the experience. At a number of recent Winnipeg shows, I have been surprised at the lack of audience participation.
At the last Wilco concert in the city, there were a number of audience members standing at the front of the stage at the Burton Cummings Theatre for the Performing Arts. I was sitting a few rows from the front and my view was being obstructed by the large group of “standing room only” ticket holders. I wasn’t worried though, because I assumed that when Wilco came on stage, everyone in the audience would stand too.
When the band stormed the stage I immediately stood so that I too could see what the band was up to. But I felt a breeze at my back, and when the first song ended I heard an angry, “Sit down!” a couple rows behind me. I was embarrassed so I sat. I ended up listening to the entire show without being able to see much at all. Every so often, someone would shout something like, “I paid good money for these seats!” from somewhere else in the theatre. I’d look over to see a couple more embarrassed people sitting down and straining their necks to see. The, I looked behind me to see an entire theatre seated, a few people bobbing their heads, some dancing in their seats while the band played their hearts out. I wondered if people had paid money to experience a rock show or to rest their weary feet.
Usually if everyone else at a show is sitting, then standing would be seen as a no-no. One problem with the Wilco show was that a good chunk of the audience was standing and the rest were seated. I remember a strange, almost surreal moment at the Rufus Wainwright concert a couple of years ago when a lone figure went up to the front of the stage and stood, without moving as Rufus played some plaintive melody on the piano. It was odd because every single other person in the audience was seated.
The other problem with the Wilco concert was that there was no reason to believe that standing would be frowned upon. The musicians were rocking out, as to be expected, and there were enough fast songs to suggest that “seat dancing” could give way to “dancing while standing in front of your seat.”
I have been to plenty of shows where the audience understands the importance and merit of standing as well. A memorable one was the Arcade Fire concert at the Burt. By the end of the show everyone, including those in the first balcony where I was seated, were on their feet, dancing.
Yes, it is annoying when the person standing in front of you is a seven-foot-tall giant, but the point of going to a rock show is the experience. I can turn on my stereo at home and sit on my couch, but even then, if a particularly fun song comes on, I still get up and dance.
