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i dont go to many shows where singing along makes any sense at all--but if i go for some reason to a rock-ish or hip hop-ish or reggae-ish show, what i think of folk singing along depends on the venue. sometimes it's extremely cool--other times it is really irritating.
it gets irritating if i am bored.
ususally, i am bored if the band plays songs the same way they are on record.
i am not terribly interested in hearing the record again--the record at being the record than the band is that made the record. i'd rather here something new, something happening in real time that goes beyond imitation, beyond inspiring an audience to repeat what it already knows. shows are best for me when the band goes beyond what it thinks it can do, and they do it because the audience is there, a huge part of the space that opens up these new possibilities. it happens alot in music--it happens almost never at pop shows.
but sometimes it doesnt matter so much.
trying to think of shows in which the audience singing along actually added something: the who, peter gabriel, the congos, gregory isaacs, gang starr, a few others. recently, goran bregovich's wedding and funeral orchestra was much much cooler than it otherwise might have been because the audience was singing along. i think the lyrics were in serbian. the show was in chicago. it was great.
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a gramophone its corrugated trumpet silver handle
spinning dog. such faithfulness it hear
it make you sick.
-kamau brathwaite
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