Concert Etiquette: Shut Up or Sing Along?
 

After watching some clips from live concerts on YouTube, I realized how annoying it is when so many people are singing along that you can barely even hear the actual singer of the band. I mean, you did pay to go hear the band play live, not to listen to a bunch of strangers singing out of tune. I've been to a few concerts where this has happened to some extent, and it really annoys me. I paid to hear the band play, so I actually want to hear them play. If people want to sing along, they can do that back at home.

On the other hand, I can see the other point of view. How often do you get a chance to sing along with one of your favorite bands live?

What are your thoughts on this? Should people shut up or sing along?

Check out some Pearl Jam shows-there are several different songs where Eddie Vedder will stop singing and let the crowd sing. Betterman, and Alive are two of them. It's truly a beautiful experience to hear 30,000 plus people singing perfectly in tune to the same song.

I say sing, not that I feel this way, but some people who follow bands closely look down upon people at concerts who dont sing, because they think they dont know the lyrics and are not worthy of the jam.

Sorry, I'm a sing-along-er. I LOVE it. I can't help it. When I am truly involved in the music, I don't even realize I'm doing it! It's a form of applause in and of itself.

Sorry. :)

if you go to any good rock show anywhere, and the crowd is into the band and knows all the songs, the whole damn place is gonna be singing along, no stopping it.

Springsteen shows are the same way -- especially with the older songs... between the cheers of BRUUUUUUUUCE - which to the untrained ear could sound like Booooooo... to people even having the 1-2-3-4 The highways jammed with broken heroes on a last chance power drive about 3 minutes in to Born to run down to the 1-2-3-4 right on time with the band...

Sing along- please...

I go to concerts for the atmosphere, and that includes the singing along.

I want to see the band come out acknowledge the city (no matter how fake), and have some fun with us. I love bands that that talk to the audience and joke with us. I even like when they make mistakes, be it a mic go out, the band plays too fast and the singer fucks up, whatever.....

If I want dead on perfect, where the band comes out and just plays.... I'll just get their greatest hits CD and listen to it. Same thing.

Like Pink Floyd.... good light show but when it came to talking to the crowd or acknodledging anything..... lol...... don't think so. Both times I saw them, all they did was play the songs exactly like they are on the CD and that was it. McCartney, Alice Cooper pretty much the same, although they actually will acknowledge the crowd, but that's about it.

Rod Stewart, Billy Joel, the KINKS (at times), Queen, Meatloaf, Tom Petty, and so on.... now they jammed. They made sure the audience was involved and Rod Stewart, Billy Joel, the KINKS, and a couple others.... they made you feel like it wasn't just a concert, but a party, a get together, where old friends meet and for 2-3 hours just talk, jam and have fun. Now, that's a concert.

Singing along is a must at any show for me. To me it shows how much you love the band.

I am an enthusiastic fan and an equally enthusiastic singer!

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.

The more I think about it, the more I think it just depends on what type of concert you're at. Pretty much all of you who say singing along is part of the experience are talking about rock shows, and I'd agree with you there. It's a lot more fun when you're singing along, and the band makes a conscious effort to get the audience involved. The singing along mostly bothers me when bands are playing more acoustic songs.

I wonder how the actual singers in the band feel about this. If any famous musicians happen to read this, feel free to comment.

The Riot Act-era concert I went to - which I have on CD thanks to Pearl Jam - did this with "Baba O'Riley". Vedder was at "Don't cry, don't-" and stopped mid-sentence. The crowd continued very clearly and loudly, "- raise your eyes, it's only teenage wasteland", at which point Vedder jumped back in with a battle cry of sorts. Highlight of the night, easily.

Although I've been to musicals... and having the idiot who played the lead in the musical production in high school 25 years ago and thinks that they have talent even though they work in the secretarial pool now singing along LOUDLY, OFF KEY and screwing up the words sitting behind me... that person needsto be killed.

Yeah, I know what your talking about. I saw them here in Cincinnati in June. They were playing the same venue that The Who tragedy happened at, which also happened to them in Roksjild(sp) when 9 fans were trampled. They closed with "Baba O'Riley" as a tribute. The love and energy were amazing.

Like pan6467 said, I go to the shows for the atmosphere. Most of the time I'm uncomfortably hot and cramped, get bumped into and possibly knocked over. Maybe get hit in the head a couple times. It all goes along with the show in my eyes.

I don't know what kind of concerts you're going to that singing along could be seen as annoying, but I've never been to one like that. If I know the words, I'm singing (more likely yelling) them back.

Sometimes, I get weird looks when I'm singing at smaller shows. Once, at a dredg show, I think the singer, Gavin, told someone to stop singing. Maybe, it was interfering with his own singing.

If you know the words and it's not a terribly intimate setting or song then by all means sing along. It's why you're there ... to create an "experience."

I was at a 10,000 Maniacs show and Natalie Merchant heard someone singing so badly in the front row that she stopped and handed the microphone to the girl. The girl went right on singing. Not that Natalie's got the best voice in the world ... but you know.

As some previous posters have mentioned, I think it just depends on the setting, type of music, and the personality of the band/singer. A Damien Rice concert would be an example of one where lots of people singing along would ruin it for me.

A good musician will engage the audience and strip away the inhibistions that normally would prevent a person from singing along. As mentioned above, Springsteen concerts are like that. It's not appropriate in every situation though.

Hmm, the music should be loud enough to drown out the audience.

every show ive gone too i have to scream atthe top off my lungs, till i get red in the face, to get the attention to the person next to me..and sometimes they still dont hear me.

but then again, punk rock is really really loud.

Sing along because its more of an homage to the band that they've touched so many people and have finally "made" it.

Maybe I just love singing, and music in general, but there is no situation , or any band, you would find me not singing along to. It's all part of the atmosphere, the love of music, and if you're not singing and dancing along, just don't ruin it for those of us who are.

it's been said, but most concerts I go to are too loud for anyone to hear the audience singing. I usually don't realize how loud I'm singing myself until I lose my voice the next day.

nothing to say.

I think it depends on the type of music and the size of the show.... If the singing crowd is going to be easily overpowered by the music (i.e. at a rock show), singing is acceptable.... If the crowd singing is going to drown out the singer (like at a small acoustic show), it's rude to sing along unless invited to by the artist.

Bands let the audience sing perts of songs because they are so fuckin tired of singing their own song over and over. :)

There ain't no cut-and-dried rule here, as it depends on the situation and song. We went to see Paul McCartney on his last two US tours, and while nobody sang along with Blackbird, EVERYBODY sang along with Hey Jude. A sophisticated audience (one that likes Beatles) will instinctively know what to do...

I want to point out that if you listen to some stuff when the entire crowed sang stuff at Iron Maiden's Live in Reo, that was over a quarter million people all singing the same words at the same time. I think something like that is one of those "once in a lifetime" experiances that definately should have happened. The atmosphere gains everything from something liek that.

Many many moons ago I was at an outdoor concert where Foreigner performed. It started raining right before Jukebox Hero and everyone when wild singing along. It was almost as if the rain started on cue to get the crowd whipped up. However recently when I went to see Lion King, had the woman in front of me chimed in during Can You Feel the Love Tonight, I would have turned my wife on her. There is a time and a place and a good performer or circumstances should let you know.

I tend to sing along, but some concerts I really just wanna listen
I went to see Tool a couple of weeks ago and nobody was singing :)

Exactly what I was thinking! Rock concerts that is. I sing along in those because it's all about the atmosphere! You can hardly hear yourself singing along in most of those, let alone others...unless the singer let's the audience sing on their own and then of course you hear everyone. I think it's great and very enveloping having all the people sing the same words as you, with meaning...can be awesome.

Now at other kinds of concerts, where you sit down for the show, such as classical, jazz, musicals, dance shows, etc, then I hate anyone who even makes a peep. Coughers, movers, fiddlers, talkers, whisperers, they will all be fulminated by my glare :D

I just think at a concert like that where you really do go to hear and/or see the show, you don't want to hear people talking like they're in their own living room right?

OK, think about this, too, and see if you've noticed this.

There's always a goof who believes it is admirable to be the first person to recognize a song after only one chord or one note. I suppose they fantasize that everyone around them will be thinking, "WOW, that guy sure is uber cool and smart because he's an absolute GENIUS when it comes to recognizing songs so quickly. How does he do it? Clearly, he must be booked on Letterman right away."

I always get stuck sitting next to one of these dorks, and the instant the first chord sounds he will scream out, "YEAH! WOOOOOOOOO!" and I miss the whole first verse.

It's a good thing that you can't take guns into concerts. If you're that clown, shut the fuck up.

Get as close to the stage as you can, and do what comes naturally. When you go to a concert and can't be yourself, what are you doing there? Close to the stage = enjoying yourself the most. It takes effort, but it's worth it.