After the last few weeks I gotta wonder about the intelligence of today’s young audiences. They can be talked into just about anything.
When I was a kid, we used to see the occasional girl on her boyfriends shoulder who would flash her tits at the crowd for a few seconds. It was good harmless fun. In fact one still sees that quite frequently at a Motley Crue show. Except the tits are now on 30+ year old women and not nearly as appealing. Kind of like the band itself.
Nowadays the promoters at outdoor concerts have a new way to make a killing. Selling bottles of water from some unknown company you’ve never heard of….., for 5 bucks a pop. But you see the kids realize they get something extra for their sawback. Besides the 10 seconds of heat relief one gets when they finally get to the end of the long line and can be granted a temporary stay from thirst, they have a play toy.
Once the crowd has assembled hundreds of these toys, they all gather in front of the stage and wait for the first person to start the game. Finally it happens, one person finishes his drink and launches his empty in a perfect arch across the crowd, nailing a fellow concert goer in the noggin. The chain reaction is instantaneous as hundreds of bottles start flying thru the air. It looks cool for a while.
Bur like your mom said, it’s all fun and games, until somebody gets hurt. I only say this because pretty soon some asshole has to add some cans to the mix. Or of course one can never escape the muddy smelly flying sneaker.
There’s a band out here this morning called “the Red Chord”. They bait the audience into some wild things. First the singer yells at the crowd, instructing them to repeat whatever he says, with a fervor. “Are you ready to rock?” crowd goes beserk. “Are you ready to bodyslam everyone in this fucking pit? “ crowd again goes apeshit. Then he yells at the top of his lungs, “Did you eat breakfast today?” The crowd responds weakly., he shouts again, “I can’t hear you muthafuckers, did you have breakfast this morning?”. They proceed to lose their mind. I don’t get it, but the manipulation is amazing.
Next, the singer demands that the audience split in half and leave a 20’ space right down the middle of the concert floor. Then he starts a song and on his cue, all audience members turn and race towards each other as in battle. It’s a scene straight out of Braveheart as the crowds collide and blood is spilled. And nobody seems to mind. I am utterly amused and can’t stop the laughter. I guess body surfing has been replaced.
