GUEST ARTICLE by Peter Dickson on ‘Talking At GIGs’

Incessant talking at gigs is something that infuriates me and I am sure many other people at live gigs. It seems incredulous that people who spend so much time together seem to same up long lost conversations DURING A LIVE PERFORMANCE!

But even worse that that are Artists who spend more time talking incessantly about absolute drivel instead of doing what they are paid to do – ENTERTAIN! Who wants to hear about the nightmare that they suffered last night trying to get to sleep, or the fantastic chilli they had on the way here…but it was really spicy and should they have had the dessert!!!
The “Stage Hook” used in Vaudeville in the 1930’s would be a great addition to some performances to remind and remove the artist suffering from verbal diarrhoea. There were gigs where people would attend with bags of overripe tomatoes, sit in front row seats, but we would not advise anyone to do this Backstage!

There are many exceptions to these people and some gigs are a complete revelation, recounting some fantastic musical memories. Two gigs with ALBERT LEE and PETER ASHER certainly fall into that bracket. The songs and music almost got in the way of brilliant story telling of their lives intertwining between Buddy Holly, The Everly Brothers, hearing the very first Beatles written single before the whole world!

I think to hear true professionals singing and mixing up stories can be a great mix but the audience blethering on and on is something that we could most certainly do without!