On Demand
Booze: Music's Friend or Foe?
Tuesday, September 30, 2008
In another edition of Soundcheck Smackdown, we debate the role of alcohol in live music. Some venues are allowing audience members to bring glasses of wine into once-dry concert halls. But Van Morrison has banned alcohol consumption from his concerts in England. Joining us to weigh in is Limor Tomer, WNYC's executive producer of music programming, and Will Layman, a jazz critic who writes for Popmatters.com and NPR.
Soundcheck blog: John Schaefer on the role of alcohol at concerts
Tell us: Is alcohol essential at concerts? Or would you rather music and booze not mix?
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Sure alcohol helps, but for me a little reefer really deepens the experience.
Actually, good music, whatever genre, doesn't really need any chemical enhancement.
Though I enjoy a couple of drinks when I am at a concert, I recognize that alcohol consumption is not an inalienable right.
It should be up to the venue to decide whether to serve alcohol, and up to the attendees to decide upon the wisdom of attending shows where they consider getting buzzed a prerequisite to enjoying the music.
I hate going to jazz clubs where everyone talks constantly. It really reflects a sense of entitlement and arrogance among audiences and I think alcohol only fuels that situation. Clubs should decide whether they want music to be a background ambient thing or something that you're there to hear.
I'm in a band. If we didn't have booze at our shows no one would come see us.
As a non-drinker, I think it would be a mistake to ban alcohol at shows. But it would be marvelous if one could ban the idiots who think they can handle it but clearly can't.
"I wanna go to those clubs!" I guess if you enjoy being sexually harrassed, then you can defend the kind of behavior that the guy on the phone is talking about...
When Jandek played NYC, he supposedly had 2 criteria: no bar, no backstage. The show at Anthology Film Archives was pretty great.
American Conservatory Theater in San Francisco has introduced drinks to its venue and apparently it's gone over really well.
I am not a big drinker, but I think the banning of alcohol is terrible at concerts. It's especially depressing at these big corporate venues where they have taken away all of the local vendors who had good food and booze and replaced them with frozen corporate food and the "beer garden" which is essentially a cage where people drink beer before going back to their seats. It's pathetic! As a teenager I really enjoyed those venues. Now it's like going to a bad sports event.
I miss going to raves when people printed out tickets that said:
Bring your own drugs
(No Alcohol will be permitted)!
Of course it was all illegal anyway, and I doubt this is what Van Morrison intended.
While I sometimes liked to sneak in a mickey anyway, one thing I appreciated about it was not seeing anyone waving a beer bottle and going "whoo hoo".
pure snobbery...
Most jazz clubs have drink minimums. If you DON'T drink alcohol, you're paying eight bucks for a club soda.
I play in a band and play at a lot of clubs in the city. First of all, drink sales are how venues stay in business and give us a place to play. We should be especially thankful to these clubs when so many of them are shutting down.
On the other hand, I feel that clubs are making money on the musicians that play at the clubs to buy drinks themselves as well as bring in a drinking audience. If anything clubs should be giving the musicians free drinks rather than taxing them for performing at their venue.
When Joshua bell played in the D.C. subway hardly anyone stopped to listen so it's hard to buy the argument that talent alone will make people shut up.
A lot of african musicians who play very dance-able music are muslim and only drink coffee before they play.
That said, alcohol or no alcohol, some people will be jerks no matter what. I was at a performance of Berg's violin concerto where someone let their cell phone ring until the voicemail picked up...
To the musician's point about no one coming to his show if there is no alcohol -- my favorite band name of all time is "Free Beer and Pizza". When they play the sign says "Tonight, Free Beer and Pizza". I think it was a college bar band.
Dan in Westchester
I cannot believe the guests on this show. Great, music is your life, and you would never dream on going to a show to do anything other than concentrate on every single note being played.
But as far as i'm concerned, i'm paying money to see the band perform, and will do so how i want -- i'm not particularly concerned if they're offended that i'm chatting with my neighbor or drinking. I'm PAYING here! If its a free show, then you can dictate how i listen, otherwise, shut up and play.
FREEBIRD!!!
Banning alcohol at live shows? That's so not rock & roll. I think its bad enough the kids in Williamsburg don't dance- lets not discourage them anymore.
it really does depend on the crowd and the venue. we have a little jazz club here and for the most part everyone is pretty responsible. however, you do get that random a-hole who has to ruin the experience.
as a utah resident there are more restrictions. i went to a Modest Mouse concert where it was an "all ages" show with a lot of hipster teens. for me, having no alcohol at that venue ruined the show because it was really hard to handle all the tweenie-boppers.
Drinking was very limited (5 drinks/person/day) at the All Points West Festival and it was definitely the most well-behaved festival crowd I've ever experienced. I opted not to drink as the beer tents were totally separate from the stages and I wanted to spend my time watching the shows - not stuffed into a crowded booze tent.
hi limor!!
my dad used to go to birdland back in the day to hear bud powell and charlie parker and everyone else when he was young... they had a "peanut gallery" for the young fans...
ben
the more you drink the better we sound...cheers
Our drinking age is hypocritical, self-defeating, and completely out of step with the rest of the world. It amazes me that Americans tolerate this (or worse, genuinely think it's not a crazy idea).
um, there are jerks at concerts with and without alcohol. there are jerks on the subway. there are jerks in the movie theater. i think this issue really is more about the lack of responsibility & respect that many (annoying) people exhibit no matter where they are. i truly feel this has little to do with alcohol. making shows all ages is a nightmare idea. i have also had AWFUL experiences with kids in audiences. they do not stand at rapt attention. they shout & are generally disruptive. but b/c they are kids & not drunk that is supposed to be acceptable? i would love to find a way to keep annoying people of ALL ages from ever attending any musical or film performance (or from the subway, elevator, or any close quarters...)!!!
I don't think Rock n' Roll was ever about conforming to any type of social standard and peer pressure, including the ones dictating that drinking is synonym of cool. Since its inception, rock n' roll has been at the center of every cultural revolution, as a vehicle for rebellion. Those of you thinking that drinking and Rock n' Roll go hand in hand, well, think again. Maybe a paradigm shift is already underway. You just have not noticed it yet. And banning alcohol? Anyone true to him/herself doesn't need a threat to appreciate truthful art with his/her head clean.
How exactly would these clubs stay open without the money bars bring in? Could you imagine the cover to go see bands if that was the case? And Andres- your totally right. how foolish of me. I must be the only person keeping the entire entertainment industry in the black with my rampant alcoholism.
As a recovering Alcoholic now for 17 mos 14 days, I would have said 'don't ban liquor'....
But, in my previous bad marriage, I can remember nearly every concert in BC, my Ex insisted on not staying in our paid for seats over 15 min. so that he/we would be near the bar !
Anyways, after 30 yrs of drinking casually, I've paid health wise & my Ex's drinking excessively, he's paid with near complete loss of hearing!
So, I think everybody should be real careful with liquor. It's like one of Satan's Minions, that has yet to be acknowledged !!!
/sjg
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