Just Play The Music, Tweedy

“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times,” grumbled Wilco’s Jeff Tweedy before walking off the stage at The Lyric Theater last week. This was after he had repeatedly stopped during the sold-out concert to lambast the crowd for talking (gasp!) during the show, thereby becoming someone who was… talking during the show. He even changed the lyrics to “Hate It Here” to sing “what am I gonna do when I run out of audiences to scold.”



A few weeks prior, Andrew Bird asked the audience (very politely, I might add) at the Lyric to pipe down for a specific song, before later conceding that there was indeed a bar in the venue and maybe he should just have a drink himself. Also at the Lyric, Modest Mouse’s Isaac Brock offered not once but twice to fight audience members after his sold-out show.

Are Oxford audiences really that chatty or do these rock stars need to just lighten up?

Some of both. Throughout the history of our species, when alcoholic beverages and music are combined, humans become boisterous. Sometimes in the throes of their happiness, they even want to talk to each other. Revelry is expected in such situations, and should be encouraged. And here in Oxford, we are a social people. After all, we're as well known for "not losing the party" as about anything.

Additionally, It’s a rock show, not a piano recital.

Oxford isn’t a big enough town to populate a 1,200-seat concert venue solely with self-loathing, anti-social shoe gazers. So with a crowd of this size, you inevitably end up with a mixed bag of folks---college kids, townies, artists, university drones. Even lawyers.

Each of them shelled out at least thirty American dollars to attend the Wilco concert. When a monetary exchange such as that takes place, those people are called “customers.” These are the same people who buy albums and t-shirts and posters and DVDs. They are the same people who wait in line breathing tour bus fumes to attend the concert. Should not these people be given enough respect to not be chastised? The argument goes that we should respect the artists and allow them to perform their craft, free from the apparently bothersome din of crowd chatter. But shouldn’t the artist respect their fans? Their customers?

It’s true that the girl who spends the entire show texting her friends across the room or loudly discussing absolutely nothing can by annoying or distracting, if you let her. But you know what’s more annoying than crowd chatter? The pissy guy on stage bitching and moaning about it. Mr. Tweedy mentioned at one point in his rants that 75% of the people in the crowd were behaving in a manner he approved of, and that it was the other 25% who were talking and “not paying attention.” Is this really what he’s thinking about when he’s singing those heartfelt ballads? Statistics? But even if his numbers are accurate, what’s the point in pulling a Debbie Downer on the majority of people who are paying attention to the music. It’s kind of hard to pay attention to the music when you’re not playing the music, Jeff.