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The dos and don'ts of talking at gigs.

By Tom Ravenscroft Published 11 May 2011 12:31

I've always taken issue with being told to be quiet. This is perhaps because it's something I'm not all that good at.

I take even greater issue with been shushed when it happens at gigs. I can understand it when someone's gob is louder than the music but I go to gigs with friends and I'd occasionally like to whisper something to them. The Barbican is an easy place to get shushed; it happened a lot during an extraordinary Bill Callahan gig this week, the strange thing being that often the shushing came at a point when no one was talking and so the shush itself was the only thing that could be heard.

I think it's a way of the shusher wanting to let everyone know that they appreciate the music more than everyone else, maybe understand it more and are perhaps, hell, a better music fan than the rest of us.

Callaghan, meanwhile, accompanied by a truly brilliant guitarist and drummer, managed to weave into a (slightly over-long) set so many sounds and textures and other worlds for you to briefly reside in that you had no desire to talk. That's how you shut someone up.

Tom Ravenscroft's radio show is on BBC 6 Music every Friday at 9pm. He writes a monthly music column for the New Statesman print edition

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Tags: music

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13 comments

Sat, 2011-05-14 00:05 — Gavin (not verified)

There's a big difference between an aside to a friend & a full on, continual, conversation between two people, who aren't even stood at the back. Sadly, the latter is a regular occurence at gigs in London.

Wed, 2011-05-11 15:46 — Helen (not verified)

Ha, yes. I heard a very loud shush at one point, when it was otherwise completely silent. Whoever that was really needed to lighten up. Have to disagree about the set being over-long, though - I was transfixed from start to finish. Amazing show. Loved the barefoot drummer and Bill's dance moves.

Fri, 2011-05-13 10:48 — zahidf (not verified)

No. It's rude to talk during a gig. People have paid to hear the artist and not your witless pronouncements. Whatever you have to say can wait for inbetween songs.

Fri, 2011-05-13 11:16 — swatantra nandanwar

I'd agree with Tom that its ok to talk quietly during a gig and enjoy yourself and music with friends and company. And even dance in the aisles. With Folk Music you could also join in the choruses. But its not ok to chat or whisper or cough during a concert at the Festival Hall of Mozarts Requiem but your duty is to sit there like stuffed dummies until its all over and applaud politely.

Thu, 2011-05-12 13:53 — Arturo Bandini (not verified)

Agreed. A performer must command attention. A crowd held in thrall, which you seem to have been part of, makes the shushers redundant.

Fri, 2011-06-17 13:14 — tgreenan

Generally speaking, if you talk at gigs then you are an evil person and should be banned, if you aren't at the back or at the bar (and even that can be dubious depending on the gig).

(the occasional aside is fine, conversations are not fine)

Wed, 2011-05-18 13:24 — thinkov

I love shushing people at gigs
I hate being shushed at gigs

saw the sun city girl last week they were scary

Wed, 2011-05-18 13:29 — thinkov

and this fella -he was a bit ill

kept saying to the sun city girls how they'd got louder than they were in 1993 ,during their set ,in the middle of a song -they could hear him loud and clear like

btw no set can ever be over long