The record for selfies taken at the Tralf was broken Monday night's Wild Nothing show thanks to a frankly alarming number of teenagers and teenage girls in particular in attendance. Having staked out prime front of stage real estate, they posed for self-taken pictures they took, danced badly, got drunk, had their drama, Ecstasy danced, and carried on like general nuisances... to the chagrin of other paying concert goers, and shit was not entirely cool as a result.
Now, ordinarily I'm super cool with the youth attending the various indie shows going off throughout Buffalo because I believe the children are the future, and there were definitely cool teenagers and teen girls keeping it real at the Wild Nothing show. Those kids are great. You see them at shows like Cults, M83, and Santigold; the kids who know what's up, the us of the future today, you know... the kids who give you a smidgen of hope for the future. The nuisances Monday night however give me hope about nothing.
I also don't want to sound like a bitter old man in an old episode of Scooby Doo, pitting demographic groups against each other, or worse scold the youth about how to behave at shows. I generally don't give a shit what you do at a show... provided you don't infringe on the enjoyment of myself and others, and with the exception of the occasional overzealous moshers, Buffalo crowds are generally copacetic. I was actually amused by the Ecstasy girls, three die-hard teen fans totally hepped up on goofballs with no dancing skill whatsoever or concept of personal space. But they were certainly fans; they knew all the words ,and got all excited by the oldest Wild Nothing material, so I was more or less cool and the gang with their antics. Other folks were understandably a bit bent out of shape however, and the vibe was definitely strained, harshing a few mellows and prompting this post.
So simply put, kids (or at least the kids who don't know any better), it's not all about you. Shows, especially wonderful shows like Wild Nothing, are shared experiences that unite the crowd for the duration of the show and sometimes beyond. It's bad enough that there are occasionally adults all too eager to harsh the mellows of fellow concert goers, but teenagers? That ain't right, and that's not how we do it, especially now that we've got a live music bonanza going on. Be cool... like those other cool teenagers who know how to represent at shows. If you're in front of the stage, longingly worship the band, or dance meaningfully. Don't be a narcissistic jackass.
That is not cool.
If only there were places to go for shows that didn't allow teenagers... someone should invent that.
the kids you're speaking of will never see this, and if they did they really probably wouldn't give two shits about your pathetic post.
So the kids got drunk, took pictures, danced poorly - in other words, they acted like 100% of people should act at a concert by a band they really like. Dang, you really ARE boring.... Maybe you should try Pausa Art House next time instead of a rock show?
How can you be mad that people are having more fun than you?
lol
You can easily move 5 feet away if you're uncomfortable. It wasn't that crowded. If those kids weren't there it would be like 90% of the other shows at the tralf with 30 people standing around. I had a great spot and noticed nothing but people having a good time.
you think they're being narcissistic? I've gone on record that I wish the minimum age for shows should be 25... and I myself just turned 25.
Children may be the future, but they're annoying as fuck and I want them to go away.
i saw the vines that dude posted of the girls taking selfies and i thought vining them was more pathetic
I'm pretty sure all of these "anonymous" posters are the same person. Just sayin'
lol
You whine more than the shitty indie bands that you post about. Congrats
Wild Nothing was incredible but those kids completely ruined the vibe. And to the stereotypical gay kid that was jumping all over my feet and laughing, you are an embarrassment to the gay community and people like you are the reason these stereotypes are alive....and you are extremely lucky I didn't want to get kicked out that night...
look clint im a teen and hey lets face it i love dancing and i like to take a selfie becaues im not going to be on the earth for very long and id love to be remembered in teh digital future
im really sorry that i had a great time with my teen friends at your concert but m83 rocks keep it posi dude
So I was standing right by Cliff and I agree with him whole-hardheartedly. It was really hard to pay attention to the band when I kept having to watch the girls out the corner of my eye so that I wouldn't be injured by hair being flung or one of them toppling over on us. I've been to hundreds of shows and have learned to deal with people like this, try to ignore them...but people around me were really getting mad. I loved that the girls really knew the band - but was disappointed that they couldn't enjoy the show without being on drugs - and I'm sure they were on drugs. We told their mom -yes the mom was there - "You know they are on drugs, right?" she laughed and said there was no way. I told her to look at everyone else, that no one else was acting like that (and who's eyes roll back in their head while dancing??). She took a good look at them and then they disappeared. At least we enjoyed the last three songs sans dancing girls!
cliff, have you ever been to a show? shows aren't about uniting people or about getting drunk. your article makes you sound like a crappy teenager, and your music taste is not unique in any way.
I think shows are about uniting people. Why is everyone fighting on this?
Someone taking drugs and dancing at a rock concert... THE VERY IDEA! Thank goodness you informed the proper authorities, or the event could have turned into a dangerously raucous hullaballoo! Don't those n00bs know that at concerts, what you're supposed to do is quietly and respectfully admire the band’s songwriting and musicianship from afar, and take meticulous notes on the setlist so that you can blog about it later that week?
If youre tastes lean towards boring, whitebread, NPR-approved, indie-by-numbers bands like Wild Nothing, you shouldn’t be surprised to encounter lame teens shows – they find out about these groups from the same lame indie-rock blogs as you.
lemme get this straight clint, there's a difference between "teenagers" and "teenage girls"?