A disgruntled Australian I am

I was reading the newspaper some days ago, and came across this “Letter of the Day” letter. It said this:

“Who sits as a rock concert? Apparently Australians do.

I attended the Maroon 5 concert on Friday night and was appalled to see 99 per cent of the Acer Arena crowd sitting in their seats as the bands seriously rocked out on stage.

I’ve been to more concerts than I can remember back home and this is the first time I’ve ever seen that.

I’m sorry, was there a misunderstanding? Did you think you were attending the symphony?

Because I could understand sitting through the symphony… I could even understand falling asleep. But at a rock concert?

I don’t care if you don’t think Maroon 5 counts as rock or not, the fact is, the energy level on stage was certainly not reciprocated by the crowd, and I felt really bad for the bands.

Having gone to concerts in America since I was a kid, part of the reason I attend the concert is for the experience of the show… if I just wanted to sit and listen to the live music I could buy the live DVD recording and sit in my pyjamas eating ice cream and watching it on the couch.

But I attend concerts for the whole thing, and that includes an enthusiastic crowd. I’m sorry Sydney, but this was disappointing.

When I mentioned my shock to my mate, she told me that was the way it was at U2 as well. U2 came and you couldn’t even get off your feet for them?

It’s disappointing… now wonder we don’t get big bands here that often, the crowds are boring.”

First of all, fuck you. You’re a fucking American, and you come over to Sydney, Australia, and then criticise our crowds for being boring? Australians welcome you here, so you should really shut up and think about what you’re saying. So where the fuck do you get off for criticising us?

Second of all, so what if people attend symphonies? To say that people sleep at symphonies is just bloody offensive for the people that actually attend them. I’m not sure about you, but people have different tastes in music. Not everyone loves the pop/rock-manufactured Maroon 5 shit that you listen to. Oh, don’t mind me for criticising your tastes, I’m just jumping to conclusions like you did with your idea of symphonies.

Third, how the fuck would you know if people weren’t giving enough appreciation to the band? Did you go around the rows of seats and check if they were sitting or not? Did you ask everybody if they appreciated the band? Did you ask Maroon 5 if they enjoyed the audience? The music venue is meant to be dark, so one, the light show is to be totally awesome, and two, it allows you to focus on the band, rather than diverting your attention to somewhere else which means that your “99 per cent” statistic is most likely wrong. And why the fuck were you surveying the crowd? I thought you were meant to watch and listen to the band.

Four, we’re Australians, so we obviously have different ways of appreciating a band. Too bad if you don’t like it, cos that’s the way we are. We are a bunch of laid back people, so don’t expect us to be jumping off high buildings for one shitty band, alright?

And last but not least, your stupid “No wonder why we don’t get bands here” statement just shows the stupid American ignorance that makes your country look bad. How the fuck would you know if we don’t get big bands or not? I can tell that when I went to the Scissor Sisters concert last year, “99 per cent” of the crowd was standing up. So really, shove your inaccurate information back up your arse, cos that’s just fucking ignorant and arrogant of you to say.

~ by WendySkeleton on April 12, 2008.