So my girlfriend bought us tickets to go see NIN in concert at the Frank Erwin Center in Austin. In a big black and strobe light clad clamshell...it kicked ass. We enjoyed the concert immensely but were kinda hoping it would have gone on longer. You know, maybe an encore, maybe some techno beat ramblings...something to finish up what was an energetic and awesome spectacle of lights and sound. What happened instead was rather perplexing. Everyone, and I do mean everyone, just seemed to kind of switch off and resign themselves to leaving like some kind of zombie parade. As hardcore as these people were acting while the music was going on, when it ended and the lights came on everyone turned around and walked off...not a single encore, not single person asking for more.
We were completely stumped. Me and my girlfriend looked at each other, both thinking the exact same thing. In something close to awe we stood slack jawed and watched the spectacle, or lack thereof. The last song ended in a maddening rush of sound and flash of light. For a moment the image of the last flash still visible in your retina and the last tone still ringing in your ear as the screams and cheers and banging and echoes fall silent and dark. Immediately a set of lights come on, and the place once occupied with something akin to violent expression transforms, like a scary shadow suddenly illuminated, into a silent drone of footsteps going up steps.
I've never seen such a lame excuse for an audience in my life. It's kind of funny to see something on the order of 5000 tattoo'd and black shirt wearing people all rocking out like they're animals when the band plays, but resign to such sheepish roles as soon as their source of power is switched off. I will admit that I was happy that nobody got trampled in the lame 2 person mosh pit, and that nobody bumped Mohawks while they were all headbanging, but come on. This isn't Neil Diamond. But I guess I should have known by the looks of the kids there. Maybe it's me getting older but kids these days seem to be getting lamer. Maybe their minds were all full of things to blog about or quests they had to complete in WoW. All I know is I kinda felt out of place wanting more.
