Just Shut Up

Over the weekend my wife and I went on a very rare evening out. Having a kiddo, it’s not much of an option, but that’s sorta part of the deal, right? So, we went to see comedian Patton Oswalt do a show in Flint. I ADORE the theater he was at, and any chance I get to see a show there, I cherish. It’s an old place that’s been a part of Flint for decades. It was made in a classic Italian style and I first went there when it had long fallen into disrepair and they were holding rock concerts and hall shows there. In the past ten years or so the money came through to redo the place and it’s gorgeous. It’s also cool to go to shows there because I feel so comfortable in the space for a variety of reasons. 

My wife and I were both stoked for the show, and got there early enough to get our seats and settle in, but without feeling like we were overdoing it. The seats were good, and the wait wasn’t long before the show started. Things started on a weird note as the opening comedian, Eeland Stribling (who was great) told a few jokes (about White folks) didn’t really hit. They were funny, but the crowd seemed uptight. 

Not a great sign. 

When Oswalt came on, he dove right in, and was great…until someone in the front row started yelling out to him. Not heckling, but trying to have a conversation with him. It stopped the show completely, as Oswalt tried to tactfully deal with the guy, who just wouldn’t shut up. It was clear that it was getting to Oswalt as the guy kept chattering, so much so that eventually Oswalt just carried on ahead and did his best to tune him out. Why the venue didn’t at least tap the guy on the shoulder is beyond me, but here we are. 

Oswalt was powering through when he brought up something that prompted someone near us to yell – Don’t drink the water in Flint! – which, again, ground the show to a halt. Someone else yelled – It’s fine! – and people mumbled, and grumbled, and Oswalt wasn’t sure how to proceed, addressed it a little, then moved on again. Between the idiot chatterbox up front, and that nonsense I bet we lost about twenty minutes of show. He had to keep going back to the chatterbox, who legitimately thought he was part of the show. He was drunk, and no one would correct him. 

And here is the crux of the matter: None of this is unique. 

None of this is shocking.

Concert attendees have gone mad. 

I am not sure how bad it was before COVID, but post-COVID it’s awful. People throw things at performers, they grab them, they get on stage and try to insert themselves into the show, and on, and on. For the love of Pete, Billie Eilish was just grabbed and nearly pulled into the audience by a crazy fan. 

We have lost our minds. 

Prices have skyrocketed, and we are acting like Amish kids on Rumspringa. I think some of the problem is that we forgot how to act after being cooped up for over a year. We stopped being polite, and stopped behaving. Heck, look at the top of the government down and people just don’t want to treat one another respectfully. 

The other thing is that with the prices so high I think people are becoming entitled, thinking that, “hey, I paid a lot of money to be here, so do what I want, or I’ll get mad.” It’s a child’s mentality of feeling owed something. They aren’t artists now, they’re performers, and they better give us our money’s worth. 

Oof. 

I am sure there’s more to it, stress in life, and the world pushing people to want to go crazy when they go out, and wanting to imbibe too much, but how can we know?

What we do know is that these incidents aren’t isolated. 

And they are beyond annoyance, they are to the point of being dangerous. 

We are dangerous. 

Prices shouldn’t be this high for concerts, no doubt, but that doesn’t give attendees the right to act like fools. We don’t seem to want art, we want products, and that’s sad, because we’ll soon get exactly what we’re asking for, and more of the same. 

And more, and more, and more. 

Pretty soon, like everything else, it’s going to be too late. 

In the end, the Oswalt show was fun, it was nice, but it wasn’t as good as it could have been, had people not felt the need to insert themselves into things they weren’t meant to be a part of.

…c…