Audience Participation

A few years ago I went to KROQ's Inland Invasion out in lovely Devore, CA. It was one of those all day shows out in the hottest, most remote field the concert organizers could find. I think we saw 10 or 11 bands all put on an hour show each. It was the first time I ever saw Beck or Arcade Fire live. Both were fantastic and as good live as they are in a studio. The opposite of The Bravery who were also there. They only had one hit at the time, that one with the high note which unfortunately their lead singer couldn't actually hit. It was somewhat awkward and embarrassing for him. Ok, a lot embarrassing. Jet played their one song. Garbage was also there. Which made sense given that they were at least 7 years past their peak and almost completely irrelevant at the time. They would have taken the award for Most Random Band to be Playing a Show in 2005 except that Madness also performed. Yes, Madness from "Our House" fame. Garbage couldn't even take the award for Forgotten 90s Band since Live also performed.

Anyways, it was a strange lineup that ended with sets from 311, Beck, Weezer, Oasis and Cake. A quality finish. 311 was surprisingly enjoyable, Beck blew my mind and Weezer was incredibly entertaining. Oasis fell below our expectations, which is sort what we expected, and we didn't make it through all of Cake's set since people in our group were dying.

But I bring all this up because I saw a clip today from a recent U2 concert and it reminded me of something Weezer did at our show. Before they played The Sweater Song, arguably their most famous song, or at least the one that really put them on map, they asked if anyone in the audience knew the guitar part to their song. Naturally, hundreds of hands shot up. Some were probably lying, but most people that raised their hands were likely males that spent the bulk of their teenage years in the 90s and spent countless hours lounging around either alone or with friends and while staring blankly at a wall or TV and plucked out the opening notes to the Sweater Song, and thus likely did know how to play the song.

So Weezer brings up some guy from the audience and they give him a guitar and he starts plucking away and they sing the song. It was wildly entertaining. After wards they gave him the guitar and sent him backstage. I still remember it to this day as one of my favorite concert moments. I was trying to figure out why I like it so much since I like Weezer but don't necessarily love Weezer. But I think I think I enjoyed it for a lot of the same reasons why I love this clip so much: It bridges the gap between the band and the audience. There is something about a member of the audience playing with the band that humanizes the band and brings them to the audience level even though they aren't. Especially not U2. I don't know their complete background, but their current life situation is vastly different than mine. So is Weezers.

But as much as you may feel connected to a band through their music, this for some reason puts it on a different level. If you are watching it you almost feel like you are up there playing with them. Not really of course, but it does bring you on to the same plane as the band.

I also think it's great because I don't think that all bands could do this. I love Muse and they put on a fantastic show, but I don't think something like this would work for them. They have too much of a production and spectacle. It's almost too polished and professional and an amateur would just ruin things. Most bands couldn't do this without ruining their show.

It also helps with bands like U2 and Weezer that have not only been around for so long, but they have so many songs that people are very familiar with where they could do this. Not many bands have songs where many people in audience could play the guitar part. People might know the songs and some die-hards might be able to play the songs, but it wouldn't be as universal as a U2 song. Even someone like Beck, everyone knows the song Loser, but few could actually play it. Can you imagine Beck saying, "Anyone out there a slide guitarist that can come up here and play Loser for us?" Or Arcade Fire saying, "Hey, we want to play Keep the Car Running, any hurdy gurdy players in the audience?... No? Ok, nevermind." Just wouldn't work.

Maybe I'm over-analyzing this. Maybe U2 and Weezer are on the same plane as most fans and they are somewhat "normal people" so they can get away with things like this. Maybe it just comes down to confidence and U2 and Weezer have been doing this so long and mastered their craft so well that they know that no amateur could really ruin their show or set because they can make up for any shortcomings. Maybe the person's guitar is actually unplugged and The Edge is backstage playing and this is all just a hoax.

Or maybe it is all real and there is no need to try and dissect it because awesome doesn't need an explanation.

Also, apparently the guy in this video is blind. Now it has to be staged.