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ivan@stellysee.de
| From | bob_hutton@standardlife.com |
| Subject | Re: American Hi-Fi v. FOW |
| Date | Thu, 11 Sep 2003 10:22:06 +0100 |
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So what's the score? Is it tied?
I still think it is all about expectations. An audience have expectations
of the band (probably this depends on various things, ticket price,
distance travelled to the gig, mood on the night etc). Similarly an "act"
will have expectations of its audience, depending on how established the
"act" is, how popular they currently are etc.
A small-time act with no real fan base will probably expect a few people
(maybe their friends) to like what they are doing, some to be indifferent,
maybe the odd one or two to be a pain in the ass. Their audience (who
probably won't have paid much to see them) will expect to be modestly
entertained but will happily sit in the bar or leave early. In other
words, there will be no really high hopes of something special from either
side. And if either side's expectations are exceeded, then all the better
for it.
A big time act (say the Rolling Stones) will have an audience who expect to
see a great show (they'll have paid for it too!). The audience will hope
to see their heroes really perform for them. They'll expect them to be THE
STONES. The Stones will expect an adoring audience hanging on MJ's every
word and KR's riffs. Imagine the Stones reaction if the audience treated
them indifferently (or even started heckling). Similarly, if the Stones
put on a sub-par show, the audience would be disproportionally
dissappointed by it.
With FOW, the expectations of the audience would probably be that FOW would
play well and look like they were enjoying it (even if they weren't). FOW
would probably expect a decent audience response, as their star is
currently on the rise. From the discussion on FOW, it sounds like the
audience fulfilled its side of the bargain more than the band on the night.
However, I do think the contract between the act and the audience only
extends to the actual show. Hanging out with the fans is not obligatory,
nor is working a merch table, although both might help in cementing a
fan-base.
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