The Drive In Concert
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I attended one about two weeks ago, Southside Johnny & The Asbury Jukes, and I didn't know what to expect. The idea of 1000 staggered cars with up to four people in each sounded good in concept. Hell, it was live music after all. The one thing that I was hesitant about was the original rule that unless you were going to the rest room facilities, you had to stay in your car. That sounded a bit sterile for me. Luckily that directive was changed early in the show so the people could hang in their designated parking space next to their car. The choice of having Southside kick off this series in NJ was a good one. On their worst day, The Jukes play better than 90% of the bands out there. Everyone of the band members has a long live and studio resume and the all live to play live. Once they got on stage you could tell that had something to prove and came out with guns a-blazing. I'm sure another reason the promoters booked The Jukes was that the audience skewed a bit older than a lot of touring bands and were of the demographic that is wearing masks and willing to follow some safety recommendations. It the crowd was younger and not willing to follow safety guidance, that would have been an end to the drive in concert experiment. It may not have been everything myself and the audience were used to but it sure enough was a lot better than the drought of live performance we have all been going through. People were dancing outside of, inside off and on top of their cars...singing along to songs that they loved. The whole experience was such that the final song of I Don't Want To Go Home fit perfectly. Nobody wanted to go home...live in person music was back.
I've read quite a few comments, here and in other places, that a drive in concert was a hard pass for the authors of those posts. I get it. I wasn't sure if I was going to enjoy it either There is a huge demand for these shows though. After the first few of them, scattered around the US, the flood gates have opened up and each day brings more to the table. .moe sold out 2 larger drive in shows at Vernon Downs, NY in under 5 mins for the first show and almost as quickly for the second. Grace Potter is doing two drive in shows in VT that will sell out. Live Nation is putting together a series of shows. There are many more that I don't have time to list but if you look around I'm sure you will see some in your area by some artists that you would want to see.
I am glad that bands and promoters are getting creative and at least trying to find out what works and what doesn't. With the recent Covid-19 surge it pays to be cautious and not over do things for now. Follow the guidance given. Wear your fucking mask. Considering nobody feels that there will be any substantial, if any, inside concerts until late 2021, messing up these opportunities for some musical entertainment will keep thing really quiet on the concert front. Give it a try before you rip the concept to shreds. You may be pleasantly surprised at the outcome.
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Top of Page Bottom of Page PermalinkFull Name: Lance minimum goad Newberry
As long as the event is
As long as the event is organized properly, you can get out of your car, people stay in their space and the PA/sound is full-on & dialed in, the only problem or risk that I can see is the sanitation of the bathrooms.
Everybody has different motivations for going to live events; some love the music, some love the crowd, some love the party. Personally I love the crowd, I love the party, but mostly I love live music. For those who don't think this concept would work for them, I wonder what their deeper motivation for going to concerts is.
I'm ready for something like this in the Bay Area, but I've been told that nothing is being planned at the moment for this region.
Too bad.
Top of Page Bottom of Page PermalinkFull Name: skifurthur
Personally I love the crowd,
Well put. There are times when the music isn't playing that just watching the crowd is almost worth the price of admission. Since I was writing a piece about this show plus taking photographs, I took a bit more time observing the crowd since social distanced gatherings are their own story these days. Normally the Asbury Jukes show around 4th of July in Asbury Park is a huge party that marks the beginning of the summer concert season. I'm here to tell you that the crowd was as wonderful to watch as it normally is. People were dancing, laughing, wearing costumes incorporating masks and there was even at least one couple that decided, since this was a Jersey shore Jukes party, to do the Dirty Jersey in their car. Some things just have to continue or the axis of the globe may shift and then we would all be in real trouble.
Sending some drive in concert vibes your way, Lance.
Top of Page Bottom of Page PermalinkFull Name: An organ grinder’s tune
los lobos did a drive in 4th
los lobos did a drive in 4th of july.
seemed cool...
Top of Page Bottom of Page PermalinkFull Name: Mice elf
If it gets too hot, do the
If it gets too hot, do the people all get back in their cars and run the air conditioners while the band breathes exhaust?
Top of Page Bottom of Page PermalinkFull Name: skifurthur
If it gets too hot, do the
Nope. New Jersey enforces it's no idling law pretty stringently and security at the concert site was wandering the aisle between rows of cars making sure nobody was running their engines.It was just under 90 degrees that day and fairly humid.
Top of Page Bottom of Page PermalinkFull Name: Mice elf
I see. Thank you.
I see. Thank you.
Top of Page Bottom of Page PermalinkFull Name: 19.5 Degrees
So, was it "first come first
So, was it "first come first served" as far as who got what space, or was there some sort of reservation system?
Top of Page Bottom of Page PermalinkFull Name: Blue Rose Task Force
I saw that DSO is doing one
I saw that DSO is doing one of these,
in Philly in early September...
Top of Page Bottom of Page PermalinkFull Name: skifurthur
So, was it "first come first
The show was a benefit for the promoting venue, The Count Basie Theater (non-profit) and a Covid related charity. There was a Gold Circle of the first 4 rows directly in front of the stage that went for a premium over the standard $125 for a vehicle with a max 4 occupants. If you weren't in the Gold Circle, it was first come first parking space.
Top of Page Bottom of Page PermalinkFull Name: 19.5 Degrees
So, was it "first come first
The show was a benefit for the promoting venue, The Count Basie Theater (non-profit) and a Covid related charity. There was a Gold Circle of the first 4 rows directly in front of the stage that went for a premium over the standard $125 for a vehicle with a max 4 occupants. If you weren't in the Gold Circle, it was first come first parking space<<<
Did they force you do park in the order you arrived (with flaggers telling you where you needed to be), or could you roam at will (and seek out the center spots for instance), or even "re-park"?
It's not surprising there is a replication of "VIP" with the drive-in model, but I'd be curious to see how things pan out in the end. For starters, is there a discernable difference in the value of vehicles that occupy the "premium" slots? It's interesting how in the dead world, there seems to be a social pressure to "dress down" (or at least not to dress up). Generally speaking, by observing those in the "VIP" section one wouldn't really know it by their attire alone; however, can the same be said about the type / value of vehicles (on average) that occupies the premium section? IOW, there might not be an opportunity to "dress down" if it's a choice between the beemer or the Lexus.
Top of Page Bottom of Page PermalinkFull Name: skifurthur
Did they force you do park in
In case you haven't noticed, there is this pandemic going on and the states that seem to have a handle on keeping transmission down, New Jersey being one of those, are strongly enforcing social distancing. When vehicles came into the parking lot, they were directed to a parking spot that was set up to distance each vehicle from another. Once you were parked, your vehicle was parked in that spot for the duration of the show or if you decided to leave the concert area and go home. You were not able to change spots. If you didn't like your spot, oh well. Since I was reporting from that show, I wandered the parking lot, masked and keeping socially distant. I did not see anyone complaining that they couldn't move. As far as I observed everyone was just happy to be able to see a show at all. I am faily confident that if people started trying to move around the state, who was there with a few state troopers and more health officials, would have pulled the plug on the show and made everyone go home if they couldn't contain the movement of vehicles. Southside Johnny mentioned from stage that this was an experiment and we were all hamsters on the wheel and if we failed the test there wouldn't be any more concerts going forward.
As for dressing up or dressing down your choice of vehicle, I say neither. People came in the vehicles they usually drive. Percentage wise I would say that there were just as many 100k+ vehicles in the VIP area as there were in the regular GA section. That may be because of the affluence of New Jersey though. The brand of vehicle that is the most popular in NJ is a BMW. If I was to guess, didn't attempt to count because nothing looked unusual compared to everyday life, street traffic and parking lots, at least 20% of the vehicles were BMWs, Mercedes, Lexus, Audi, Ferrari, Lamborghini, Range Rover, Porsche and so on and so forth. It was a normal distribution of vehicles. No different than any other day in the Garden State.
Top of Page Bottom of Page PermalinkFull Name: 19.5 Degrees
Trust me, I've noticed! As
Trust me, I've noticed! As much as I was gently trying to gently get a rise out of you, I'm genuinely interested in both of these questions, but glad they've got a handle on keeping order.
It's always interesting to see how latecomers or those looking to "upgrade" their position will seek to reshuffle the deck at a dead related lot scene ... sometimes going through great lengths to drive through an already established and hopping shakedown.
As far as type of socio-economic vehicle distribution: I guess that just goes to show how I don't stray far from dead, cheese, phish, or bluegrass in Colorado in recent times. Perhaps once these become more ubiquitous, there'll be more discernable trends in various locales. Having said that, I can't help but picture Richie, the Fonz, Ralph, and Potsy all wearing face masks outside of Al's.
Top of Page Bottom of Page PermalinkFull Name: skifurthur
It's always interesting to
One of the people/scene watching joys of my job is that because I take photographs across multiple scenes/genres, I get to see how things are different or alike. The audience members who "works" hard to "upgrade" their position for a concert by pushing up front for a GA show or finding a way from a less desirable location/price tier to a better location are pretty much equally distributed across all of those genres. The excuse they tell themselves differ though. A Dead/Phish/Jamband audience will tell themselves that they are sticking to the "man" in some fashion. Tickets are too expensive, the promoter sucks; etc. At say a Bruce Springsteen show you see a sense of inflated importance telling themselves that they be up front because THEY are bigger fans or should not be subject to the indignities of being even in the second section of seats. There are slight variations between all the genre/audiences and one does see a noticable percentage of people who just don't care about anyone else in the audience but themselves.
The only exception to the above I find is at punk shows. By a large measure the punk audience is more concerned about everyone attending, more accepting of who you are and how you express and/or identify yourself, will vigorously defend a person from racism, sexism, LBGTQ-phobias, helping a person injured or financial stressed and just about any other malady that one might encounter at any large gathering of people. One thing you also see often at punk shows is that many will not turn a blind eye and will call out others who are violating those principles. It has always amazed me that an audience that in the early days was thought to be on the violent side has turned out to be the most peaceful and accepting.
Top of Page Bottom of Page PermalinkFull Name: 19.5 Degrees
The only exception to the
The only exception to the above I find is at punk shows. By a large measure the punk audience is more concerned about everyone attending, more accepting of who you are and how you express and/or identify yourself, will vigorously defend a person from racism, sexism, LBGTQ-phobias, helping a person injured or financial stressed and just about any other malady that one might encounter at any large gathering of people. One thing you also see often at punk shows is that many will not turn a blind eye and will call out others who are violating those principles. It has always amazed me that an audience that in the early days was thought to be on the violent side has turned out to be the most peaceful and accepting.<<<
I've never been to a punk show per se, although did see Dave Wakeling about twelve years ago while visiting in San Louis Obispo ... which seemed to at least have a foot in the door of the punk world as a casual observation. If so, I suspect it was one of the more accessible forms of it (musically) for someone who mostly exists in the "jam band" world. I was pleasantly surprised about show, crowd, and overall experience ... and would easily go see him again.
The "grateful dead audience" is over 50 years old, so would it be off base to say it's evolved/devolved at least in part over this time frame in terms of how it treats and looks after other people in generalized terms?
Top of Page Bottom of Page PermalinkFull Name: Barrel Aged
Speaking of getting creative,
Speaking of getting creative, I really like the vertical concert idea. Your own bathroom, balcony dance space and no driving after the show.
https://liveforlivemusic.com/news/vertical-concerts-ukraine-video/
Top of Page Bottom of Page PermalinkFull Name: 19.5 Degrees
^ kinda reminds me of double
^ kinda reminds me of double / triple decker driving ranges.
{{{balcony jumpers}}}
Top of Page Bottom of Page PermalinkFull Name: Is forgiveness possible?
In the 1970's and early 1980
In the 1970's and early 1980's (probably the 1960's too but I was not there to verify) the deadhead community took care of just about everyone on the scene just like a punk crowd does. When I first started seeing shows - the acceptance I felt was a big part of liking what I saw, heard, felt, etc.
Something happened in the mid to late 1980's to change that. 3 guesses what...
Top of Page Bottom of Page PermalinkFull Name: Hitchhiker awaiting "true call"
Top 40 music crowd.
Top 40 music crowd.
Top of Page Bottom of Page PermalinkFull Name: 19.5 Degrees
https://www.nbcnewyork.com
https://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/local/cuomo-says-criminal-liability-may-be-involved-in-drive-in-concert-southampton-is-going-to-have-a-problem/2538065/?fbclid=IwAR25L8hknuhk4folUZPPvNMVNT1-ArUJRGCXrSWvkn1jQh9EftHO_oNzMKY
Top of Page Bottom of Page PermalinkFull Name: New & Improved
Just got an invite to this
Just got an invite to this live event.....RMFJ & Co.
https://grfavail.com/event/days-between-a-jerry-garcia-tribute/
Top of Page Bottom of Page PermalinkFull Name: skifurthur
Not sure for what reason yet,
Not sure for what reason yet, besides something(s) related to the pandemic, but both.MOE drive in concerts at Vernon Downs, NY have been canceled by the venue a couple of days before the show. I'm sure more will be known soon.
Top of Page Bottom of Page PermalinkFull Name: skifurthur
And Twiddle's two sold out
And Twiddle's two sold out drive in concerts in Lake George NY this weekend have just been cancelled.
Not good.
Top of Page Bottom of Page PermalinkFull Name: Sycamore Slough
^
^
^^
Well that's kinda a really big Drag.
RIP moe. and Twiddle shoes :(
Top of Page Bottom of Page PermalinkFull Name: skifurthur
I wonder if this is a jamband
I wonder if this is a jamband audience thing? The level of intoxicant use is fairly high at jamband shows and one of the touchstones of intoxicant use is lowered inhibitions. It is not uncommon for some to shed clothing at these events. Shedding your mask would probably be the first to go.