K. T. Tunstall

It was a very very strange night at the Meridian. I should have known it was going to be weird when I walked into the main room shortly before the opening band and a few hundred people were sitting on the floor waiting for the show to begin. Yeah, sitting on the floor. The floor Gwar has christened with whatever unholy concoction they use to spray the audience with. The same floor people spill beer, spit, bleed and god knows what else on every show, and I'm sure it's never actually been mopped since the place opened. Who were these people? Hadn't they ever been to a show before? Anywhere! What were these people thinking?
The audience was a large part boomers who must have heard that ONE song of K.T's and said hey lets go to this show thing, It'll be like the Verizon or something. We'll sit in our seats and politely clap between each song.. The Meridian is not that type of venue, which in my mind is a good thing. It's real and places like the Verizon or Compaq Center are sterile and ordered, not the place I want to see music. The next largest group seemed to be the lesbian crowd, It's a chick on stage so that was to be expected, besides she's kinda cute so who knows. They at least go do shows and have a clue what it's about and they really get into the music for the most part so that was all good. Next it was some family type people bringing their kids to their first "real live show" like it was a fricking trip to the zoo.. Look look there is one them "gee tar ists..." don't feed him no matter how hungry he looks.. he could be dangerous. And then there were the few usual suspects who had a clue. What made this show special was that the boomers and amateurs outnumbered the seasoned concert goers.

I had to push my way into the crowd to get ready to shoot since there wasn't a photo pit. (god how I've come to love the photo pit.). Near the stage was a tall aging hippy looking dude who's girlfriend/wife had passed out. He was standing over her but refused to help her up or take her out of the crowd. She was gone, real gone and he was not the sanest looking dude I've ever run across either.. But I've seen weirder shit at show so I shot the opening band and just basically ignored them. Then during the break I tried working up to the very front so I could get my shots when Tunstall came out. This was harder than usual because people didn't get the concept that the guy with camera means let him slide past. He's got a job to do and is not just trying to be a dick and cut to the front of the stage. I had one housewife (with her kid there) tell me I was rude because I was cutting my way to the front. I told her that I said excuse me to everyone and it was my job to get as close as I can to take my shots. Then again she was getting pissed that people around her were "pushing her" and crowding her. Shit she was against the stage in a packed room, what the hell did she expect? She's damn lucky it wasn't the kind of show where a good mosh pit could erupt. Then I had someone tap me on the shoulder and ask if I was going to be standing there. Hell I hadn't even cut in front of that person. About this time someone complained to security about the passed out broad who happened to be about 2 people behind me. So they came in to carry her out, though the guy/husband was trying to get them to leave her there. He really wanted to see the band and didn't give a crap she was out on the floor, as long as he didn't have to move. (He later came back, sans her.. I've no idea what they did with her) Then a 40 something year old man got into a verbal battle with another housewife over god knows what, (also just right behind me) and here comes security again to seperate them and force them to relocate to other parts of the room. Man I've been to death metal shows where the audience was less hostile to each other, and those guys were hitting each other in the pit.

It all boils down to 1/2 of the audience tonight had no idea of concert etiquette. They don't get out and surely don't go to music venues very often. They had no idea how to behave or what to expect in this enviroment. To give another example of someone just not getting the concept. This older dude and his wife are sitting at one of the side bars about 1/3 of the way down from the stage. He kept tapping people on the shoulder who got in "his way" to see the band on stage. I swear to god he was sitting a damned barstool and expecting the people standing to move out of his way so he could see from the place he sat down. I just had to mess with him, so I went and stood in front of him and his line of sight. He wanted to tap me, I could tell he did but I'm a lot scarier looking than the dumb boomers who actually moved when he did this every other time. He bit his tongue and didn't even try. At least he had a couple of survival instincts after all.

As for Tunstall herself, it's not bad. Not my usual bag but she seemed to be enjoying herself and she played a decent length set considering she's fairly new and probably doesn't have a huge catalog of songs yet. She did some very interesting covers including Vaseline by Flaming Lips (?). So if you like the album and I mean more than just the one song they play on the radio I'd say go see her live, She doesn't owe her career to Pro Tools. (in other words she sounds good live and it wasn't just a trick of studio gear that made her CD sound that way)

I only got a few shots since it was hard to get a good line of sight and I didn't want to hang out in the middle of this crowd much more than I had to. I got a few shots and got out. I shot a bit from the edges. Lighting was ok but I still didn't get anything awe inspiring. It happens sometimes.

Satyr
9/16/2006
satyr at satyrgraphs.com