The Smiley Smile Message Board

After reading countless posts complaining about the Beach Boys doing shows at casinos, I finally got tonight why casinos are a bad venue for live music. Saw Gordon Lightfoot tonight at the Emerald Queen Casino in Tacoma. I've seen him several times before in nice theaters - most recently, at Tacoma's Temple Theater, 2000. Tonight at the casino, I had to listen to drunks singing along - LOUD! - on the few songs they recognized; the rest of the time, they were screaming and hollering like it was some effing heavy metal concert. Totally inappropriate for Lightfoot's music. Just ruined the evening for me. Granted, Gordon's voice is a lot thinner than it was 13 years ago, but that show in 2000 was near perfect, and it was obviously a Lightfoot crowd, that showed respect for the man and his music. Tonight was just another night on the town for some folks in the crowd. I can imagine hearing the Beach Boys do a nice version of In My Room or God Only Knows to shouts of "ROCKENROLL" AND "PARTAYDOWNWOOWOOWOOOOOOOOOO".

God I hate drunks.  Of course I was one.

I mentioned on another thread that The Beach Boys are playing the Thunder Valley Casino near Sacramento. I was making fun of it, saying that they've resorted to playing casinos and Chevrolet dealership openings and high school gymnasiums and back yard benefits and Bar mitvahs. I lumped them all together. The casino crowd consists of a lot of people with alcohol and gambling (and drug) problems. And that's fine, but many are not Beach Boys fans and coudn't give a rat's posterior about The Beach Boys, and I doubt very much they could recognize the band members anyway. They're probably not even listening to the music and just sitting there, a bunch of fat old men and ladies playing slots or at a table playing poker with a drink in one hand and a cigarette in the other.

How was Gordon?

That is sad drunks were yelling during a Gordon Lightfoot concert.

I would've enjoyed the show a lot more without the loudmouth drunks. Gordon's voice is a bit thinner than in his prime, but he's 74, still does the songs in the original keys - the only one that seemed to be a problem was some high notes on the chorus of Song For a Winter's Night; most of his band has been with him since the 70's, and they play the songs exactly like the records. I hope I get to see him again, but in a better setting.

I've been to shows that weren't in casinos that were at least partly ruined by adjacent loudmouth drunks, including nightclubs that serve liquor and indoor arenas with bars. It seems to especially be a problem in indoor arenas if you happen to be sitting in an area that is close to a bar or concession stand that sells liquor.  There are a lot of people who associate having a good time with being drunk. That's not exclusive to casinos.  With basketball arenas and stadiums, you also get people who've started drinking in the parking lot with tailgate parties even before the show starts. 

Nor is it exclusive to casinos to have clueless audience members who are only there because it's a "big name act" they think they ought to see, even if they're not fans. Or they only know one song. I'm sure Gord gets a crowd where people know "Sundown" and "Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald" and nothing else. They probably sing along loudly and off-key to those two songs, then are bored with everything else and tune out and start talking loudly to each other. All those soft, sensitive ballads are just bo-ring to drunken yahoos.

That's exactly what happened.  I was in the back by the bar, and they just talked and talked until those 2 songs hit. Later, I was able to move to a better seat because some "fans" left after hearing the 2 songs they came for.