thoughts about music and getting a little older

Sunday, July 17, 2011

The Drunk-O-Meter Rating System

Tonight after an annoying drunk almost ruined a perfectly lovely concert by Fleet Foxes, I've decided to start a "drunk-o-meter" rating system for the concerts attended by the Whack ol' Ladies.  The drunkenness of other concert goers has been a recurring theme for the Whack ol' Ladies. We don't go out very often and when we do, we would much rather listen to the musicians than some drunken smart ass shouting one liners at the band. I'm not really sure what makes someone feel that an entire concert hall wants to hear his insights, but an abundance of alcohol seems to always be a contributing factor. I have thought of suggesting to the music venues that there should be some sort of "fan test" before people are allowed in- "can you sing more than one song by the artist or are you only here only to drink the beer?"
     In the WOL drunk-o-meter rating system, a 1 is a concert that is enjoyable and not affected by the intoxication of others. A concert with a 5 rating is completely ruined by the drunks. 
Fleet Foxes is at 4, since the shouting drunks really bummed out the band and they didn't really feel like talking for awhile. I thought at one point they were just going to walk off stage. Whack ol' Ladies get very motherly at these moments and want to march right over to the offending jerks and give them a piece of their minds.

A brief drunk-o-meter rating for the last year:

Spoon-2 (annoying guy moved on)
Cloud Cult,Mason Jennings, Peter Wolf Crier-3 (barfing brothers)
Cloud Cult at First Avenue-1 (CD release party brought out the fans)
Andrew Bird-1 (maybe the violin kept the drunks away)
Dessa-1 (MPR was filming)
Kings Go Forth-2 (beer dropped on my feet)
Les Nubiens-1(everyone having fun)
Pert Near Sandstone-2 (harmless guys in baseball hats)
Raphael Saadiq-2 (dancing drunken guy waving arms and blocking view)
Soundset-5 (maybe I won't go next year-plethora of the impaired)
Rock the Garden-1 ( Tickets sold out to MPR and Walker Art Center members first- and it was raining)
Jeremey Messersmith at the Varsity -5 (drunken hecklers galore)
Jeremey Messersmith, Chan Polling etc at the Fitzgerald-1 (MPR event)