Don't you just hate it when?

When you're performning in front of a normal sized crowd, and instead of them trying to appreciate the orignallity of your songs, they're yelling for requests. That totally sucks if you ask me. Because when you're ut there on stage, you're doing your on thing and you're in the moment, the last thing you want to do is lose your concentration.

It's hard, but in a situation like this, you just have to learn to roll with the punches and stick your guns. Does a situation like this really bother you? Or perhaps there are other ways that the audience tends to get on your nerves during shows?

-Joseph

I don't often get that.

People yell requests because they want to hear songs they know, so when you're starting out it seems helpful to mix covers and originals until you get enough people going to your shows to hear your music.

Anyway, the only time I get requests for stuff is when my best friend is around. Nothing quite like playing a party with your friend standing on your pedals hollering requests for Wynona's Big Brown Beaver or Jerry was a Race Car Driver.

"Dude, you're on my pedals, sit down, maybe we'll get to it."

Doesn't it bug you the people that just sit there and glare at you with a kind of "entertain me if you can" look on their face. That is the ultimate test on nerves besides drunken people trowing beer at you.

As if that's not enough entertainment all in one,

When I was younger, I used to feel nervous especially when the audience is starring intently at you, (almost as if they don't have the ability to blink.) However, now I like the fact that they're paying attention, because it keeps me on my toes and makes me try a little harder. However, when the audience is very impatient, that bothers the **** out of me.

-Joseph

Try playing in this real hick bar in Keswick Ontario sometime. No matter what band plays there, there's always one jerk in the audience who yells out "BOB SEGER".
Before we even played there we had our last song already planned out. We were going to do 'Get the Funk Out' by Extreme but when they started yelling for Bob Seger, we changed the lyrics to "If you like, Bob Seger, get the *uck out" Then we'd start yelling obseneties over the music.
It was a very satisfying experience cause we knew we'd never play there again.
Just before we left the stage our lead singer shouted into the microphone 'BOB SEGER SUCKS!!!!" It was great revenge for all the times that really great bands had played there only to be ruined by bob seger fanatics.

I've always maintained that if my band ever got requests for "My Name is Mud" by Primus, we'de play the intro right up to where the verse starts then stop and say we didn't know the song.

I love the song, but it seems that once people find out that I play bass, that's the first thing they want to hear me play.

I can't count how many times i've heard people scream out for Free Bird when I'm trying to play. One night we just said what the **** and played it, everybody shut up & listened to us the rest of the night. Sometimes you have to earn their respect.

No way. Bob Seger rocks. Turn The Page is one of my favourite songs.

:(

hehe
i was one of those guys that...no matter what
kind of band was playing...if it was at a bar
i would yell "FREE BIRD!" in a nice
southern drawl....
it could be a speed metal act up there,
a solo acoustic guy....pop rock act...
anything...
i used to think i was funny.
my friends got a kick out of it...
it used to be funny to me until reading this
post...sorry dudes
:(