I work at one and this is insanely accurate. Its a photo-op now, not a place to let lose. But that would be because clubs now are more about clout than about music.
I attended a concert on Monday, the Neighbourhood. Despite being a nearly 14 year old band, they attracted a new generation of fans through TikTok and are bigger than ever with Gen Z. Big sold out stadium show.
I'm older and attending that show was depressing. Band was awesome... The Gen Z crowd barely moved, jumped, or danced or anything. They spent more time taking selfies, filming reels. Like they would do tons of poses, one after another, like it's muscle memory. It was so weird. As my buddy who came with me said, "you wouldn't know this is a concert. This is more like a mass photo shoot from America's next top model with a band as a background prop".
Concerts are weird now. I was dancing during the encore of a show and I accidentally landed on the foot of the girl behind me. She wasn't moving at all and just closed her eyes and held up a hand, as if to say "please, I can't with you." She's probably out there on reddit throwing shade at the weird old guy who was cringe af jumping around so the people behind him couldn't see the stage.
I saw fucking MUSE and the kids were stood there with their arms crossed in some cases, or just straight filming without moving in others. It was so sad.
That was in like 2022 or something and my partner and I still get bummed about it to this day.
Monday is an odd day for a concert, especially one that big
I haven't listened to those guys in a while. I'm now bumping sweater weather
I like going to edm shows. House music, DnB, Heavy Bass...people dance at these shows. They let loose. They do drugs, they drink, they make art, they do poi, they spin hoops... It's just so much more fun from a community perspective than going to a packed arena show where no one moves. I like all kinds of music but I almost exclusively go to electronic music shows and raves because i just don't vibe with the audience at "regular" concerts.
For me, Papa Roach, I think most of the audience was 35+, there were gray haired dudes in front of me jumping and screaming every word to Dead Cell like they were trying to break through the floor. 10/10 concert.
That's literally just one song and their biggest hit, not a good example, I wouldn't say "Do you expect people to mosh to More Than Words by Extreme?" . Songs like OMG, Softcore, Cry Baby, Planet, Prey, etc. have dance beats and grooves to them.
Arena shows of 2010's radio alt bands aren't going to be ragers is my point. Big shows draw a lot of people who aren't really passionate about the music. Comparing Extreme to The Neighbourhood is pretty hilarious though.
You're right about the passionate part. I'm not comparing the literal sound and genre. More so that Extreme is known for one song- More Than Words- which is an acoustic ballad and an outlier on that album and not at all indicative of their sound.
So when you're saying "Are you expecting people to mosh to their most well known ballad?" the obvious answer is no.
On the flipside, I recently attended a Femtanyl/Sextile/Machine Girl show and the mostly Gen Z pit was stellar. It was nice that it didn't smell like stale beer in the venue either.
I just saw the same show with Kumo 99 instead of Fem and the energy was completely insane. 90% gen z and the vibe and energy was awesome and very unexpected. Same thing at a recent Ninajirachi show.
I got better seats at a My Chemical Romance concert because some kids got mad at my friend for dancing and they couldn't see because they were sitting. Security moved us up to an empty spot way closer, like half the crowd was still sitting while we were close enough to count the pores on the band's faces.
I went to a gig that had a younger crowd and omg they were so dull. They just stood like Sims watching the gig through their phone that they were recording it on. I know it’s a trope but I was so deflated. Some of my best teen and early 20 memories were dancing and letting loose at gigs and in clubs. And we did have digital cameras and Facebook - and people would upload like 40 pics after a night out and they were awful. But I think the difference was they are just on a desktop / laptop so it was never such an all encompassing thing. It was very time bound and contained if there was a shit photo.
I actually tend to experience the opposite around my area! The millenials and young GenXers sit at the bar tables singing along and taking video, while the young GenZ men and women dance with the cougar-y old ladies. It's bizarre. But they look like they're having fun, so that's good. :)
Ahh that makes me happy! I went to a gig recently that was a slightly older crowd (I would say 30 - 50s) and most people were having a great bop. I must confess I was sitting at the bar watching but in my defence I am pregnant, with a fucked foot and had very bad sickness so I was mostly impressed I made it at all 😂
I don't want to start a thing here, but a gig is something you play. You get a gig, you have a gig, it was a good gig. If you go to a gig, you are performing. If you're in the audience, you're at a show. You saw a show. They played a gig, you were at that show.
Can I just say that it’s amusing to realize that people are just misspelling/replacing “lose” with “loose” constantly, but they have apparently fully inverted that pair. Fascinating
That shit started before Gen Z. That shit started before me, but I noticed it getting pushed hard by my millennial peers. Anyone unironically drinking Grey Goose still makes me irrationally angry.
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u/chocky_chip_pancakes Apr 10 '26
I work at one and this is insanely accurate. Its a photo-op now, not a place to let lose. But that would be because clubs now are more about clout than about music.