Gogol Bordello and Reno Assholery
I’m not going to write too much about Gogol Bordello’s performance on Friday. It was a great show like all their other great shows you read about. Bordello works harder physically to win the heart and soul of the audience than any band I’ve ever seen. One observation I do want to make is that Bordello is slightly more aggressive in energy than I find ideal–perhaps it was the crowd–in fact it probably was the crowd (see below), but I enjoy the brotherhood I feel at Pogues shows (who Bordello is often compared to). A Pogues show is more like a party where all the strangers attending become your best friend. A Bordello show is more like a revolution–more agressive, more visceral. I wish that they had done a few more songs from the Gypsy Punks: Underdog World Strike album (Oh No and Illumination are my favorites), and I just have to say that, after working with Ethiopian college students in Alexandria, Virginia for years, Thomas Gobena, the newish Bordello bassist from D.C., is the most strapping man of Ethiopian descendant I’ve ever “met.” Opening band Skin Dread was really good–sort of a combination of Bad Brains and Rage Against the Machine. Unfortunately, they probably did a lot to encourage the overall assholery of the crowd by insulting the crowd for not dancing. I remember watching a young skinhead (no doubt a straight edger), running down to the pit in what looked like a response to some of SkinDred’s attempts to rile up the crowd, and thinking “Oh great!”
For more photos of the show, check out Flickr, where I found some excellent photos, including this set.
What I really want to spend time discussing today is what I find to be the general assholery of concert audiences these days, and since I live in Reno, Reno audience assholery specifically. In fact, the general assholery of Reno audiences seems especially pronounced to me. What kind of city’s crowd sits through an entire Who concert anyway? No doubt the assholery is a result of the same sense of insecurity that produces a film like Nevada Bad Ass and the perpetuation of Bro culture in Reno–and seems particularly gendered to me. Slam dancing (and its bratty kid brother, moshing) has always been an activity in which men perform their masculinity for each other–practicing their aggression in case anyone might be thinking they aren’t men. You used to be able to count on some basic etiquette in the pit back in the day (I’ve been near pits in D.C., in Salt Lake City, and in Los Angeles over the last 25 years). And yes, women sometimes take part, but its clear, and always has been clear since slam-dancing originated in L.A. in the late 70s, that the aggressive dancing in the pit is almost exclusively a male activity. But maybe its all sucked since the infamous 1999 Woodstock, and I’m just noticing…
For instance, I saw a dude come careening from 1o feet away (clearly way out of the pit) into a young women, nearly knocking her over. His attitude? He flipped her off because it was her fault to be in his way. This kind of juvenile behavior was repeated many times throughout the night in slightly different iterations. Near the end of the show, another (rather large) asshole took a stage dive without giving the crowd in front of him any kind of clue of what he was about to do. Unfortunately for him, most of the people in front of him just got out of the way and he dropped like a stone onto the hard, cold floor.
And to the couple that brought their two year old? Get a baby-sitter next time or don’t go. I saw that she was wearing ear plugs, but come on. Should you really be exposing your toddler to all the drunken moshing and a crazy Ukrainian chugging wine, frenching strange women, and throwing shit all over the stage? Yikes.
Discuss: is the Reno pit crowd (as loose a pit as I’ve ever seen), meaner and uglier than you’ve experienced in other regions? Is “moshing” the province of suburban male angst? American angst? Let’s hear from the moshers too.
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I didn’t think it was that bad…I saw lots of instances of people helping each other out in the mosh pit, and I felt a sense of camaraderie with my fellow concert-goers.
Well, that’s good to hear. I felt the camaraderie too, but not with everyone–that’s for sure. Like I said though, I’m really interested in how people think Reno audiences compare to others. Its definitely a different vibe than I’ve experienced at SF shows for instance.
Perhaps it’s a lack of experience on the Reno concert-goer’s part. There’s not just a camaraderie in a pit, there is also a synchronicity.
I view it as lack of experience of perhaps even ignorance. A slam pit, much like driving or fine dining, has a set of ettiquite rules attached to it. The more people adhere to these unwritten rules that nearly every punk knows, the more pleasurable and ’synched’ the slam dancing experience will be.
Reno has always had a divine disconnection from what is really going on in the music world. For instance, back in my rave days, in the early 90’s, when I first moved here from L.A., the rave scene in L.A. was full-bore, yet here it was like ‘Rave? what’s that? Techno music? huh?’ They were about 3 years behind, even with SF close by, before they caught up. Why behind the times? Virtual isolation from music trends. Ultra lounges is another great example; they have been prevelant for years in other cities, in fact the first Hotel Costes cd (I highly recommend the entire series) came out I think in the 80’s…yet Reno got its first ‘ultra-lounge’ a year ago. And I still haven’t been to an Ultra Lounge in Reno that is truly an ultra-lounge by definition.
I think this same theory can be applied to the Reno punk scene. If the younger punks in Reno who take it too far in the pit pulled that stuff in a veteran pit in L.A. or S.F., they would be corrected and owned before they even knew what happened.
So I think it’s lack of real world punk experience and ettiquite, and a certain degree of Sonic Isolationist Ignorance Syndrome.
I was sort of hoping that Reno Assholery was the name of another band. Maybe someday…
Well, you know, Reno is about 6 years behind. So is that Kellner guy. Gypsy punk was over in 2003. Come on now! But, yes, I think whoever said it, mMike I think, is a lack of experience. If these punk kids got their proper comeuppances they would think twice before they do a lot of stupid shit. Moshing like that–to hurt yourself or other people–went out in the 1990s. It’s embarassing, really. We’re stuck in that last Woodstock. You know, that one where they set fire to everything because they’re spoiled kids. Throw away your tight pants, kids. It’s long over. Embrace the scuzzy sides of our city. It’s the only way you can win. Otherwise, you’ll always be a third-rate town, a tour stop for wash-ups and has beens. Andrew Dice Clay and Whitesnake can still draw here. That’s sad. Pshaw! Really sad.
You know, while I’m here…I want to try to figure this one out…WTF is up with that Reno Envy thing? I don’t get it. I mean I get it and all, and it;s really so brilliant and everything but what does it mean? Who is envious of someone living in Reno? Someone living in Hawthorne? It’s like a litte camper and then the words Reno Envy. Does the Reno Envy company sell little campers? I recently heard some ad on the radio and it said somebody, like ZOMG, the people responsible for Reno Envy will be there, and I’m thinking, who the hell are these people and what the hell is Reno Envy aside from a little sticker with a camper on it. I mean, OK, sure, Reno Envy. But really…WTF?
Its wearable irony in bright colors! Actually, the interesting thing to me is that so many Reno people wear what I would assume would be tourist gear in a lot of other places. I think now, (not the first designs) its a triumph of design over message. People like the colors and retro feel. Stuff Reno People Like.
OK. Got it now. It looks like Siobhan McAndrew of the RG-J broke the story on Reno Envy in 2005. The subhead of the piece basically predicted that the slogan might catch on in Hollywood, which really makes about as much sense as everything else that she writes. Like “I’m not an egg person but force them down when I’m dying of boredom from avoiding carbs.” Since, the powers that be saw fit to give her a column, I’m gonna drop my question. I don’t want to know.