Rowdy Crowds
Two recent incidents at Winnipeg concert events have ‘Peggers crying foul over how the conduct of a few fans can ruin an evening that was supposed to be fun for many.
Interestingly, both incidents occurred last Friday, Jan. 29. The first involved a few drunken fans heckling, yelling and basically making a mockery of their status as human beings at the Steve Earle show at the Burt. According to eye witness reports, these fans refused to stop their distracting behaviour their entire show, prompting Earle to cut his performance off early.
Angry letters to the editor and radio messages regarding this incident attest to just how scumbag-like their conduct was, which is really too bad. Having heard Earle live before, he is certainly a formidable songwriter and entertainer whose music deserves respect.
The other incident occurred at the Motley Crue show at the MTS Centre. Apparently, the band was able to kick-start the hearts of two particular fans to a level usually reserved for private quarters.
As a video taken from the upper deck is purported to show, two patrons of the concert appear to be engaging in what local media has termed a “sexual act.” Basically, the video is said to show a woman with her pants down, moving around on the lap of a seated male. It doesn’t take much of an imagination to ascertain what type of “sex act” the video seems to depict. Or does it?
As someone who has seen his fair share of wild shit go on at live shows, I was fascinated with the idea, and decided to investigate.
Through the wonders of modern technology, the Winnipeg Sun‘s website had it available for my viewing pleasure.
Unfortunately, it is not all that interesting. It doesn’t really even look as though the two were having sex. It’s more like a lap-dance in the nose-bleeds that, while it would have certainly done Tommy Lee proud, was pretty tame. Hell, given their general attitude towards women, Motley Crue has probably had girls doing much worse on-stage in the past. I mean, we’re talking about the band whose drummer once stuck a camera down his pants, so that the crowd could see his cock on the massive video screens at the back of the stage.
Nonetheless, these two incidents seem to be hot stuff during these dreary days in Winnipeg. It is always unfortunate when some drunken asshole forgets he is in public. And its really too bad when the performer(s) who people have paid money to hear and experience is drowned out and embarrassed by the actions of a few. And, I suppose it might have been uncomfortable for someone to see a woman and a man being more interested in each other than the Crue’s tired lyrics, lasers and pyrotechnics.
But what is always more amazing is how surprised people act at such ‘degenerate’ behaviour at live events. As long as you mix alcohol - and live music venues thrive on booze sales - and people in such large numbers as music shows do, a few people are bound to go overboard.