Quote:
Originally Posted by Pineapple_Juice
How come to most people it's called concerts, but when alt kids go to them it's called gigs or shows?
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Me and my brother debated that long ago and we arrived at the following conclusion.
Concert is reserved for big name bands while
show is reserved for small bands. The dividing line between big name and small bands was whether or not they did their own sound check. Since alt bands seldom break big (in comparison to mainstream rock) most alt kids are going to shows rather than concerts.
We'd joke about it at gigs. We'd see a fairly popular band at a fairly large gig and ask, "Is this a concert or a show." If the vocalist came out and instantly started to sing it was a concert. If the first thing out of his mouth was, "Check. Check. Check." it was a show.
Then there's the argument that kids call them shows and gigs to make it sound more underground--even if it's not justified. Some mallgoth kid will say something like, "Yeah, I was in the front row of the Manson show last night" in an attempt to make a 30,000 seat arena sound like an intimate club gig despite the fact that the front row was actually 50 yards from the performer.
Oddly, when I became a bootleg trader I learned that nearly all traders use
show to refer to any band's performance regardless of size or popularity.