I’ve been thinking about how Bob Dylan was booed at the Newport folk festival because he and his band were playing rock music with electric instruments. It’s not what they expected, and they were angry. Later that year, he played in Manchester, UK, where a member of the crowd shouted “Judas!“ at him.
I grew up not far from Bruce Springsteen and saw him live many times. Once, he “only“ played for 3.5 hours, and the crowd booed him when he left the stage.
This is not about Dylan or Springsteen.
The Beatles’ last live performance took place on the rooftop of Apple Music, an impromptu concert. Many of the people on the street booed cause “they were making too much noise”.
When Linda Ronstadt transitioned from folk country to pop, her fans were upset. When she changed from pop to jazz, they were even angrier.
When Freddie Mercury cut his hair short, many were angry at him because he wasn’t “a rocker anymore“.
This is not about The Beatles, Linda Ronsdtat, or Queen.
Blondie was touring as the opening act for Alice Cooper in 1978 in Philly. Halfway through their performance, several men threw beer bottles at Debrorah Harry; one exploded on her chest, and she was bleeding. She and the band left the stage. They were booed for leaving the stage.
On several tours, Pink Floyd had additional musicians because it was not possible to replicate their studio work live with just the four of them. I remember articles critiquing them as fakes.
This is not about Blondie or Pink Floyd.
I had the good fortune of being at a casino in Atlantic City on the night of my 21st birthday with a couple of buddies. We won a substantial amount of money playing blackjack and were comped a room for the night. In the afternoon of my actual birthday, The Beach Boys were playing live on the beach for free! It was a great deal of fun and a wonderful show. They played one encore. They thanked everybody and left the stage. People complained that they drove all the way there for a free concert, but the band only played one encore.
This is not about The Beach Boys.
Last week I saw my favorite cellist, Zoe Keating, live outside of Boston. During her set, the software she uses for looping failed & she needed to reboot her computer. She doesn’t enjoy making small talk on stage. Zoe asked people if they had any jokes about classical music. Three people told jokes, one of whom people didn’t like and booed. They didn’t boo her; they booed somebody nice enough to make a joke while she rebooted her computer.
This is not about Zoe Keating.
This thread is not about musicians.
P.S. Yes, I am aware I did not include Swift in this essay; it was intentional to offer you an opportunity to interpret the omission on your own. 🙂
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This post was previously published on Michael Swerdloff’s blog.
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