Last night Mr. Royale and I went to see The Flight of the Conchords. Brett and Jemaine had their typical witty banter with the crowd but seemed to get annoyed when someone yelled out “Freebird!” They responded that they did not have that song in New Zealand and that the request may be more appropriate at a Lynyrd Skynyrd show. I was sort of surprised to hear their irritation. A bit of research on FOTC and on the WFMU’s Beware of the Blog suggests that FOTC has choreographed this request into their banter, and that many bands are frustrated with this request.
Sometimes the request for “Freebird” is funny due to it’s juxtaposition with the sort of music that is being played. I’ve heard it screamed for at an Atlas Sound show, and Mr. Royale recalls it being requested from a Stereolab show.
I’m thinking that we are done with the tired and the trite. It’s time to start a revolution and request something different at a show. But what????
My brother band learned it and would play it (albeit a shorter version) when drunkards called for it.
Amazing Grace
I Always Feel Like (Somebody’s Watching Me)
I’m tempted to request “Is That All There Is?” but it might come off the wrong way.
“SWLABR”
I Always Feel Like (Somebody’s Watching Me) by Rockwell.
aka Berry Gordy III
I’d like to start a tradition of ironically requesting James Brown songs by shouting out “I can’t stand myself” at concerts.
I usually just play the whole damn thing…show them!
Thank you, RTHers, for your ideas. I noted that jungleland2 appears to be a musician. Do any of you other musicians out there have suggestions for an appropriate response?
That’s two votes for the Rockwell number. We’re in the lead, shawnkilroy!
That’s something worth wasting my time on: which rock artiste would I most like to hear covering that stone-cold turd. Hmm… I’ll unite two RTH threads by suggesting Motorhead.
Or “Rickroll” ’em.
Nice thought, hrrundivbakshi, but I dont know if Lemmy would do the vocals justice.
Id suggest B-52’s – Id love to hear Fred Schneider tackle this in full voice.
For this type of audience participation to be truly effective, one should yell out a song title by an artist with a similar name as the guy/gal/band on stage.
Example #1: scream out “Cuts Like a Knife” at a Ryan Adams show (this actually happened a few years ago!).
Example #2: Um, can’t think of another this late.
The realy question I want to know the answer to is this: How did Ryan Adams react? He’s been known to be nasty at his shows.
TB
Diamond Lou once offered me a hundred bucks to yell “ABACAB” at the top of my lungs between songs at a Musical Box (genesis tribute) show in which they played Lamb Lies Down on Broadway in it’s entirety. I couldn’t do it. It just felt way too disrespectful.
I’ve always liked that “ABACAB” song — in the same way I like, say, “Feels Like the First Time.”
For as much fun as this is to consider, I don’t know that anything can ever replace “Freebird.” Do radio stations even do Top 100 Songs of All-Time countdowns any more? Remember how it was always a showdown between “Freebird” and “Stairway to Heaven?” Do bands write and perform songs constructed to be set-ending displays of predictably overwrought dynamics any more? Whatver the go-to set-ender for U2 or The Boss is, I’m sure it’s not as staged as final blowout as “Freebird” was. I’m sure ladymisskirroyale didn’t really think there was a new song like this on the horizon.
Years ago a drunk guy actually asked us to end our set with some Cream. We all kind of liked Cream in a tongue-in-cheek way, but we couldn’t deliver. About a year later we learned “SWLABR,” so maybe the drunk had an influence on us. Years after that we also learned “I Feel Free,” but that was too much a joke, and the drunk guy had not been seen at one of our shows in 20 years.
I don’t think a single song could substitute for Freebird, but I do think it’s an interesting cultural phenomenon and was happy to see the WFMU discussion about it. I wonder if this tendency to shout out a request for that song crosses international borders? It seems unlikely as I would guess it would lose a lot of the cultural irony and strength. Are there international equivalents? Or are Americans the rudest of all concert-goers?
How did it get to be Freebird anyway? Didn’t it used to be Whipping Post, based on the Allman Bros. Live at The Fillmore album where a fan audibly calls out “Whipping Post!” when he recognizes the bass riff?
no i think it started happening in the 90s when indy rock was so un-Skynyrd and so ironic, that Freebird was the most ironic thing one could shout.
HVB, I like ABACAB too!
I also like:
Misunderstanding
In The Air Tonight
No Reply At All
Lonely Man Down On The Corner
I Don’t Care Anymore
and a few other post Gabriel jams.
I despise:
Invisible Touch
Turn It On
Susudio
and most of the rest of it.
i also like all of Loverboy and Foreigner’s hits.
How did Ryan Adams react?
Allegedly, he threw the ten or 20 bucks at the guy to refund his ticket money, and then asked security to escort the drunk out of the club.
That sounds about right, Sonny. Thanks for getting back to me on that. I’ve heard stories about Ryan’s erratic performances.
One of the strangest “Free Bird” incidents occured at a Bill Hicks show in the late 90s. He was being heckled pretty badly and he did not respond well. What occured was both frightening and hilarious. for those interested, you can see this stuff on YouTube, but be warned, it’s nothing you’d want sensitive ears to be exposed to.
From the ever-reliable Wiki:
“Another of Hicks’s most famous quotes was delivered during a gig in Chicago in 1989 (later released as the bootleg I’m Sorry, Folks). After a heckler repeatedly shouted “Free Bird”, Hicks screamed that “Hitler had the right idea, he was just an underachiever!” Hicks followed this remark with a misanthropic tirade calling for unbiased genocide against the whole of humanity.”
And from the Urban Dictionary:
“(Note: do not utter this phrase in the presence of Bill Hicks.)
Free bird. And in the beginning there was the word “Free bird” and “Free bird” would be yelled throughout the centuries. “Free bird”, the mantra of the moron! “Free bird”, “Free bird”, “Free bird”, “Free bird”. If we keep yelling this, one day we’ll be funny. Keep doing it. “Free bird”, “Free bird”, “Free bird”, “Free bird”. We will sit at the feet of Kevin Matthews. “Free bird”, “Free bird”, “Free bird”. “
TB
Hey, shawnkilroy, though I would definitely delete “Man on the Corner” and add “Turn It On Again,” otherwise I think you have hit all the post-Gabriel Genesis highlights. (I am not a huge Gabriel-era fan, either, I should note.) And duly noting that “In the Air Tonight” is not Genesis.
I have an Alex Chilton live show from December 1977 where a guy in between songs calls out, “I Wanna Hold Your Hand….Foxy Lady… Purple Haze…Who else is dead? Piece of My Heart…As Tears Go By…”
Alex Chilton, very sarcastically: “We’ll just do a medley of every song we’ve ever heard” Chilton then launches into Zeppelin’s “Whole Lotta Love” riff, someone adds a Beatles riff on it, then they’re off: Smoke on the Water, some Doors, Sunshine of Your Love and then Money (Barrett Strong, not Floyd) emerges out of the muck, Peter Gunn, then some country western riff, Layla, Eight Miles High, and Pipeline all in the course of three minutes.
If it’s someone just playing a guitar and singing, I think “Wipeout!” is the appropriate request.
missed again
that’s a good one.
I was at a retirement party last night, and when the guest of honor got up to take the mic, I just couldn’t resist making the request.