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=> GENERAL DISCUSSION => Topic started by: ggw on August 04, 2008, 02:10:00 pm
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Please Explain to Me ... Concert T-Shirts (http://blog.washingtonpost.com/postrock/2008/08/please_explain_to_me_concert_t.html)
So I'm with birthday boy Klimek outside the Coldplay show last night, and we see a guy at Chipotle wearing a Viva La Vida T-shirt, presumably purchased (for $35) at an earlier stop on the tour.
Fancy that.
I've never been a concert-tee guy myself, having purchased exactly one in my life: A bootleg Tom Petty shirt after a SoCal show on the Full Moon Fever tour. I think it cost me $5 or $10, which was $5 or $10 too much, given that the silk screen broke up in the wash. I never actually wore the thing.
Now, I don't begrudge anybody who flies the flag for their favorite bands. I just don't get it - particularly when the flag is being flown among friendlies, as with wearing a Coldplay shirt at a Coldplay concert.
Yes, it's a brand and an identifier. But it's not like wearing a San Francisco Giants jersey to Dodger Stadium, where there are two distinct sides and an obvious need to state your allegiance.
At a concert, you're surrounded by your own tribe. I mean, nobody figures you for a Coldplay-hating Boredoms fan if you're in or around the building. So what's the point?
Please explain.
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Originally posted by ggwâ?¢:
A bootleg Tom Petty shirt after a SoCal show on the Full Moon Fever tour.
Hey! I was at that show. Lenny Kravitz opened. I sat right behind Ricky Schroeder and Carlton, who back then I referred to as Alfonso and who's real name I haven't the slightest clue. Ricky had a broken arm, but that didn't stop him from making out with the chick he brought to the show the whole time....
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What would be a cool t-shirt to wear at a particular gig?
For example
Smiths t-shirt at a Modest Mouse show.
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Smashing Pumpkins @ Malkmus or vice versa.
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I was always fond of wearing polar opposite shirts. I used to always wear a Bjork shirt to metal/heavier shows. Not sure why I got such of kick out of it, but it did humor me.
Still, I think your example below is still pushing it, but I'm also a jaded hipster.
Originally posted by Ever Circling Skeletal Family:
What would be a cool t-shirt to wear at a particular gig?
For example
Smiths t-shirt at a Modest Mouse show.
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i dont wear concert tshirts as much as i used to, but guided by voices shirts get awesome questions always
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<img src="http://www.latexas.com/commerce/images/MAS_0006_01_300.jpg" alt=" - " />
you could wear this.
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"What's this? You're wearing the shirt of the band you're going to see? Don't be that guy."
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<img src="http://img180.exs.cx/img180/4097/20050320shirts73ic.jpg" alt=" - " />
or these . . . in all the colours of the gay rainbow.
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Which one is you?
I'm guessing third from the right.
Originally posted by walkonby:
<img src="http://img180.exs.cx/img180/4097/20050320shirts73ic.jpg" alt=" - " />
or these . . . in all the colours of the gay rainbow.
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why, because that kid is smiling? i don't smile. it makes my face hurt.
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I used to wear a Man Utd team jersey to go see Oasis but you'd need a Brit footie education to understand why, and I'm sure you all have less interest in learning than I do in educating.
BTW, when did teachers suddenly become educators?
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dont oasis support both shitty and celtic? shit aint right
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Originally posted by god's shoeshine:
i dont wear concert tshirts as much as i used to, but guided by voices shirts get awesome questions always
"is that a christian band?"
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"which voices are you guided by?"
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I like wearing my "Jesus Is A Shitty Scientist" shirt to just about everything.
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For the life of me I've never understood why this bothers people so much.
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Please Explain to Me ... bands wearing their own concert t-shirt at their concert. I've seen a few.
<img src="http://hardrockhideout.files.wordpress.com/2008/03/bretmichaels2.jpg" alt=" - " />
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I think the acceptability of wearing a band's shirt to their show is directly proportional to how obscure they are. To whit: I wore my DMBQ show when they played the Hosiery, and the guys were visibly thrilled to see someone with their shirt, came over and talked to me, and offered to give me one of the new ones.
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I've had a long-standing theory that wearing your own shirt is only acceptable for two types of people:
Rock Stars (see your image below), and
Pro Wrestlers
<img src="http://media.collegepublisher.com/media/paper971/stills/3bf3fc37a25e1-3-1.jpg" alt=" - " />
Originally posted by 6949:
Please Explain to Me ... bands wearing their own concert t-shirt at their concert. I've seen a few.
<img src="http://hardrockhideout.files.wordpress.com/2008/03/bretmichaels2.jpg" alt=" - " />
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Originally posted by 6949:
Please Explain to Me ... bands wearing their own concert t-shirt at their concert. I've seen a few.
Bret Micheals isn't actually in that band any longer, but his insecurities drive him to remind people that he was once in that band.
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Originally posted by god's shoeshine:
dont oasis support both shitty and celtic? shit aint right
Shitty for sure, but I don't know about sheltic.
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I like to buy t-shirts for bands I like as that is money direct to their pocket, no label in between (yeah clubs take a cut..). To me, wearing a band shirt to the concert is also the further back the tour shirt the more legit (showing you are a long time fan). For instance I thought of wearing my Pure Phase shirt to the Spiritualized show, but didn't.
As to bands, I respect it when the bands are broke and that is how they get a clean shirt (or a reusable sweatty shirt for the show). If you are big-big, then put a shirt of an obscure band on, e.g. David Grohl with the Scream shirt on in the Nirvana video.
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i'm glad freedom du crap wrote about this.. usually i find his columns completely offbase.. his reviews horrible...
but on this i got to hand it to him.. i think people wearing shirts of the artists they are seeing is beyond tacky.. it shows no personality..its like saying "you are my god"...who wants to be just like everybody else? only incredibly insecure stupid people .
the only times i buy concert t's is if the artist really rocks my world at a show and i'm feeling a huge high even before i leave the concert and i'm really into the artist....then i buy it take it home and i feel i can wear it....ween comes to mind..toots and the maytals..sleater kinney...
but generally there is no way in hell i'm paying 30 bucks to be a poster boy for somebody other than me... and i never buy the concert t before the show's even happened... what if they pull a ryan adams and blow chunks?
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So I occasionally get free t-shirts from bands, some I am proud of (Sex Pistols) others I don't really know what to do with other than change oil or wear them for work.
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Originally posted by hutch:
but on this i got to hand it to him..
really?
the "don't wear the shirt of the band you're going to see" thing is just a tired trope ... if i have to hear that "don't be that guy" PCU quote one more time i'm going to starting clawing at my ears
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well at least if you're going to wear a shirt wear one from a previous show...
wehn you go to a big show and you see hundreds of poeple wearing the same shirt available at the t-shirt stand for 35 bucks i think it makes them look like they are members of a cult.
have some personality!
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Originally posted by hutch:
well at least if you're going to wear a shirt wear one from a previous show...
wehn you go to a big show and you see hundreds of poeple wearing the same shirt available at the t-shirt stand for 35 bucks i think it makes them look like they are members of a cult.
have some personality!
yes
i agree
everyone and their mother agrees
it's the most tired complaint in rock, up there with whining about geezers playing reunion tours (keith richards is so old!!!) and ill-proportioned sandwich meat ("exhibit A!")
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I tend to wear normal clothes to concerts and band shirts to other places. Free advertising and all.
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I love my Neds Atomic Dustbin shirts and I notice some bands appreciate it. I wore my Are You Normal shirt at a We Are Scientists and Oxford Collapse show and the boys of OxC were really excited and approached me about the shirt. They even told me they'd play a Neds cover for me. LOL. It didnt happen.
My other favorite shirt of theirs is: Did you miss ned's atomic dustbin? (front) Then you fucked up? (back). I saw one guy wearing that shirt at a Santogold show.
I love wearing shirts of more obscure bands that I feel deserve more advertising. Or wearing an older shirt of a band Im seeing in concert. I have some awesome Morrissey shirts and some Cure shirts from Israel.
I really love it when bands wear other bands shirts. I recall the guy from CSS wearing a Tiny Masters of Today shirt (who had played earlier in the day at lolla).