Sparsely attended sets

Just been having a gander online and saw the crowd for LCD Soundsystem at T in the Park

what “name” bands have you seen at festivals or gigs where it was empty? Remember going to see Glassjaw at Leeds Fest in 2011 after …Bombay Bicycle CLub? Crowd just emptied … still played a belter

In Belfast Morrissey was pretty empty. Apparently was empty compared to what the venue normally has- which is shit like one direction and 5 seconds of summer- so not too shocking lol

I saw Feeder in Porto when I was living there a few years ago. There were around 50 of us in a decent-sized venue, maybe 2000 capacity. I was wondering whether turning up to gigs late was a Portuguese thing but it was still dead when the band came on. They looked pretty disappointed with the turnout until right at the end some Portuguese guy in the crowd who’d obviously picked up on the band’s mood shouted “WE MAY BE FEW, BUT WE ARE IMPORTANT” which cheered them up and they even did a pretty energetic encore.

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D’Angelo headlining les ardentes last year
it was raining and he was 45 minutes late and the festival was full of teenagers who may not have even known who he was. so great though

Annie at Glastonbury in about 2008, headlining some obscure dance tent. Can’t have been more than about 30 people there. She was fantastic.

Also my band once played a set to no people, but I’m fairly sure everyone who’s been in a band has a story like that.

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last year?

Yep!

didn’t seem that empty to me, from memory. i was sat way at the back. won the tickets in a free giveaway though which i suppose suggests plenty of space to be filled up

Was pretty much the only person at the gig (with the back up band which were my mates) for a late 00s uk indie band. Cant remember the name. Never got too big but were one of those bands that toured quite a bit at small venues round the uk and would get a small amount of NME coverage. I think they had something to do with guns in that name (but no the much better This Town Needs Guns)

went to see bo ningen at the rock city basement few months back. not a massive name, but got a fair following online, and their live shows are (rightly) pretty legendary. nearly blew the ceiling off, but there were only about 30 people there, tops.

That is strange. As you say, not exactly world famous…but well respected and been going for a while.

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I saw Jaguar Love (Johnny from the Blood Brothers other band) - about 15 people there

Shiny Toy Guns?

Rock City Basement shows are seem to always have this problem

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Oh, Titus andronicus in Belfast. I sadly couldnt make most of the set, but I came in for their last song, ‘Battle of Hampton Roads’. There were 20 people there, max. Yer man was still giving a good performance though, fairplay. Afterwards I bought a CD in the hope he’d sign it, I spoke to him briefly

Pinky: Hey man, couldn’t make most of the gig tonighy
PS: Don’t worry man, we’ll be back

somehow I don’t think they will.
He also told me his double album was great value for £10

I saw Terrorvision there, and there was a reasonable amount. Mind you this was at the peak of their popularity.

Jesus Christ, Terrorvision.

Mind you it was over 20 years ago, I had ill-advised very long hair and a nose ring so I think we can all agree it seemed like a good idea at the time, but mistakes were made, and move on.

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Jaguar Love! I saw them play to a rather sparse crowd as well.

Saw The Drips 10 years ago play to about 15 people (same night as Guns N Roses and Deftones gigs - note Guns and Deftones weren’t on the same bill).

saw yourcodenameis: milo and a matinee show by test icicles in about 2005 and both were rammed, but live music in notts seems to have nosedived recently

Maybe 20 people were there to see Cursive on the Ugly Organ tour at the Cathouse in Glasgow. Maybe the best gig I’ve ever seen, too.

worked at a big outdoor Laura Marling gig in Custom House Square in Belfast a few years ago, as part of a summer festival thing. probably about 30 people there, from memory - hardly anyone turned up because it was fucking pissing it down for the whole evening.