Marc his words...

One of my musical heroes, Marc Almond, is in the news for having the audacity to tell a couple of 'ladies' sitting and chatting loudly in the front row of his gig in Ipswich to basically shut the fuck up (these may not have been the exact words but that's the gist of it). Good on him that's what I say. The first time I saw him live way back in 1988 at The Powerhouse in Brum exactly the same thing happened during a particularly impassioned performance of In Your Bed (and that was a sweaty 'club' gig as opposed to a seated posh do). I've never understood people who not only pay to get into a gig but then stand at the front and talk. I mean...what...the...actual...hell?! Nowadays there's a new spin on this age old problem, people standing at the front surfing the web on their ruddy shitty 'smart' phones, turning round with the back to the band and taking crappy selfies to show what a great time they're having. Quite frankly the lovely Mr Almond, and any other performer who has their show interrupted by these utter arses, should have the automatic right to leap from the stage and decapitate the offenders with an axe. Harsh but fair I'd say. Respect the performers putting their hearts and souls into the show, respect your fellow audience members who may well have spunked a huge chuck of their disposable income to be there and finally respect yourself by ACTUALLY LISTENING TO SOMETHING OTHER THAN YOUR INANE CHATTER. Ahhhhh, that's better.

PS: Here's Wilco's Jeff Tweedy attempting to tackle the same problem...