[barrows]

I find it very hard to believe that people did not chat and annoy people with flash photography in the 60s and 70s. I tend to get annoyed with chatters. When your at a concert you don't have to look at other people.
Also, maybe KJ should where opaque goggles.

I cannot speak to the 60s, in the 70s, and the 80s, the concert experience was totally different from today, audiences were considerably more engaged in the sanctity of the moment.  The non existence of cell phones, the Internet, and the culture change associated with these technologies probably had a lot to do with this.  The potential power of music was undeniable, and the concert hall, whether rock stadium, or jazz club, was a place where people went to have extraordinary experiences.  Sure, were there sometimes audience members without a clue, of course; but I perceive a qualitative difference in audiences between then and now.  Back then there was a feeling in the air associated with attending a musical performance, a powerful feeling that anything could happen; this feeling was supported and nurtured by the audiences-this type of feeling is much more rare these days.

I do not think not looking at other people would help the musical event to reach the heights which KJ seeks for his band and audience.  The point is that the intent of someone taking a photograph, or making a surreptitious recording, will damage the quality of the environment for achieving a transcendent musical experience.  I believe Keith Jarrett is a student of the spiritual/philosophical teachings of Gurdjief, and Robert Fripp was a student of Gurdjieff follower JG Bennett.  Some of what I am attempting to explain may be found in their teachings.

[jarcher]

I think uncouth audiences is par for the course, even a few decades or centuries ago.  I'm sure if in the 70s / 80s they had camera phones, people would be waving them around like they did lighters (remember that?).  Even back in Shakespeare's day audiences were as much interested in eating / drinking / talking or even heckling the performers as they were in the performance.  And maestros like Mozart, after he fell out of favor w/ the royals, was doing his operas in the popular houses w/ the noisy polloi. 

Doesn't make any of it less annoying, but just trying to put some historical context.  And because performing concerts is becoming, as it was long ago, a substantial part of musician's income, I guess dealing w/ the crowd for better or worse is all the more necessary.  Now if they could just do something about ticket prices...........guess we've got inflation, and all those ridiculous additional service charges, to blame.

[WGH]

Keith should be happy he didn't compose "The Rite of Spring"

From Wikipedia

May 29, 1913

On the evening of the 29 May the theatre was packed: Gustav Linor reported, "Never...has the hall been so full, or so resplendent; the stairways and the corridors were crowded with spectators eager to see and to hear". The evening began with Les Sylphides, in which Nijinsky and Karsavina danced the main roles. The Rite followed; there is general agreement among eyewitnesses and commentators that the disturbances in the audience began during the Introduction, and grew into a crescendo when the curtain rose on the stamping dancers in "Augurs of Spring". Marie Rambert, who was working as an assistant to Nijinsky, recalled later that it was soon impossible to hear the music on the stage. In his autobiography, Stravinsky writes that the derisive laughter that greeted the first bars of the Introduction disgusted him, and that he left the auditorium to watch the rest of the performance from the stage wings. The demonstrations, he says, grew into "a terrific uproar" which, along with the on-stage noises, drowned out the voice of Nijinsky who was shouting the step numbers to the dancers. The journalist and photographer Carl Van Vechten recorded that the person behind him got carried away with excitement, and "began to beat rhythmically on top of my head", though Van Vechten failed to notice this at first, his own emotion being so great.

Monteux believed that the trouble began when the two factions in the audience began attacking each other, but their mutual anger was soon diverted towards the orchestra: "Everything available was tossed in our direction, but we continued to play on". Around forty of the worst offenders were ejected—possibly with the intervention of the police, although this is uncorroborated. Through all the disturbances the performance continued without interruption. Things grew noticeably quieter during Part II, and by some accounts Maria Piltz's rendering of the final "Sacrificial Dance" was watched in reasonable silence. At the end there were several curtain calls for the dancers, for Monteux and the orchestra, and for Stravinsky and Nijinsky before the evening's programme continued

[Larkston Zinaspic]

I like the provocative thread title but I would speculate that what Keith probably 'hates' more is being repeatedly distracted by some anxious cretins in the audience. It takes many years to get into that 'space' as an improvisational musician, and I would imagine that it is seriously frustrating to be knocked out the zone when the only thing that deserves attention in that moment is the music.

[wushuliu]

I am so sick of seeing a sea of cell phones being held up at events I could puke.  Are they going to blow up the photos for their walls?  Sell them?  Of course not!  It's all drivel that will be posted on FB to say "oooh, look at me!"
Makes as much sense as taking a photo of your dinner and posting it.  With the exception of BISL's fare  , WHO CARES??   

I was on a photo shoot with a big lens and people were taking cell shots of the images of the back of my camera.  Problem was they were friends of my wife so I couldn't kill them!

And yes, if you have to ask, I HAVE had a bad day! 

Hear hear. Even doe-eyed Zooey Deschanel got heat this past week for warning people not to take photos with their cell at her concert. I mean, Zooey Deschanel. It's beyond ridiculous. People are much more distracted now in general, phones or not. Constant talking, shuffling around. In the US anyway, it's an ADD culture. Even Phish shows. Right when cell phones went full blown mainstream was when you got guys in baseball caps smoking cigarettes and chit-chatting through shows. I think a lot of people go to shows they wouldn't normally go to because they can take pics with their phones and brag hey! I'm doing this thing that will make look and sound cool! But they don't really care about the experience. I mean a Phish show. Weird, weird, weird.

[Chazro]

I read about this incident a few days ago.  I follow Jack DeJohnette on facebook, 'incidents' like this happen regularly when playing with KJ.  The man tries to perform at the highest level, anyone going to see him should know how he rolls at this point and respect it.  Every time Jack posts about an 'incident' poor guy seems to 'almost' be apologetic about it without ever saying so!

[galyons]

Jarret's music is OK.  IMO, nothing particularly special, just generally, technically adept and mechanical.  His ego is far beyond any common expectation. He is a performer, paid to play.  I think he fully understands that, resents it and takes it out on his audiences.  Really sad, music with no joy.

Cheers,
Geary

[North Star]

Today is July 13, 2013. ...I'd say adapt to the technological and mentality world we now live in, just like 5,000 years ago, and go with the flow of the present moment.

If Keith Jarrett can do that, I can do too. 

I don't need no religion or teaching from the future, or past. 

[JerryM]

Where I grew up, we called people like KJ "Prima donnas".

Now we call them douchebags.

Just sayin'.

[minimus]

Two comments: first, Keith Jarrett used to suffer from Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, an illness that can have severe and wide-ranging symptoms.  One of the symptoms is light sensitivity, so that may partly explain his intolerance of photography.

Second, the behavior of audiences at many concerts I have been to is simply abysmal.  I have been to three concerts in the last few years where fellow concertgoers pretty much ruined the event for me.  I sat behind four ass hats at a Bon Iver concert at Radio City Music Hall, and they talked loudly, drunkenly and obscenely throughout most of the performance about visiting brothels in Russia.  I saw Mogwai at Terminal 5 in New York and the crowd treated them like they were a lounge act there to provide background music to be talked over.  I saw the National at the Beacon Theater last year and two gents sitting next to me talked non-stop throughout the show.  Of course, the use of cell phones to memorialize these events is ubiquitous.  It leaves the impression that audience members holding up cell phones would rather demonstrate to others that they were at an event than immerse themselves in the experience.

[Tyson]

And these are EXACTLY the asshats that people on the 'memo to the industry' want to invite into our hobby.  IMO, we are better off without them.

[wushuliu]

the crowd treated them like they were a lounge act there to provide background music to be talked over.

Exactly, the artists are not wholly to blame. Concerts are now just another part of the background. Any kind of artist is going to be pissed to be busting their butts in front of a group of people who don't respect them enough to give them their attention.

[wushuliu]

Today is July 13, 2013. ...I'd say adapt to the technological and mentality world we now live in, just like 5,000 years ago, and go with the flow of the present moment.

If Keith Jarrett can do that, I can do too. 

I don't need no religion or teaching from the future, or past. 

Well then here's an idea for you. Don't go to the concert. Just get a DVD. Saves the hassle of holding a phone up and you can gab away all you want and ignore what's on to your heart's content. How's that for adapting. Leave the rest of us troglodytes for live experience. Win-win.

[FullRangeMan]

Jarret's music is OK.  IMO, nothing particularly special, just generally, technically adept and mechanical.  His ego is far beyond any common expectation. He is a performer, paid to play.  I think he fully understands that, resents it and takes it out on his audiences.  Really sad, music with no joy.

Cheers,
Geary

I like Jazz, but I see KJ music as you said too.
Seems Galyons and I are suffer severe Keith Jarrett Fatigue Syndrome.

[sts9fan]

These millionaire artists would not have theirs lavish means if not for the fans. I stand by the rights of the payer. FYI he still dislikes the fact he needs to play for you "respectful" folk.

[dougme57]

This is exactly why I no longer go to the movie theater or a concert. No one can put their stupid phone away and enjoy what is in front of them. My wife practically had to beg me to go see a movie over the 4th weekend wth our kids. I did and the guy beside me received and answered at least a half dozen texts. I am done with it.

I do not blame musicians for walking off.

[wushuliu]

These millionaire artists would not have theirs lavish means if not for the fans. I stand by the rights of the payer. FYI he still dislikes the fact he needs to play for you "respectful" folk.

What about the ones who aren't millionaires. Or whose shows are free as exampled in a previous post.

[rbbert]

These millionaire artists would not have theirs lavish means if not for the fans. I stand by the rights of the payer. FYI he still dislikes the fact he needs to play for you "respectful" folk.

It's doubtful that KJ is a "millionaire artist";  it's hard to get that much wealth playing jazz today.

[Larkston Zinaspic]

It's interesting that this kind of complaint would come about for a Jazz concert. This sort of thing has been going on at Rock concerts decades ago, long before cell phones. Sometimes an over-zealous concert goer might throw fireworks at the stage, if they wanted to get the artist's attention.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3b2J9Qevo1E

"Smoke On The Water" was inspired by the Flare Gun at the Montreux incident, but I think there are better ways for the audience to participate.

Concerts have become absurdly expensive, and people have this entitlement mentality....I payed my money, so I can do whatever I want. Well, so did the guy next to you, stupid.

[wushuliu]

It's doubtful that KJ is a "millionaire artist";  it's hard to get that much wealth playing jazz today.

I can't believe the people who are actually blaming the artists. I wonder how of them have ever spent time on a stage performing over and over, regardless of the craft. Putting everything in you out there for the audience to judge and take apart and appreciate or despise or be bored by. Over and over. Not a product. Some some other external thing you create. But yourself. You. You are the product. You are the performer. And you put your soul out there, walking a tightrope most of the time and you look out and it's a bunch of cellphones and people talking. F*@k that. To get respect you have to show some.