Culture Pt. 3: Angry Lady at a Concert

Today we were headed into the bookstore when we stopped to watch this band. They sounded like Coldplay or early U2 without words. Pretty inoffensive, right? There was a modest crowd of polite listeners and then there was this cranky lady:

This shit is for pussys! Where is the Slayer?!

And boy was she mad. Every time they hit the distortion - about once a song - she started yelling.

One Finger Salute

Then she flipped them off. This was all good entertainment, but it was also instructive for a foreigner like me. The band and the crowd's reaction to this woman's antics were the opposite of what I'd expect back home.

When she began shouting no one said a thing. Barely anyone glanced. When she continued to yell people giggled some and exchanged sideways glances. The band leader ignored her. Between songs he asked people to clap if they liked the music. The clapping was marginally more enthusiastic than it might have been otherwise, but there were no roars of approval, no hollering praise in defense of the jam session outside the bookstore.

This would've gone down two possible ways in America: Either the crowd would've agreed with the heckler and joined in, "You guys suck! Play Freebird!." Or they would've shouted her down, "Get lost bitch!"

Americans love a fight. I love a fight. I didn't even like the band much, but I might have said something for the sake of a stimulating confrontation. Unfortunately (fortunately?) my Chinese skills aren't that progressed, so I just watched and took mad pictures.

James surmised afterward that she'd probably been expecting Cannibal Corpse. That would explain why she was so upset at a Coldplay knock-off.