What age for concerts?

What age for concerts?

I just had a pleasant email today...They Might be Giants are playing 3 shows in Cleveland! One is at a club...two are at Kidsfest.

The concert at Kidsfest will promote their new children's album and DVD. Liam and Samara will go to that. I really, really want to take Liam to the concert at the club where they will play all his favorite songs. I am sure TMBG will not be a drunken/nudity fest and I know most of their songs.

Do you think that concert would be appropriate for a 12 year old? It is supposed to be an all ages show..but so was Skinny Puppy.

 

I wouldn't trust the "all ages" thing.
I went to a death metal concert recently that was all ages, and there was plenty of drugs, swearing and what-not. Not something you want to expose your kid to.
The Slipknot concert a couple months ago in my town was also all ages...

I guess it depends on if you think there might be excessive inappropriate content at the concert or not...

 

death metal concert and all ages arent allowed to be used together.

it really depends on how prepared you think theyare .. 12 is right on that edge .. a little below and no, a year older and it would be fine, likely. but you seem quite sure there will be few drugs, profanity, etc. - if that's the case, i would say go for it.

 

You should contact the venue at which the band is playing, as well as watch your local paper for listings of what else they're hosting. If you see some sketchy looking bands, rule it out. If it seems like they have fairly tame shows (ie, not rock concerts every night), you might be alright. In any case, ask the managers or staff at the venue what sort of crowd they expect for their all-ages show, and what sort of atmosphere they tend to have. Chances are they won't lie to you. If they're a hardcore party scene, chances are they won't want a 12 year old and his mom there and won't have a problem telling you that it probably won't be an appropriate environment.

You might also pick a night where there's another show and pass by the club/bar. Just seeing what kind of riffraff is in line or hanging around the place might give you an idea if that's a risk you want to take.

 

See, its TMBG..its not really what you would call a death metal band with profanity. They are a quirky band that alot of people haven't heard of. They were really popular when I was in college and Liam has become enamoured with them.

I want him to be able to hear Ana NG, Birdhouse in your Soul, Experimental Film..all the hits..I just have a feeling that at Kidsfest, those won't be played.

Here is a linky to their site:

They Might be Giants

I don't think it will be a nastyfest. I just don't know if it would be appropriate to take him to a club.

 

I have seen TMBG 7 times in concert and I've never seen any rowdy drunkeness or nudity. My only warning is that Flansburgh has been known to drop a few F-bombs when talking to the crowd. Nothing that a 12-year old hasn't heard before though I'm sure. I'd say go for it, TMBG has an incredible live show (far, far better than their kids shows.)

You should double-check that its not an 18+ show though.

 

yeah their music is totally fine, just the crowd that might be there. try some of drunks tips, they sound great.

 

TMBG is a relatively clean band, I doubt too many people who listen to them would do too much doing a show.

Besides, don't they have security for stuff like that at Kidfest?

 

he'll probably be fine, i saw (approx.) 6 year olds at ozzfest when i went, which i found a bit odd

 

They Might be Giants? an age limit?! nawwww. their music doesn't attract an extremely adult or rowdy crowd. it's pleasent ska ...how was skinny puppy, they must be krasy live?

 

In my case, I'd insist I go with my wife and child. Call me a chauvinist pig if you like, that's my take on it. Maybe you'd feel better if a dependable man accompanied you.

You really won't know until you get there, what kind of concert it will be.

Look. My first take on it was that I'd never bring my kid to such a thing. Then I'm thinking, in a few more years, he's going to be wanting to do such things with friends and no parents around. Better you should introduce him to the concert world yourself.

If you were giving me a vote, I'd say: Go. If you don't, you're going to think you deprived your son of something. Take a man with you, or a gorilla.

 

2 of the shows I've been to were 18+. It has nothing to do with the band its just based on the venue's alcohol policy.

Mixed, I think you are over-estimating the sketchyness of concerts at clubs. 97% of people are there to see the band, and given this band is TMBG, the crowd is going to be either young nerdy or people who listened to them in college in the late 80's who are now in their 30's. Not a very wild crowd I assure you.

And if you ever call TMBG ska again I'm going to have to kill you in the face. Twice. With a rock.

 

like i said....it's not a lively crowd. old groupies and kids who like geeky humor .

and about the ska thing....i guess i say that because 1) i loved them back when i loved oh, so much ska 2) they spice up many of their songs with brass, and 3) their category doesn;t matter that much. thinking about it more though, i wouldn't see them as definitive ska at all either...

 

Take him. I regret not going to a concert as a pre-teen. I had no idea how to behave when I went to my first one. Sure, I learned, but it's nice to have "an introduction" to any sort of thing. There are going to be drugs or other stuff you don't wnat your kids around at any concert, but it's best that they learn from you, not from someone else. Plus, at today's standards, 12 year olds better know about all the stuff out there. May as well introduce him to it all now so he knows what it's all like.

**that was a teenager's opinion**

 

Yeah they do involve horns, but that does not a ska band make. One great thing about TMBG is how they combine and bend genres of music into a unique and quirky sound.

 

Thank god someone out there gets it.

Also for the record, folks, bands can evolve out of ska into, say, pop. No Doubt is a great example. Most of their music these days is as far from ska as you can get (not all of it), but they used to be a bonafide ska band.

 

It's only a concert, I can't imagine him going crazy or flippin out if he hears a curse word ... and if they have a children's album I couldn't imagine the crowd being full of skin heads or Hell's Angels.

 

DO NOT EVER trust the all age’s thing I did it twice and got burned twice. First was to Averill Lavigne she was fine but GOB opened for her and it was F-bomb after F-bomb for the entire 30 minute set.

The second time was to The Night 89x Stole Christmas, the bands were fine but the “on air personality†that talked to the crowd during set changes dropped the F-bomb constantly and talked about girls in the front performing oral on him after the show. Not good to take a 10 year old girl. The worst part is that the “personality†was from the radio station promoting the show and had been one of the people to announce it was all ages.

 

It sounds appropiate. I attended my first concert when it was 15, I went with a bunch of friends, good times.

 

i hate to get flustered over somethging stupid like this, but im not confining them to a label. as some of you may have noticed from the hip-hop thread, i hate music labels or categorizations. "ska" is how i see them, or has i describe them in one adjective.
No Doubt, good example. f*cking circus horns are a good example, plenty of things use horns. i never said horns=ska, i'm saying that this how i chose to perceive the band with one general statement. if you catch my drift, i'm saying that few musicicans, bands, artists, ect. can be summed up with one word ("rock", "ska", "hip-hop") because msot groups, especailly tmbg, are much more intricate. this is why it also gets to me when people say rap is about sex and booze, reggea is about pot, or ska is about horns.
i dunno, i hope you see where im coming from. I understand why you would point that out or get kinda pissed, im sure i would too in your situation.

sorry if i came off as a bit angry, DC's first comment kind of triggered me.