As an audience member, have you found yourself sort of pretending to enjoy or get into a new performance? Maybe you kind of force yourself to look like you are into it as a sign of support, while in your mind you are hoping for a change or for it to stop or whatever?
Share…
Do you think about this when putting together a live performance?
I will clap when I don’t necessarily enjoy the performance, to acknowledge the effort. I don’t “fake it” during the actual performance. Staying still and listening is a reasonable response even to a terrific performance.
I’m polite in that if I know the performers, I’ll stand further back so that they can’t see my face.
I fake by not dancing and pretending to be bored when I really enjoy the show 
I actually think its a disservice to not give true feedback so the performer can make adjustments for future shows. Thus I bring tomatoes to throw at unsatisfactory performances.
But for real, if its a bad show I just drink more. 
This is sometimes a thing with ‘legacy acts’, where you are perhaps more applauding their accomplishments and what they mean to you than the particular performance.
Once did a live “ambient” thing. I was really excited about it, it felt good, it sounded pretty and meditative. On the day of, after the first 3 minutes, I kept thinking to myself, “holy fuck, this is boring! What balls of me to expect people to sit through 30 minutes of wank-bient!”
I was remembering that day, hence I started this thread.
Pretty much this. It takes guts to get up and perform in front of other people. I’ll clap and holler for them, regardless of whether it’s good or not. For me, it’s about respecting that commitment and effort. But I don’t dance unless I’m feeling it.
Nah, I walk out and find something else to do that I’ll actually enjoy. Don’t really care about the effort they might’ve put into performing. If it’s not good then I’m not gonna pretend otherwise.
Nope. I’ve never done that whether it’s a live band, musician or DJ if I’m not feeling it I’m not feeling it I wouldn’t want to pretend for either of our sakes
i’ll say from the opposite point of view:
we who play on stage mostly don’t really care.
especially when there is a smoke machine on the stage.
but even without it, we are mostly busy watching other things when performing.
That’s expected for the most part. Artists are arrogant and self indulgent by a large percentage in some shape or form…
I tend to walk out
I’ll usually stay and watch and try and figure out why I don’t like it. Plus, some of the most memorable stuff I’ve seen was because it was so terrible, but in an interesting way.
Usually unless the artist is a complete jerk I’ll applaud.
You had 27 minutes to try to improve things; what did you do?
I saw The Bug play at Fabric in London, November 2022. I’ve enjoyed his music for a good few years now and when I heard about this gig, it was pretty much instabuy. I’d heard so much about his live sound system, how the bass and sheer volume of it bordered onto the religious, great lineup of MCs too, I even persuaded my best friend to accompany me. The Bug is not his thing, but he’s musically open minded, plus he lives in London and I was buying the tickets. Me, I travelled over 200 miles to go see it…
The sound was AWFUL. I mean, really, really awful. Plenty loud, plenty of bass, but the midrange was just a banshee howl of constant noise that obliterated everything else. You could see the MCs mouths’ move during their songs, but what the crowd heard was the odd snippet of syllable every now and again. This was Fabric too, not some shitty little pub or church hall. The front of sound booth was just crammed with tech and I counted 3 sound guys in there, was anybody paying any attention? I wandered about the venue trying to find a better listening spot but it was the same everywhere. I tell the truth here, everybody else seemed properly into it!! I was thinking, “Is it just me? Am I getting too old for this?” After about an hour, I found my friend who just looked at me and laughed, then we walked out. I have never experienced such a bigger mismatch between what I have listened to over the years, internet hype, what the rest of the crowd seemed to be experiencing and my reality. Bizarre…
I tend to start listening only to certain parts of the music. Concentrating on stuff that sounds good - sometimes the synths are shit, but the beat is good. Or the lyrics are smart. Or the snare sounds dope 
So i don’t fake it, but my reactions are not appropriate for the whole performance.
Only thing where i cant concentrate on anything else is when somebody is singing out of key. If that happens (and its not a punk concert) i leave.
my SO does not share my music taste and occasionally used to drag me to shows that I just couldn’t stand, I do however recognize the effort of the artist regardless of how it’s not my taste and I will genuinely cheer for artists that perform, but sometimes I had to watch playback stuff, literally some “star” barely opens mouth and the vocals come from a playback track, fuck that, I’m not cheering for that bullshit, clearly the artist is not about performing but for cash grab and I’m not cheering that, I will be grudgy and irritated and hate to be there.
“SORRY TO RUIN THIS SHITSHOW FOR YOU WITH MY BAD ATTITUDE, DON’T BRING ME NEXT TIME. I DON’T FORCE YOU TO GO TO MARS VOLTA WITH ME, DON’T I…”
A lot of people just want to go out and have a good time and they’re not going to let reality get in the way. I’ve seen this at movies and restaurant meals, also.