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Post by dontdreamit on Mar 30, 2023 21:32:03 GMT
I went in tonight to see Luke Street’s last Strat show, and there was a pause during and then a show stop just after WPOMBHTM. I’d heard some noise from the audience in the stalls, it sounded like an argument and had gone on and gotten louder as the second act went on, and just as Rob was finishing the first verse I heard a man shouting really vile language at his girlfriend and her crying, and then people around them telling him to shut up.
Just after the song had finished, the swearing got even louder so they stopped the show, it took a while but the pair finally got taken out after the audience started chanting “out out out” at them - I’ve seen all sorts of behaviour at Bat over the years but never something as extreme as that- they dealt with a brilliantly though.
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Post by ceebee on Mar 30, 2023 21:47:32 GMT
I went in tonight to see Luke Street’s last Strat show, and there was a pause during and then a show stop just after WPOMBHTM. I’d heard some noise from the audience in the stalls, it sounded like an argument and had gone on and gotten louder as the second act went on, and just as Rob was finishing the first verse I heard a man shouting really vile language at his girlfriend and her crying, and then people around them telling him to shut up. Just after the song had finished, the swearing got even louder so they stopped the show, it took a while but the pair finally got taken out after the audience started chanting “out out out” at them - I’ve seen all sorts of behaviour at Bat over the years but never something as extreme as that- they dealt with a brilliantly though. I was there too tonight. Absolutely disgraceful behaviour. Filthy language - he called her the "c" word and to shut the "f" up. It was shocking. It was wonderful to see the audience boo them out and for Rob Fowler to leave the stage. I was in the bomber jacket row F stalls berating them if you wondered who the mad guy was at the front bellowing to the back. The people around me were shocked - lovely diehard fans, people who've seen theatre for over 30 years. An absolute bloody disgrace - Sadlers Wells/Peacock staff got a grip eventually but should have kicked out the tanked up harridans at the beginning of the second half. To force an established, professional, brilliant performer like Rob Fowler to cut his song at the intro was utterly shameful. Kudos to the person in the stalls who told Rob to stop, after he said "Really?" at the first interruption. I'm 47 and have never seen such disgraceful behaviour in a theatre. It was Friday night Wetherspoons. Appalling. |
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Post by yawningangel on Mar 31, 2023 5:38:26 GMT
I went in tonight to see Luke Street’s last Strat show, and there was a pause during and then a show stop just after WPOMBHTM. I’d heard some noise from the audience in the stalls, it sounded like an argument and had gone on and gotten louder as the second act went on, and just as Rob was finishing the first verse I heard a man shouting really vile language at his girlfriend and her crying, and then people around them telling him to shut up. Just after the song had finished, the swearing got even louder so they stopped the show, it took a while but the pair finally got taken out after the audience started chanting “out out out” at them - I’ve seen all sorts of behaviour at Bat over the years but never something as extreme as that- they dealt with a brilliantly though. I was there too tonight. Absolutely disgraceful behaviour. Filthy language - he called her the "c" word and to shut the "f" up. It was shocking. It was wonderful to see the audience boo them out and for Rob Fowler to leave the stage. I was in the bomber jacket row F stalls berating them if you wondered who the mad guy was at the front bellowing to the back. The people around me were shocked - lovely diehard fans, people who've seen theatre for over 30 years. An absolute bloody disgrace - Sadlers Wells/Peacock staff got a grip eventually but should have kicked out the tanked up harridans at the beginning of the second half. To force an established, professional, brilliant performer like Rob Fowler to cut his song at the intro was utterly shameful. Kudos to the person in the stalls who told Rob to stop, after he said "Really?" at the first interruption. I'm 47 and have never seen such disgraceful behaviour in a theatre. It was Friday night Wetherspoons. Appalling. A producer according to the Daily Mail: www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11922405/West-Ends-Bat-Hell-musical-halted-audience-member-shouts-f-c-others.html |
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Post by dontdreamit on Mar 31, 2023 5:44:34 GMT
A show stop made the Daily Mail?!
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Post by cezbear on Mar 31, 2023 7:59:00 GMT
I was there and genuinely found it quite upsetting. Went on for far too long, leaving people just trying to enjoy the show totally unable to focus on anything happening on stage and feeling constantly uneasy and unsettled wondering what was going on, was the show going to stop, what the actors were making of it all (and I really felt for them). The most anxious I've felt in a theatre. Unacceptable that it took that long to deal with.
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Post by max on Mar 31, 2023 8:11:42 GMT
I went in tonight to see Luke Street’s last Strat show, and there was a pause during and then a show stop just after WPOMBHTM. I’d heard some noise from the audience in the stalls, it sounded like an argument and had gone on and gotten louder as the second act went on, and just as Rob was finishing the first verse I heard a man shouting really vile language at his girlfriend and her crying, and then people around them telling him to shut up. Just after the song had finished, the swearing got even louder so they stopped the show, it took a while but the pair finally got taken out after the audience started chanting “out out out” at them - I’ve seen all sorts of behaviour at Bat over the years but never something as extreme as that- they dealt with a brilliantly though. I was there too tonight. Absolutely disgraceful behaviour. Filthy language - he called her the "c" word and to shut the "f" up. It was shocking. It was wonderful to see the audience boo them out and for Rob Fowler to leave the stage. I was in the bomber jacket row F stalls berating them if you wondered who the mad guy was at the front bellowing to the back. The people around me were shocked - lovely diehard fans, people who've seen theatre for over 30 years. An absolute bloody disgrace - Sadlers Wells/Peacock staff got a grip eventually but should have kicked out the tanked up harridans at the beginning of the second half. To force an established, professional, brilliant performer like Rob Fowler to cut his song at the intro was utterly shameful. Kudos to the person in the stalls who told Rob to stop, after he said "Really?" at the first interruption. I'm 47 and have never seen such disgraceful behaviour in a theatre. It was Friday night Wetherspoons. Appalling. Ceebee - The Daily Mail doesn't say if either of these people were wearing a bomber jacket. But if you didn't merely shout shameful, my hat is off to you..... "There were people shouting "shameful!"' Ms Gritt went on: 'Another man stood up in another bank of seats and threatened to “f*** batter” him." |
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Post by shady23 on Mar 31, 2023 8:19:10 GMT
I feel very worried for that guy's partner. I bet she had an awful rest of an evening.
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Post by ceebee on Mar 31, 2023 8:51:54 GMT
I was there too tonight. Absolutely disgraceful behaviour. Filthy language - he called her the "c" word and to shut the "f" up. It was shocking. It was wonderful to see the audience boo them out and for Rob Fowler to leave the stage. I was in the bomber jacket row F stalls berating them if you wondered who the mad guy was at the front bellowing to the back. The people around me were shocked - lovely diehard fans, people who've seen theatre for over 30 years. An absolute bloody disgrace - Sadlers Wells/Peacock staff got a grip eventually but should have kicked out the tanked up harridans at the beginning of the second half. To force an established, professional, brilliant performer like Rob Fowler to cut his song at the intro was utterly shameful. Kudos to the person in the stalls who told Rob to stop, after he said "Really?" at the first interruption. I'm 47 and have never seen such disgraceful behaviour in a theatre. It was Friday night Wetherspoons. Appalling. Ceebee - The Daily Mail doesn't say if either of these people were wearing a bomber jacket. But if you didn't merely shout shameful, my hat is off to you..... "There were people shouting "shameful!"' Ms Gritt went on: 'Another man stood up in another bank of seats and threatened to “f*** batter” him." I heard somebody threatening violence but it wasn't me. It was a great advert for people power. This person/these people were disrupting the show from the mid-first half with sniggers and call outs to the cast. The Daily Mail misreports the sequence of events: Rob Fowler was about to sing "What Part Of My Body Hurts The Most" - a pivotal song which has a great crescendo of sound and emotion at its height. The disruptive person/people (there was more than one) got louder - Rob stopped mid sentence early on and looked out to the audience and said "Really?" after something like "I'll punch you, you f***ing c**t". It was actually a potentially dangerous and shocking episode. I had my two daughters with me and was about to leave my seat to get front of house as I feared there was going to be trouble. As I went to get up another man stood up four rows (around row K) and said something along the lines of "Rob... Rob... you should stop". This man was very courageous in my view. Rob Fowler walked off stage and the lights went up. The audience rounded on the disruptive person/people and many shouted "shameful", myself included. I'm a little ashamed to say that I was one of the vocal people on the video shouting "out,out, out". Not something I'd usually do, but I was ready to drag them outside myself if need be. It was the single most selfish and disruptive thing I've ever experienced in many years of theatregoing. It's a good job they were removed because, if they hadn't been, this had the potential to become a very nasty situation. It spoiled Luke Street's final performance as the alternate Strat, which is a shame. Rob was absolutely brilliant - so professional. Ferals like the person/people who were escorted out have no place in society, let alone a theatre. |
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Post by BurlyBeaR on Mar 31, 2023 9:50:19 GMT
Why did it take so long for FOH to deal? Were the perpetrators refusing to leave or were FOH trying to reason with them so they could stay?
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Post by ceebee on Mar 31, 2023 10:00:44 GMT
Why did it take so long for FOH to deal? Were the perpetrators refusing to leave or were FOH trying to reason with them so they could stay? To be fair, it flared up quickly. There was a woman who kept laughing inappropriately, calling out to cast on stage, and there were murmurs of disapproval/discontent further back in the stalls (I was row F). I figured it would be dealt with, but when I heard the use of the "F" and "C" words, I decided to leave my seat to get somebody but as I did another person stood up and told Rob Fowler to stop so that it could be dealt with. The lights then went up. In my opinion, FOH were too slow. Action only happened because the audience intervened, and this was clearly a potentially volatile situation. FOH should have moved in and either stopped the show or removed the people (there were at least two of them, I think only one was removed). The mood changed very quickly and it was good to see how united the audience were towards the person/people. All theatres could learn a lesson from this experience: stop serving people who are drunk or disorderly; remove people who disrupt shows without hesitation; protect your audience and performers at all times. The idea that audience members feel they need to deal with a situation that FOH should have dealt with is preposterous, but the behaviour was so offensive that it needed to be called out and dealt with. Had FOH intervened sooner, I think the individual (s) could have been calmed/settled and would have enjoyed the rest of the show. All avoidable and still twelve hours on I feel pretty shocked by what happened. Never seen anything like it in years of theatregoing. Shameful and disgraceful. |
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Post by fiyerorocher on Mar 31, 2023 10:17:53 GMT
FoH ushers wouldn't have the power to stop the show themselves, and if people are drunk and clearly aggressive then I wouldn't expect them to step in themselves as they are not trained to deal with that. I would have hoped they'd called security, but it could take some time for that message to be relayed to the right person and that person to turn up. There's potentially a systematic issue with the way the theatre is run there, but I don't think it's necessarily fair to blame FoH members when they shouldn't be putting themselves in dangerous situations they are not equipped to handle. Frankly, they're not paid enough.
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Post by BurlyBeaR on Mar 31, 2023 10:48:32 GMT
Said it so many times before, there should be at least one FOH at every performance who IS trained to deal with this sort of thing, and by “trained” I don’t mean a 90 minute workshop and slide deck.I mean someone with the training and qualifications that door security have to go through.
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Post by fiyerorocher on Mar 31, 2023 11:01:10 GMT
I agree that there should be more training for FoH to deal with this kind of thing, especially as it seems to be becoming more frequent. But blaming them for not intervening when they currently do not have that training and doing so would involve endangering themselves just doesn't sit right with me. FoH members already face aggression just when telling someone to stop filming or talking. If the customer is already drunk and irate, it needs to be immediately escalated, as I hope it was at BooH.
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Post by dontdreamit on Mar 31, 2023 11:17:40 GMT
I was there and genuinely found it quite upsetting. Went on for far too long, leaving people just trying to enjoy the show totally unable to focus on anything happening on stage and feeling constantly uneasy and unsettled wondering what was going on, was the show going to stop, what the actors were making of it all (and I really felt for them). The most anxious I've felt in a theatre. Unacceptable that it took that long to deal with. I felt like that too and was really pleased I didn’t have my youngest with me as they often come and see Bat with me. |
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Post by dontdreamit on Mar 31, 2023 11:19:49 GMT
Ceebee - The Daily Mail doesn't say if either of these people were wearing a bomber jacket. But if you didn't merely shout shameful, my hat is off to you..... "There were people shouting "shameful!"' Ms Gritt went on: 'Another man stood up in another bank of seats and threatened to “f*** batter” him." I heard somebody threatening violence but it wasn't me. It was a great advert for people power. This person/these people were disrupting the show from the mid-first half with sniggers and call outs to the cast. The Daily Mail misreports the sequence of events: Rob Fowler was about to sing "What Part Of My Body Hurts The Most" - a pivotal song which has a great crescendo of sound and emotion at its height. The disruptive person/people (there was more than one) got louder - Rob stopped mid sentence early on and looked out to the audience and said "Really?" after something like "I'll punch you, you f***ing c**t". It was actually a potentially dangerous and shocking episode. I had my two daughters with me and was about to leave my seat to get front of house as I feared there was going to be trouble. As I went to get up another man stood up four rows (around row K) and said something along the lines of "Rob... Rob... you should stop". This man was very courageous in my view. Rob Fowler walked off stage and the lights went up. The audience rounded on the disruptive person/people and many shouted "shameful", myself included. I'm a little ashamed to say that I was one of the vocal people on the video shouting "out,out, out". Not something I'd usually do, but I was ready to drag them outside myself if need be. It was the single most selfish and disruptive thing I've ever experienced in many years of theatregoing. It's a good job they were removed because, if they hadn't been, this had the potential to become a very nasty situation. It spoiled Luke Street's final performance as the alternate Strat, which is a shame. Rob was absolutely brilliant - so professional. Ferals like the person/people who were escorted out have no place in society, let alone a theatre. It was Julian Stoneman who is one of the producers who stood up and told Rob to stop singing- I assume he was in last night as they had the cast party after the show last night. |
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Post by justfran on Mar 31, 2023 13:13:26 GMT
Said it so many times before, there should be at least one FOH at every performance who IS trained to deal with this sort of thing, and by “trained” I don’t mean a 90 minute workshop and slide deck.I mean someone with the training and qualifications that door security have to go through. At the theatre I used to work at, we put several members of staff through SIA door training and also hired in outside security (e.g. Showsec) for what was expected to be more difficult shows. I believe they have security at every show now. Can’t comment on other venues and it is sad it’s come to that, but I think it should be the norm at venues now. |
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Post by ThereWillBeSun on Mar 31, 2023 22:23:02 GMT
I agree that there should be more training for FoH to deal with this kind of thing, especially as it seems to be becoming more frequent. But blaming them for not intervening when they currently do not have that training and doing so would involve endangering themselves just doesn't sit right with me. FoH members already face aggression just when telling someone to stop filming or talking. If the customer is already drunk and irate, it needs to be immediately escalated, as I hope it was at BooH. Absolutely disgusted. I've witnessed shi*ty audience behaviour; both as an audience member, being nearly assaulted at the Savoy (ATG FOH were awful; didn't care at all) and having fended off drunk men working as a front of house assistant in an ATG regional venue and having to deal with a drunk man running around the theatre during a show. (the management didn't give a f*ck) People are sadly so entitled these days - it's been a problem even pre pandemic - and security needs to be upped/people blacklisted. Sick of this. People pay hard earned money to go to a show + invest their time in terms of travelling, hotel, food - all the costs if you are living far from a venue. Why should nasty scumbags get away with this? It's so bloody tiring. |
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Post by sam22 on Apr 1, 2023 9:59:16 GMT
The Facebook comments on the Guardian article give a good idea of why people don't think their behaviour is "bad". So many of them say things like 'it's a concert you're meant to enjoy yourself', 'it's interactive', 'people shouldn't go if they don't want to enjoy it'.
Facepalm
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Post by fiyerorocher on Apr 1, 2023 10:39:41 GMT
Bat Out Of Hell audiences have always been awful. If I had to take a guess at which show this whole thing happened at, BooH would be my first choice. It's a nightmare. I still remember when someone throw one of those BooH beer bottles at someone else.
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Post by ceebee on Apr 1, 2023 13:33:09 GMT
Bat Out Of Hell audiences have always been awful. If I had to take a guess at which show this whole thing happened at, BooH would be my first choice. It's a nightmare. I still remember when someone throw one of those BooH beer bottles at someone else. Stop! Wait a minute! Stop it boy! What do you think you're doing? That's no way to treat an expensive BOOH beer bottle! Goddamit fiyerorocher, you know I love you, but you've got a hell of a lot to learn about rock and roll! |
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Post by Deleted on Apr 1, 2023 15:45:08 GMT
Bat Out Of Hell audiences have always been awful. If I had to take a guess at which show this whole thing happened at, BooH would be my first choice. It's a nightmare. I still remember when someone throw one of those BooH beer bottles at someone else. I haven't found BOOH audiences that bad, the first show of the tour back in Manchester there was a couple that kept filming the show (sat front row so everyone could see it) and kept whispering to each other, but other than that everyone was behaved. Rocky Horror 'fans' are have always been the worst audiences. I'm comfortable with the audience participation, but I have been punched by an over excited fan for not standing for the Time Warp fast enough, and had to leave their Facebook group for the way they talk about newbies and the casual theatre goer - the Rocky Fans are just too entitled. |
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Post by bubblesmcgee on Apr 1, 2023 21:14:14 GMT
Rob was handed an envelope marked ‘Confidential’ at the end of tonight’s showing, containing a sign saying ‘BAT WILL BE BACK’. No details yet but hopefully that tour will reappear in some form!
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Post by dontdreamit on Apr 1, 2023 21:21:28 GMT
So many thoughts on tonight which I will come back to, but a well deserved standing ovation at the end of Ac1, another at the end of WPOMBHTM, and a promise Bat will be back.
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Post by danb on Apr 1, 2023 21:27:48 GMT
Lets hope it returns a bit nearer to full fat ‘Bat’ than the Vegas/threadbare ‘Bat’ that has turned me off from something I loved.
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Post by ceebee on Apr 1, 2023 21:37:54 GMT
Tonight was special. Rob and Sharon were sensational. Too much going through my head right now but as others have stated, it was confirmed that Bat will be back. Coliseum summer 2024 will do nicely.
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