# Have you ever seen a live performance booed?



## PlaySalieri (Jun 3, 2012)

It seems in the concert hall we are always so polite. A bad performance is no less, figuratively speaking, than a spoiled meal in a restaurant, - now you would soon make your opinion known to the manager if the waiter served you with a rotten steak at dinner - so why do we applaud politely even when the performance does not merit it - or worse?

Myself - I tend not to clap if I really think it was less than professional - I fold my arms and leave at the earliest chance. I never booed and in this country I never saw that happen (UK) - we Brits are just too polite for that. We just don't come again.

However - in Budapest many years ago at a performace of The Magic Flute - I think it was in the Erkel Theatre (not the best venue there) - the Queen of the Night just could not hit a decent note in the act 2 aria - it was so bad as to be laughable - and she was booed and hissed off the stage - not by me, I was too amused to hear it all happen.

But that's the only time.

So what do you think of applause by convention - even when the performace is bad? And have you ever seen an audience express their discontent by booing or some other way?


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## BurningDesire (Jul 15, 2012)

Honestly, I think people who boo or heckle any performer are scumbags. I'd only find it acceptable under pretty ridiculous conditions (for instance if the performer is rude to the audience, or isn't sober).


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## Jared (Jul 9, 2012)

It's an interesting thought for a thread, stomanek.

I have never seen it myself, and I doubt it happens often in the UK, however it is interesting you cite an example from Opera, where I think such a thing would be slightly more commonplace. I was reading a few months ago how some opera audiences, especially in America, have voiced their opinions concerning shocking modern adaptations of some operas, which have shown nudity, violince and a little too much fake blood.

I also read an intriguing view of the ill-fated Robert Alagna's ill-fated 'Aida' which was booed off at alla Scala in 2008, not surviving a fortnight's run.


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## Crudblud (Dec 29, 2011)

I've never seen one, but on the premiere live recording of Stockhausen's _Trans_ the audience is totally split, half applauding and half booing.


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## PlaySalieri (Jun 3, 2012)

I did hear of an incident in London concerning katia ricciarelli - in the 90s, singing Tosca - she was booed at the end by a portion of the audience after the big aria - apparantly she stuck her two fingers up and continued. But that is hearsay.

There is something else that comes to mind but is the opposite - I have a Pavarotti video of him singing Boheme in Italy - what I found astonishing - is that when he hit the high long note in his big first act aria (your tiny hand is frozen) - the theatre erupted and nothing more of that note could be heard and they did not settle down until after the aria and after P had bowed half a dozen times - gone off stage, come back, etc etc - I thought that was just ludicrous.


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## science (Oct 14, 2010)

I saw a rock band booed once. Fairly famous band. I'll try to remember....

Ah, I got it. Mind like a steel trap. And the google. 

The Lemonheads, in 1997.


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## anasazi (Oct 2, 2011)

stomanek said:


> I did hear of an incident in London concerning katia ricciarelli - in the 90s, singing Tosca - she was booed at the end by a portion of the audience after the big aria - apparantly she stuck her two fingers up and continued. But that is hearsay.
> 
> There is something else that comes to mind but is the opposite - I have a Pavarotti video of him singing Boheme in Italy - what I found astonishing - is that when he hit the high long note in his big first act aria (your tiny hand is frozen) - the theatre erupted and nothing more of that note could be heard and they did not settle down until after the aria and after P had bowed half a dozen times - gone off stage, come back, etc etc - I thought that was just ludicrous.


Well, if you are going to talk about Opera singers, then all bets are off. It is my feeling that certain antipathy's have little or nothing to do with music or performance. Certain Opera hall audiences seem to detest certain singers. I once attended a performance at the Chicago Lyric Opera, and a certain soprano had the lead role in Massenet's opera "Manon". She was roundly booed by the partisans in the audience, before she even sang a single note. Apparently she had had made some unkind comment about Chicago at some time in the past, that the audience remembered. I never quite got it, not being from Chicago myself.


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## techniquest (Aug 3, 2012)

Yes. I saw the premiere of David Bedford's 'Stars End' at the Royal Festival Hall with the RPO in 1974. Substantial booing at the end - so much so that I felt rather guilty clapping cos I really liked the piece.


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## BurningDesire (Jul 15, 2012)

techniquest said:


> Yes. I saw the premiere of David Bedford's 'Stars End' at the Royal Festival Hall with the RPO in 1974. Substantial booing at the end - so much so that I felt rather guilty clapping cos I really liked the piece.


Were they booing because they didn't like the piece? or was the performance poor? (Neither justifies the scummy act of heckling imo, I'm just curious)


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