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Last Post 8/31/2004 12:17 PM by  Gar
Smoking Ban In Gigs
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Gar
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8/31/2004 12:17 PM
    During the recent Republic Of Loose gig, a few mindless idiots sparked up and started smoking. Am I being like a grumpy old man for being annonyed about this? Considering that the smoke was blowing in my face, alot of the people smoking were barely legal and acted like kids throughout the gig, and many people paid decent money to see the gig who maybe wanted to enjoy it in a smoke-free enviroment. A bouncer circled the crowd but they distingushed their cigarettes before proudly sticking their chests out in a sort of rebellious manner, sad really. Lucky enough the gig wasn't stopped then many other people would probably be starting threads like this one. The point I'm trying to make is, am I right to be pissed off about those who sparked up?
    amawaster
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    8/31/2004 12:21 PM
    yeah, but that's an ex barman talking. its not the coughing or anything that really annoys me its the stink off your clothes that really bugs me. some people go to gigs to listen to the music, some go to meet up with mates and talk really loudly down the back and others go just cos it's the only place they'd get into, and start acting the gob, but all you can do is ignore it or else you won't ever enjoy a gig
    Brain of G
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    8/31/2004 12:37 PM
    Ye'r a shower of complainers. Does it bother ye too when people jay-walk? Ye must really really have hated going out before the ban. I'm a smoker but I don't smoke inside pubs but that's not because I feel that this ban is great but rather because I don't fancy getting a massive fine!
    Binokular
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    8/31/2004 12:53 PM
    Jay-walkers are usually more of a danger to their own health than that of others....
    klootfan
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    8/31/2004 1:28 PM
    Ive seen this at a few gigs now, The Doors in the point, kings of leon in the tbmc and now the republic of loose. I didnt notice the bouncer circling the crowd at the republic of loose gig, but at the other 2 there was no attempt to stop the smoking. To be honest, as a non smoker and an asthmatic it does annoy me. Its illegal and it should be enforced in my opinion
    kierry
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    8/31/2004 1:43 PM
    i dunno... its against the law, and now i find it annoying indoors. i smoke but its become sort of annoying to have smoke blown at me indoors...
    Karlito
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    8/31/2004 1:49 PM
    Too true, Don't know why people would bother to be honest, because they would have to try and hide or disguise the fact that they are actually smoking, and it's pretty obvious when someones at it, as it can be seen and smelt (is that a word?). Well be it on their own heads, I say don't worry - chill and enjoy, life's too short for moanin'
    Brain of G
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    8/31/2004 1:50 PM
    Yes Binokular but if a car has to swerve or suddenly brake to avoid hitting a jay-walker it may put the lives of others in danger! Personally though I've nothing against jay-walkers.
    Gar
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    8/31/2004 1:53 PM
    Does it bother me when people jay-walk? How did you find a simialrity between jay-walking and smoking in a smoke-free enviroment? Before the smoking ban was enforced, I just got on with whoever was smoking. But now it is just a few mindless, inconsiderate idiots who smoke. The majority of the one's who did smoke at the ROL gig were a gang of teenagers who did it just to look cool. I'm not one for complaining that much (I didn't say anything to anyone at the gig) but the smoking did piss me off.
    Brain of G
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    8/31/2004 2:04 PM
    Look Gar I'm not attacking you just I'm fed up with the way people look at us smokers as if we were the children of Satan. I mean putting up with smoke every now and again can't be the end of the world can it? If people chose to go to a pub they should have to put up with the consequences of whatever toxins are in that pub's air. Nobody is forcing them to go. Seeing as they ban smoking in pubs surely they can also ban anyone who refuses to wear deodorant or has a flatulence problem so we who are used to the smell of smoke don't have to put up with their odours. By the way I'm not condoning those who were smoking at the gig just it's not the end of the world!
    Brain of G
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    8/31/2004 2:05 PM
    Just realised I (accidentally) used the phrase "end of the world" twice in that last post. Maybe its a sign that the apocalypse is not that far away...
    Binokular
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    8/31/2004 2:17 PM
    quote:
    Originally posted by Brain of G
    Yes Binokular but if a car has to swrve or suddenly brake to avoid hitting a jay-walker it may put the lives of others in danger! Personally though I've nothing against jay-walkers.
    120MPH, 115BHP, 870KG of sheet metal and a heavy right foot, and you still believe I'm going to stop when step into my path, foolish human, BWAHAHAHAHA! (just kidding!) But you see, when pushed, you could see why Jay-walking is illegal in some countries? Its just showing consideration for the safety of others. Actually Jaywalking isn't illegal in Ireland as far as I'm aware, or at least not enforced. Its the same deal with smoking. Smoking in an enclosed public space shows lack of consideration for the health of others. Laws are always a balance between protecting personal freedoms (e.g. your right to smoke) versus the common good (the health of others). Good laws strike the correct balance between the two. I'll leave you to make up your own mind as to whether the smoking ban is a good law or not. Perhaps if people showed more consideration for others, we would need less laws in the first place?
    Rev Jules
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    8/31/2004 2:35 PM
    quote:
    Originally posted by Binokular
    120MPH, 115BHP, 870KG of sheet metal and a heavy right foot, and you still believe I'm going to stop when step into my path, foolish human, BWAHAHAHAHA!
    Of course, if the said jaywalker had a shaped charge, and unless your car was coated in explosive reactive armour tilted at 60 degrees, you are toast my friend. Sorry was watching Discovery Channel on Sunday morning. Awesome dude !
    Brain of G
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    8/31/2004 2:39 PM
    What programme was that? "Deadly jay-walkers from hell" or the like? Tell me more. What are the criteria needed to become one of these anti-vehicle heroes? Is there an initiation ceremony?
    Binokular
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    8/31/2004 2:53 PM
    quote:
    Originally posted by Rev Jules Of course, if the said jaywalker had a shaped charge, and unless your car was coated in explosive reactive armour tilted at 60 degrees, you are toast my friend. Sorry was watching Discovery Channel on Sunday morning. Awesome dude !
    *adds another entry to "stuff to do the Batmobile over the weekend list" *
    Archie
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    8/31/2004 4:00 PM
    I hate smoking with a passion. I'm going to offend people with this but the only thing I hate more is drunk people at concerts. Ban smoking. Please it's disgusting.
    Brain of G
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    8/31/2004 4:10 PM
    quote:
    Originally posted by Archie
    Ban smoking. Please it's disgusting.
    U cannot just ban smoking. That's a very black and white attitude to have. Smokers have rights too you know
    john@soundweb.ie
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    8/31/2004 4:17 PM
    no Gar, that would piss me off too - especially if its right beside you in the gig... but then again maybe i am a grumpy old man! non-smokers put up with the stink long enough so now that its banned, personally i am delighted, although i can understand that its really s**t for addicts at a gig. maybe the RoL song "F everyone" (or something like that) inspired that crowd to be rebels. ah well, kids will be kids. hope they get cancer though. just joking. honest.
    klootfan
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    8/31/2004 4:52 PM
    On at least 3 different gigs in the past, before the smoking ban came in, i have experienced the not fun experience of some smoking beside me at a crowded gig, and then for that person to shove their ciggarette, albeit it accidental, into my arm, on 2 occasions and my ear on another. Smokers have rights, but when people usually use that term, its followed by, "as long as im not interfering with anyone else" and in this occasion it aint through. If your a non smoker, it does interfere with your night out. Especially, if like me you are an asthmatic.
    cheesy
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    8/31/2004 5:21 PM
    smokers are for life, not just for christmas. But seriously,fair enough that smokers are intruding on peoples right not to smoke. But surely a section for smokers in concert area is not that hard to ask!! Personally i dont smoke, and i hate people blowing smoke at me. But i enjoy a concert and a pint, pints are bad for you,if you drink pints every day for thirty years it will damage yourself, and increase the risk of heart disease. I have the oppurtunity to enjoy a concert and a pint so surely people who enjoy a concert and a smoke should have the same right. Plus i must admit that many gigs i have been at have somewhat lost their atmospeher without smoking. go to any back of the road pub with a good trad section when the smoking ban was not in, and now go to it,i think it has lost its heart. You can see the player itching for a fag between songs
    Gar
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    8/31/2004 5:40 PM
    Many of us will either agree or disagree on this topic. We all acknowledge that smokers have rights but those rights should be constricted within the law. Aswell as them treating fellow gig goers with the respect of not polluting their lungs or hampering their night. My both parents are big smokers, I don't smoke but I have nothing against smokers. Just don't blow it in my face. Go to the gigs for the music and do your best to not disturb others.
    Binokular
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    8/31/2004 5:42 PM
    quote:
    Originally posted by cheesy
    But surely a section for smokers in concert area is not that hard to ask!!
    That would be nice, but I don't see it working in small venues, which is where most gigs are held. Even in a large venue, I don't think theres an extractor fan/aircon system, that can totally keep an area smoke free.
    El Duderino
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    9/1/2004 7:29 AM
    quote:
    Originally posted by Brain of G
    Seeing as they ban smoking in pubs surely they can also ban anyone who refuses to wear deodorant or has a flatulence problem so we who are used to the smell of smoke don't have to put up with their odours.
    I'm a smoker too but that comment is amazing. You're saying the worst thing that can happen to people around you when your smoking is that their clothes might stink?! I can't understand this mentality. I've seen a few publicans getting up on their high horse saying that the smoking ban is infringing on their customers rights??? what the f**k?! What about asthmatic customers. To turn the right to smoke in an enclosed area with other people, possibly non smokers, into a moral crusade is ridiculous. Publicans just want more money and most reasonable smokers I know don't mind popping out for 10 minutes for a smoke. One last point I have to make is that it was the tosser bassist in the Republic of loose that started people smoking by lighting up on stage.
    kierry
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    9/1/2004 10:12 AM
    in fairness, you can't defend people who light up in a pub. its against the law, the inconsiderate, its selfish and its kinda an arsehole-y thing to do. i'm a smoker, i love me lovely fags, but i've no problem moving outside for a quick drag. i wouldn't force anyone to breath my smoke if they don't want to. i never smoked at a gig before the ban, and i definietly wouldn't now. incidently, you're asking for trouble if you go see the republic of loose... :)
    Vent My Spleen
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    9/1/2004 1:24 PM
    Agreed. There is a slightly Aslan chic to the ROL crowd. Whether you care/don't care about smoking, tis against the law and 99.9% of smokers have accepted this. As with all laws though, there will be a few cretins who push it. I'd be far more annoyed with the venue not being able to stop them.
    mutch
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    9/3/2004 12:45 PM
    i'm an ex-smoker and i could'nt give a rats ar5e about people smoking, i thinkits a stupid law for venues with high ceilings(village, point, olympia...whats the story lads do ye want a field in the mountains!), was over in manchester for a night out and its grand to get the smell of a real pub and not the farting fat phuckers that inhabit most bars! what kind of gig goer worries about they're freaking clothes?! jeez lads, relax, life is short(i feel an "even shorter if your a smoker" reply in a high horsey tone coming on), go mad and dance/mosh/bust a move with a ladyee/fella/stuffed animal/vegetable...
    cheesy
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    9/3/2004 3:20 PM
    here here just get over it and get out of this mentality of "i could die early becuase of that smoker beside of me", you could die from the car ride to the show. I think the drunken fools at concerts ruin it more than smokers. Go to any single intimate venue, 1 drunken person has the ability to ruin the concert. I was at a Paddy Casey concert in Cuba Galway a few years back, and because of two drunken girls up the front i could bearly hear any of Paddy's slower songs. he got pissed off and didnt perform at all to the best of his ability. This bodes the question, would you prefer to ban someone blowing smoke in your face after you paying 30 quid for a ticket,or would you prefer to ban the person drowning out the music with drunken heckles after you paying thirty quid for a ticket? In the first instance the whole reason for you coming to a concert is to watch the performer perfom is possible, its not in the second. If anything needs to be banned it is the drink
    Binokular
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    9/3/2004 3:54 PM
    I hear what your saying guys, I put up with passive smoke before the ban, the health risk didn't put me off then, but your not seeing the whole picture. We tend to think of the smoking ban as a ban on smoking in Pubs/Venues, it's not. It is a ban on smoking in the workplace. Barstaff, security personell, sound engineers etc. all gotta work there night after night. Now I know everybody whinges about these folk, but guess what, they're people too and are entitled to a bit of human dignity and respect in the form of a pleasant and safe work envoironment too. Continued exposure to passive smoking is dangerous, that is a fact. Nobody should have to choose between breathing clean air and a job. I know, I was working for a small business a few years before the ban where everybody smoked and it did affect my health. After I left, my health improved considerably. A smokey atmosphere may also mean that going to a gig is completely out of the question for people with bad respiratory illness such as asthma. By smoking, you are completely restricting their freedom of choice. When people were allowed to smoke in venues the combination of their disability and others actions meant they were unable to see many gigs. Would you begrudge a wheelchair user for the many concessions that need to be made for them to enjoy music? (and yes I know, Ireland still lags behind in this area too) As for drink in gigs, good point. Nothing wrong with drinking, but when you exceed your own limit and start making hassle for others it becomes annoying. It all comes back to my original point of showing a bit of consideration for others negates the need for laws. If people just consider how what they do affects others and act on it by being reasonable in their alcohol intake there is no need for a law, no need for the nanny state to step in. I know this sound very un-rock and roll, and I don't mean to sound preachy, but nothing is achieved by a teenage "I can do whatever the hell I want attitude". Freedom can only be maintained when we respect the freedoms of others.
    cheesy
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    9/3/2004 4:06 PM
    good point! forgot bout the workers, But i must say i disagree on the "consideration" aspect. As you know yourself that will never happen, the only way this can be curbed is by legating in. Peoples definition of "consideration" changes from person to person. I would find some annoying drunk singing inconsiderate whereas this person may find it perfectly acceptable to do such a thing. Someone may find it dangeropus and inconsiderate to mosh, while others rate concerts on how good a mosh is!! same as a bar i think intoxicated people should be ejected, know i sound like a right broing old git
    amawaster
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    9/4/2004 12:51 AM
    fair points, also that smell off your clothes thing was me, meant as a barman, not gig goer my clothes always end up wet with sweat no matter what gig i go to, so smell of smoke won't make much difference. but when you work in a bar or venue the smoke is a killer can't emphasise enuff how bad it is. what bar staff get paid doesnt really make up for it
    Brain of G
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    9/13/2004 9:59 AM
    quote:
    Originally posted by cheesy
    Personally i dont smoke
    Since when?


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