How stupid are these people that go to bars and look for trouble?  We played at a bar last weekend (I'm omitting the name because I don't want them to get a bad reputation) and during our show, three different incidents of physical violence occurred.  The first one happened between our second and third sets (around 12:30 am).  We were sitting at some tables taking a break and suddenly, the back of the bar erupts with chaos.  Apparently two guys got into some altercation over a woman (what a surprise…alcohol + men + women + more alcohol + testosterone = manly feats of stupidity).  It took the bar staff about 10 minutes to get everything under control and then things seemed to settle down.  We played our third set and at the end, another fight broke out on the back deck of the place (this one apparently required the presence of the police and a life squad).  Then, when we were packing up at the end of the night, some muscle-bound jackass starts smacking his girlfriend around starting another chaotic melee.  Needless to say, our regulars left right after the first fight happened.  Who wants to be around that crap?  You never know when some idiot is going to pull out a gun and start shooting.  So the place went from about 100 people to about 25 people within 10 minutes.

I talked to the bartenders and waitresses at the end of the night and according to them, the same group of guys comes in week after week, gets drunk, and starts trouble.  They complained about having to baby-sit these guys all night and how frustrating it is to have to put up with that every week.  It seemed to me like a simple thing to fix so I asked them why the guys aren't just banned from coming there.  According to them, the trouble makers are friends with the manager (who, by the way, wasn't at the bar that night) and I guess they feel entitled to come back week after week and act like complete jackasses.  It all seems like a sure-fire recipe for liability if you ask me.  You also have to wonder how these fights affect their business.  We watched a crowd of about 100 paying customers turn into a crowd of 25 with an hour of drinking time left in the night.  How much money in alcohol sales would 75 people generate in an hour?  If you conservatively figure two drinks per person at $4 per drink…that's $600.  Thanks to the fight, they sacrificed that money.

It was funny, when we first arrived, I asked one of the waitresses what size crowd the place usually draws.  She said that they used to bring in a lot of people but the "smoking ban" has really hurt their business.  I'm guessing the rednecks starting fist fights every weekend have something to do with their low numbers too.  Maybe they should try a drunken jerk ban.  I hope they don't expect us to draw in a big crowd the next time we play there because I'm pretty sure most of our regulars won't come (and I don't blame them).  I wouldn't want my wife, friends, and family in the middle of that crap.  

I think we'll bring our own chicken wire next time.

~MD