ive often wondered who started the clap s on See You Through and Dark room. did it take a whle for the audience to catch on? did mat say 'hey guys, clap if you wanna?' i'm just curious.

I used to wonder that as well.

Think of Guns -n- Roses recording "Knockin' on Heaven's Door". I imagined Matt doing like Axl in that song. While the drums were still playing, he'd stop and say, "Okay, I want every body in this room to clap when I do!" Then they'd play the chorus and every body would clap. Then he'd stop and say, "I can't hear you!" and they'd do it again.

However, this did not happen.

Maybe they have just enough close friends planted in the audience who model what to do and every one else just follows suit.

I have an early recording of Thursday, and no one seems to be "lalalala"-ing.
Every one used to sing "Starlight, starbright" with Roger during "Paid to Think."

When "See You Thru" debuted in Nov 99, I remember watching Parrish and Matt clap and think, "That's different." There were no fans at that show, so no one knew to do it. By the 3rd time they performed it in Mar 00, it was catching on to clap along with the song.

With "God Save...", I first heard it at its 1st or 2nd show, and somehow everybody in the audience just knew when to say "whew!"

Are there claps on 'Darkroom'? If so I've never noticed.

The crowd participation on 'Paid to Think' and 'God Save Rock'n'Roll' has definitely waned.

As for my theory on how the crowd clapping on 'See You Thru' began, I would just guess that someone saw Matt doing it, and thought it looked funny (how often do you see someone playing a guitar on stage stop to clap [and clap quickly]?). They just decided to imitate him, and it just caught on.

By the way, didn't there used to be crowd participation on 'Jurley'? I think the crowd used to sing along with Roger on that one, too (on the "likes to do" parts).

(Edited by jamiecarroll at 3:15 am on Sep. 8, 2002)

Heck yeah there are claps on Dark Room and they make that song so frikkin awesome! It goes like (let's see if I can explain this through type)....

I'm keeping pictures of you in my head
dun *clap* dun-dun *clap clap* boodle-doodle doodle-doodle doodle-doodle-doodle doodle-doo or something. And if I've caught some sort of ear disease and there aren't handclaps there, then they should be instituted. All I know is that HaveSomeSoma, IWantElvis, and Ray Davies have all noticed (I'm not sure about Damon though...he didn't seem to move much ).

Yes, I know that there are handclaps on the recording. I was referring to "crowd participation" handclaps at the shows. You know, like with 'See You Thru.'

i started all claps in the features' songs.

and for jamie, yes, people do utilize the clapping in dark room, at least i do.

As do I. I noticed at The Boro show last month that the handclappers on Dark Room were quite sparse. It's more fun that Sorry! so I suggest everyone try it at the 26th show.

Parrish has clapped along with Dark Room in the section that Digsy described for as long as I've been regularly seeing the Features. It's a pretty recent development that some of the crowd claps along with him.

thanks for explaining that to me. now the clap mystery is no longer unsovled.

i foorgot to ask this though; does anyone get agnry when people 'lada da da" during the wistle part of Thursday?

Thank you Hey LuLu, for asking. Welcome to the board. Post some more. I think you've started the most relevant thread I've seen in a very long time.

In answer to the many questions asked and not answered thus far....

--I never noticed the Dark Room clapping, but I'll be watching for that on the 20th.

--The participation for "Paid to Think" and even "Thursday" has dropped tremendously since Roger's vocals became consistently inaudible. As the backing vocalist, he became the song leader often. This is also true for "Jurley." The extra things he'd do especially on Thursday and Circus added so much to the show.

--I like to hear a few "las" when Matt is whistling at the end of Thursday. The 9/18/99 show has been passed around to a few people. The crowd seems very small on the recording, but every one is in to "Thursday" and sings along. It has always been the model for me as to how the crowd should respond to Thursday. It is for this reason that I sing the "lalalalas" part falsetto still to this day.

--When the Features captured my heart all those years ago, it was not the musicianship that got me about that band. It was the performance and the experiece. That little cute guy up there would jump around with an orange silk shirt and a clip-on tie that is too short. He jumps back from the mic and screams. He would move his eyes around and make the weirdest, most engaging faces while singing. The drummer is wonderfully theatrical. The audience just knows when to contribute their part with "Starlight starbright" and "Yadadada". That made them different from any band I'd seen before. It was more of an experience. Later, they were showing films all over the stage while they performed, and people were clapping along.

This became amplified 100x upon seeing Flaming Lips, but they're not local.

the features clap... can you get that from a toilet seat?

That totally sums up how I feel about the Features. Don't take this the wrong way, but it is hard for me to put the Features in my favorite bands list mainly because they seem to be so much more than just "a band." They are a hobby, a messageboard, a group of people, new friends, they are random sightings of the band, they are scouring the earth for MP3s...they are everything that I don't/can't do for Oasis or Weezer or the Dandy Warhols (but if I did it for the Dandys, I'm sure a lot of heroin would be involved). To me, the Features are in a class to themselves and will probably always be.

Man...I cannot wait for the 20th and 26th.

I have always clapped during Dark Room, but I never realized anyone else doing it until the recent shows at the Boro and in Chattanooga. There's my little input on that.

Yeah, from the creature's flap.