We've all at some point played bad-ass shows to audiences of just a few people, and crowd size is clearly no indication of the quality of a set, but the energy of a bigger crowd does have an effect on the energy a band puts out on stage, so with that in mind what is the biggest crowd (roughly) your band has played in front of thus far?

(I didn't bother making poll categories because I didn't want to pre-designate numbers to choose from before bands even start answering. Also, this is NOT intented to degenerate into any lame competitive bullshit, I just think that we'll all find it useful to get some objective insight into the state and draw of the underground scene these days, by seeing how our comrades are faring)

most likely, it was at the palladium with Vital Remains, Incantation, Porphyria, Rumplestiltskin Grinder, Feed Us Fetus (I think?) + others. From what I remember we had a pretty good slot at that show and it was fairly well stocked with people both on the floor and on the balcony. A show of such proportions can usually bring out the best in any band.

Any rough guess for the number of people when you guys went on?

We played this asian festival with hundreds upon hundreds of people watching but it wasn't our crowd and nobody really cared so IMO the most people we ever played for was maybe around 40.

ShadowSD said:


I'd have to say at least about 100+
I know its not THAT many people, but, when you've played a few dozen shows where there was only 2 of your friends and the members of the other bands, 100 seems like 1,000.

Definitely. It's all relative.

probably when we opened for it dies today...probably well over 200 people...I don't know...maybe more maybe less.

on tour last month in laredo...it's a border town. literally one half of the town is in the US and the other half is in mexico. a bunch of mexicans jumped the border to see the show, must've been about 250-300 people there...totally insane...

meh..double post

either the paladium w/ malignancy-over 100 or
with vital remains at the livingroom. i heard the door count was like 220, but we also went on first, so they all weren't there when we played.
With stand up comedy, somewhere between 200-300
(Probably closer to 200)
It's like HTB said, 100 can feel like 1000

it also depends on the venue, too IMHO. AS220 and the Middle East upstairs are small rooms, throw in 80-100 people...those are some of the most energetic shows we had ever played.



*edit* had to change to past tense...:(

For us (Suicide Dream), the biggest crowd to ever see us was about 1000 people at The Webster Theatre in November of '04. Aside from that, though, the biggest crowds that have seen our set never exceeded 400 - 500 people, probably partially due to the fact that the other shows we've played at big venues didn't occur on a Friday or Saturday night, which always tends to hurt draw - plus we went on a little earlier in the night at those shows.

DeeDee's in Quincy. I knew everyone there, place was packed...great fucking show.

Connecticut metalfest, 6 people, hahahahaha

I banged my ex GF in front of my 2 friends. Does that count?

Well, did they really get into the show, get excited and show you some support, Captain?

125-150 at the Lexington VFW, and about 90 at our CD release show at Bill's Bar.

i think something like 15000-24000, when my bagpipe band played with some orchestra in cape cod.

i think i win.

eddie said:

Hahahaha sweet!

Probably 50-75 for Guenhyvar.

CaptainCleanoff said:

you beat me to the "adult" question... bastard.

definitly when the final battle played the 7a7p show in Binghamton, NY
i think there wee like 3-400 kids there, definitly one of the best shows i've ever played, too

300 people at my school's battle. besides that, probably about 50-75 at the palladium.

when we played with Hirudenia and Watchmaker last month at O'Brien's. I know the show sold out, or was damned close. Don't know how many people watched us.

Last summer at the Human BBQ II was pretty packed too, probably 50 plus for us.

me and two friends played our high school battle of the bands back in 2002 to maybe 200 or so people - we basically ripped off anal cunt REALLY badly, we sucked....and people in the audience yelled it out a few times. i think it was my fault we sucked so bad, because i was the drummer and never really played drums before so i couldn't play fast worth a shit.

Dankill said:


I don't think I was really paying attention.

Does playing with yourself at Ozzfest in front of everyone count?...If so Vomitthesoul has us all beat

The whole world loves me! Six to seven billion strong!

played a few festivals in Europe with close to 3000 peeps....i'd much rather play a tight club gig with a few hundred anyday...

ok this is a very vauge question. it's a bit subjective i think. basically if you play on a national headliner gig, you are playing for their crowd, and not your own. so saying that you played for 1000 people has nothing to do with what Your band draws. in this scene, it's hit or miss, and one cannot even begin to try to say predict many people will show up to their gigs. especially with the amount of bands booking shows over your own shows.
my 2 cents

3 people

dyingmuse said:

this isn't a how many people you can draw thread, its a how many people you've played in front of thread.

I like as few people at shows because my head is so huge from having these amazing percussion skills.

If you need a huge crowd to get energized at a show then you need to write new music. If you can't get into your own music and be amped by that, then basically you your playing for the sake of playing. Oh, and biggest crowd. I can't give a number, but whatever the capacity was at the Met Cafe plus about 50.

hungtableed said:

Nah, I don't think Feed Us Fetus was on that show. They were on the show that Vital Remains was origianlly supposed to play, along with Revengeance (My ex-band) and such.

Although I could be wrong, they could've been the band from that show that actually made it.

Probably about four people: A friend, random russian girl that heard us and came up to the door to ask to watch, and my keyboardists two little cousins.

The "Big Gig" at Great Woods (the Tweeter Center) back in 1992 to 8000 people...... The (old) Living Room in Providence, RI. back in 1989 with Ritual Sacrifice and Vital Remains 500 people...... Northern Essex Community College back in 1990 with Atomicaust and Mortuary 580 people...... The Escape Club in Salisbury Beach, MA. back in 1991 with Nuclear Assault, Coroner, Panic, Demolition Hammer and many others almost 1000 people!! The Escape Club again in 1991 with Gwar 1500 people!! Plus, headlining shows we've done there 400 to 600 people 1992 to 1994..... The Empire Theater in Manchester, NH. back in 1991 with D.R.I. sold out with 400 people!! Plus, headlining shows we've had there 200 to 300 people....... The Channel in Boston, MA. back in 1990 with Meliah Rage 400 people....... The New Jersey Metal Fest in Asbury Park, NJ played in front of hundreds of people each time for 3 years straight........ Many years ago we used to do a lot of shows at VFW and American Legion Halls to packed almost sold out rooms 200 to 400 people....... The Bombshelter back in 2004 with Cannibal Corpse almost 400 people...... CBGB's (NYC) in 2002 with Nuclear Assault sold out crowd something like 400 people....... The Haverhill Stadium in Haverhill, MA. back in 1989 (We were the only band playing that night) well over 500 people watching and slamming........

The (old) Living Room in Providence, RI. back in 1989 with Ritual Sacrifice and Vital Remains 500 people......
I was at that gig.....Ritual Sacrifice is my brothers old band..they fucking destroyed.

Yo BOBDEAD.....

This is the Infamous Eric Paone here.... What's up man? Self Destruct headlined that show!! That show was fuckin' awesome and packed!! We were still new on the scene at that time. We had to play a Nuclear Assault cover to get the crowd slamming. It worked!!

CANDY STRIPER DEATH ORGY said:



Was there really 400 people there?, I did not think there was that many, I never got the final count from Serge though. It was a great show, not counting the incredible heat in there.

26 Beers: over 200 with the Freeze

As Pat Faherty: Berklee 2005 Graduation Commencement Ceremony with over 3,000

the Bombshelter with Cryptopsy, almost 400 people there... we went on right before cryptopsy, so everyone was there and everyone seemed to get into us, which was cool.

probably when Cryptic Warning played with Cephalic Carnage at the Middle East upstairs. I think it was pretty close to capacity.

PatMeebles said:

well if you're gonna count BPC performances, then definitely with Lin Biviano's big band at the 5 week concert 2 years ago.

Sasquatch the Embalmer said:

first and foremost, there can be only one Sasquatch, and i am the great and powerful Yeti. also, thats a pretty dumb statement, our band writes pretty badass music that gets us really amped up, but its not as easy to get into it when there are 3 people, and those 3 people could care less. its much better to play for 50 people all beating the shit out of each other.

dyingmuse said:

I agree one hundred percent with this statement

Worcester Centrum 8/96
Pantera/White Zombie/Deftones/Anal Cunt

Worcester Auditorium 1/98
Pantera/Anthrax/Coal Chamber/Anal Cunt

Tsongas Areana 3/01
Pantera/Soulfly/Morbid Angel/Nothing Face/Anal Cunt

Headlining shows:
No one likes us around here. The biggest shows we did were in Chicago, L.A., NYC, London, Tokyo, Wermelskirchen (Ger), Austin, and probably New Orleans.
I'm bad at judging crowd sizes but those were the biggest shows.

Biggest show with Adolf Satan was probably the Doom & Grind fest last year.

Yeti said:

I challenge you to a Sasquatch look alike contest. I outweigh you by 100 pounds, do not resemble a human being in any way and I have much more hair. I will win hands down. Furthermore, my size 16 will leave a much better impression in the mud for the scientists to debate on whether it is a human footprint or indeed that of Sasquatch. I've seen you play in front of three people and in front of fifty and you appear to be into it just the same. It's actually more fun to beat everyone in your own band. That's what love is. Ask Ike Turner.

Josh_Martin said:

i was there, shit was awesome. 95% of the people in that crowd didnt have a fucking clue what was going on. I think I remember Phil coming out and doing some songs with you, "Howard Wulkan's Bald" (sp?) and maybe a couple others.

I'd have to say this past Saturday at the NEDAGF 2.

We played to like 500 people in western mass but they just stood there and looked at us like we were aliens, The MDFV Pre-fest party had like 400-500 people all going nuts for us but to be honest Ive had more fun playing to just the beckwith brothers thrashing their brains out to us

Sasquatch the Embalmer said:

hahahahaha oh man. thats awesome. i only wear a 15.

although there are exceptions to this. we played once for 1 drunk guy and 3 members of the other band playing, and that drunk guy got a damn good performance. he was so into it. he paid us 50 bucks afterwards because he felt bad that there were no people there. then he started telling us about how Jesus is the way.

our crowd on saturday at the doom and grind fest was pleasantly large but i think the biggest ever was playing a free show at greely park in nashua new hampshire though it's not like people were there to see us, but it's still the most people we've played in front of (a couple hundred).

for me it was probably Fuck the Commerce 2003. Goratory co-headlined the mainstage on the first night with Brodequin. I'm pretty sure there was 2500-3000 people there. Fuckin amazing...stage diving into that was beyond brutal! We got to play for over and hour and i think we did like 16 tunes. Defintely one of the best shows we've played

Almost forgot....... March 2001 us with Over Kill at Jarrod's Live Rock Venue sold out almost 800 people!! That's 'cause he spent $3000 in ads on WAAF........

Yeti said:

Well, I wear a 16 because they don't make sneakers wide enough. Even the 16's aren't too comfortable. EEEEEE width sucks. Aaaarrgghhh!!!

aeser: you played at greely park? when?

This is no longer a crowd size thread. It's about shoe size now. Get a clue.

the_reverend said:

probably 7 or 8 years ago

I wear an 10 1/2- 11 1/2.

playing greely is awesome.
my grandmother lives through the woods from there. I used to go there as a kid. I remember something about the stone building there with sewage in little pools as you walk in.

sounds like a pretty sweet place to hang out.

Man I would love to play to a packed room.