As a non-musician...

There are a lot of people who consistently go to shows. And most of them either eventually become musicians themselves or stop attending all together unless their significant other is playing (or they'll attend occasionally).  ​

Lately I find myself at shows to "support" friends.  I don't necessarily know if my physical presence can hardly count as support, but I guess that's what I'll call it because that's what other people call it. There are a handful of bands who are from here who I genuinely enjoy too, but I wonder when that time will come when I'll stop attending shows because they simply aren't fun for me anymore; because their monotonousness; or I'll get over playing the acquaintance game with these people I've known for almost two years and finally come to the conclusion that within that environment, I'll never be able to really discover what makes them a special, unique person that I should care about on a deeper emotional level. 

I also feel this way about the way I attend Cartel. As a regular, I value the idea of knowing my baristas by name, them knowing a little about me, me knowing a little about them, and obviously with some of the other frequenters as well.  But there comes to a point where our "friendship" is fabricated to a degree. The baristas at Cartel can't just ignore me, as I am a paying customer.  I know most of them genuinely like the idea of me, some of them probably like me as a real person outside of our customer-client relationship as well. However, when I sit down for a few hours two to three times a week, I find it amazing at how many people I see who know my name, know a little about me, I know a little about them, and yet we never seem to care about finding more out about each other.  I also wonder how long I'll be able to thrive in that environment before I will only go to Cartel to meet a friend for some joe. 
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Currently, I'm totally comfortable in these environments, but I know at some point, I will become dissatisfied, fed up, and maybe a little annoyed.  I don't really know when that's going to be, but I'm sure the time will present itself when it's "right."
Whatever that means."
​-a claire slattery

This is an interesting rant. Here is my two cents

I went to shows to simply just “support the scene” for over 10 years. I played in a good number of bands but I went to a ton of shows that I didn’t play as well. The joy I got from it was seeing something I am supporting grow and having a group of people to talk to/see every night of the week. Over the years though I saw “the scene” fall apart/die and come back to life many times. Most of the time it is caused by a prominent venue closing or prominent bands breaking up/moving away or sometimes friends breaking up.

But I would keep supporting, no matter what because their was nothing else I really had in life. All of my money went to this “scene” and all of my free time went to the “scene” and their is nothing wrong with that. but all that simply happens is I found other things to care for and spend time with. Seeing my friends bands play for the 100th time no longer seems important or that interesting. and their is nothing wrong with that.

Its not about growing up, or being annoyed or bitter or anything negative, its just simply changing. and change is good.