#497 The moment after the show ends and before the applause begins

Neil Pasricha

Fat ladies hit the high note, trumpets blast in the pit band, and stage hands yank the curtains closed in that big booming finish at the end of the show. Yes, the guitarist slashes the final chord as that closing climax spirals up and up and up before just so suddenly … stopping. Then there’s a split-second of perfect silence as energy rip-rushes down the crowd and everyone stands up to let out a giant applause.

AWESOME!

Neil Pasricha and The Book of Awesome will be visiting Calgary and Vancouver in a couple weeks. Stay tuned for details!

— Email message —

“I came across a bakery the other day and that wonderful smell reminded me how awesome life really is. After getting a fresh, still warm croissant I headed to the book store across the street. Two sales girls greeted me as I was chewing so I quickly swallowed to say hi back. After asking what I was eating, I told them about my bakery trip and that great smell. They looked at each other and smiled. “That’s awesome” one said to the other. That’s when I realized she was holding The Book of Awesome. “It IS awesome, and I need that book you’re holding,” I told them. She gave me the book and we started chatting about all the stuff that was in there, which included her favorite “High-fiving babies.” Another woman asked what we were talking about and after I showed her the book she told the sales girl she would take 2 copies. Spreading the awesome by word of mouth….. Awesome!” – Brae

Photo from: here

33 thoughts to “#497 The moment after the show ends and before the applause begins”

  1. I love concerts … and all concert-related Awesome moments and posts. This is a good one. Especially if there’s an encore, because it’ll happen more than once.

    :)

    Ooooooh, love the spreading of Awesomeness!

    1. Encore performances are the shizzy nizzy.

      The guy who invented encores is almost as awesome as the guy who invented polar bears.

  2. Yeah that moment is always awesome! Like everyone is thinking the same thing at that moment!
    What’s not awesome though is when you think it’s that silence and you start clapping, but the performance isn’t over yet. And everyone looks at you like you’re an asshole.

    1. Haha .. totally agree with you on the non-awesome occurrence of clapping too early. Not so much at a concert (since the overall volume doesn’t typically lend itself to the whole arena hearing your too-early clap), but more like at a play or other theater event.

      But it usually only takes that one time (or observing someone else’s faux pas) to make you wait for everyone else to start the applause next time … ;D

  3. YES!!!! second!!!!!!!!!!! i love your website and i tell everyone i see about it. Spread the Awesomeness and the happiness and halarity and overall talent of your talent. I want to get your book sooooooooo bad but i have to wait till Christmas. I’ve never actually been to a concert, but if i did I’d go to a BEP concert

    I love and admire your story I.E. #829. Keep up the good work and remind us all that no matter what you have gone through, you can always get through life by looking at the small things in life we overlook but still give us that feeling we don’t notice but helps us feel good through everything.

  5. I tend to find audiences start clapping once it’s clear the song is winding down.

  6. When I’m at a small place like a play or something, I always try to be the first one to clap. Makes me feel like I can control and entire room of people or something.LOL

  7. Last night, my little brother graduated from the eighth grade and they had just finished reading off the names.
    I was up on the balcony with my friends and my little sister (it was her birthday) shouted “Class of 2014!!” and we all started clapping, and then everyone stared at us for like thirty seconds and then started clapping and all the kids who were graduating started jumping up and down, it was great.

  8. Just found out about the website and book. Truly an Awesome journey for Neil. Can’t wait to get to the bookshop, a copy for me and a copy for some good friends. Thanks so much.

  9. I was in band and choir for years, and we always waited for that pause. That’s the pause that means you wowed ’em.

    If the clapping starts immediately, you didn’t quite capture the audience. And capturing the audience is Awesome!

  10. HEY! It’s me! And what an AWESOME post to come after! That’s one of my favorite parts of a concert! I always clap and cheer until I loose my voice!

  13. Every. Single. Time. My heart WILL skip during these moments, and I will put serious money on that.

    This is second only to those moments in a concert, typically during the final song, when the musicians are playing with such passion, such conviction, and such remarkable TALENT, that it’s hard to see or hear anything else.

    Anyone who is familiar with a certain Ben Folds song can understand me when I say that when he finished his concert with Philosophy…oh man.

    It was electric.

    1. I’ve been to four Ben Folds shows and I am RIGHT. THERE. WITH. YA. Metaphorically speaking, of course.

    2. Another super-awesome Ben concert moment: I love the way-cool audience involvement with “Not the Same” … it is very heart-skippingly awesome. Maybe not as fun as ending with “Philosophy”, but close. Did he do that at the one(s) you’ve been to?

      1. Both times. There was also (at the second one) crowd participation during Bitches Ain’t Shit (I was psyched when he started playing that).

        We all sang the backup vocals during the chorus as he paraded around stage conducting us. It was awesome.

        1. Half-stalker.

          Omg, I know. BAS made me so ecstatic … I just figured he wouldn’t do it, but I was happily mistaken.

          :D

          1. I know. I was under the assumption that the song was “retired.”

            One of my best friends and I are starting to make his concerts an annual event. So far we’re going two years strong, so I’d say we’ve got a pretty sweet run.

            The last one we went to had an opening act that was wearing the SAME SWEATER as I was. It made me temporarily popular.

  14. Awesome, I know that moment well. Equally awesome but on the flip side, I accompanied my daughter to a concert where there was cheering and clapping and screaming for the ENTIRE 2 hours lol. I enjoyed the crowd just as much as the concert.

  15. Awesome! And even better if you get an encore as a reward for all the applause :)

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  18. …I’m not the best with good-byes or endings…it’s all so final, so I’m usually the one with the crooked smile, tilted head and crying.

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  20. The most amazing moment of a concert is when the band stops playing for a second and the crowd keeps singing and you are left with the crowd singing in union. Awesome.

  21. Awesomeness is just so… AWESOME! Imagine life without awesomeness, I’m thinking about what I’m going to say in my suicide note just thinking of it! Xx

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