Why don't you move your feet?

I don't think I'm one of those ex-pats who spends their entire time grumbling about where I'm living and wishing I was back home. But the Australian attitude at gigs leaves me scratching my head. We went to see 'The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart' at the Zoo last night. For anyone who's not heard of them the Pains are a jangly indie pop band that put a smile on your face and a song in your heart (lookthem up on YouTube), and the Zoo is one of Brisbanes best small gig venues.

Back in the UK you tend to get gig crowds split into 4 layers -

• The first couple of rows are devoted fans pressed against the stage just happy to be close their idols (and to maybe grab a plectrum, a set list or a drop of sweat to take home with them)
• Then you have the dancers (or the moshpit for more aggresive music)
• Fading out of the dancers you get the swayers - no discrete split here so you can find a spot to suit your groove
• Finally you get the watchers, happy to have a beer and check out the band from the back of the room

Over here hardly anyone seems to want to dance - the first 8 rows of the crowd are pretty much static apart from the odd rhythmic nod or gentle sway and then you get the watchers. And if you do 'dare to dance' you risk colliding with and getting cursed by people attempting to get photos of the band silhouetted against spotlights with a 2Mb phone camera with no flash and on maximum digital zoom. Now don't get me wrong - I'm not expecting the sort of choreography you see on 'So you think you can dance' and my personal dance style looks like a derivation of the Madchester shuffle as done by a crippled performing bear - but I don't know how so many people can keep so still to such good music.
I'm assured that this isn't always the case but I've not seen much different in any of the music I've seen over here. We're off to Melbourne in a month or so and I'll try and catch a gig down there to see if it's a Brissie thing or country wide...