Instructions for the flash mob were received a few days ago:
---- Here are the instructions for Sheffield Mob #1
IMPORTANT: A MOB is an inexplicable gathering of a group of people in a place for a short period of time. Be sure to forward this note as quick as possible to other people you know who might like to join in.
(2) by 2:50pm based on your star sign you should have already located yourselves in the following pubs.
Aries, Libra, Taurus, Scorpio. The Old Monk, Norfolk St (Near Crucible)
Gemini, Sagittarius, Cancer, Capricorn. Wetherspoons, Cambridge Street (Near City Hall)
Leo, Aquarius, Virgo, Pisces. Fountain Bar (formerly TPWoods), Leopold Street (Opposite Virgin)
(3) At about this time a MOB rep wearing a hat/baseball cap will make themselves known, appear and pass out further instructions. Read the instructions carefully and then hide the piece of paper about your person so that it can not be seen.
(4) The instructions will provide the destination of the MOB site, and you should arrive there no earlier than 2:59pm and no later than 2:59pm. If you are early, stall, if you are late hurry! although no one will need to rush.
(5) The instructions will contain everything you need to know. Most importantly the time to leave the MOB site by is 3:10pm. The dispersal is just as important to the success of this MOB as is the arrival. Everyone should leave as quickly and orderly as they can and truly disperse.
(6) At all times remember that a MOB is just for fun....
---
At the pub at the appointed time was a chap wearing a tartan hat and handing out these instructions on slips of paper:
--- Instructions for Sheffield Mob #1
Make sure you are at the location by 2:58pm. When you have read and understood this information, hide it away somewhere.
Allow enough time to get to Virgin Megastores at the top of Fargate. On leaving the bar, make your way to the top of Fargate and assemble right outside the main entrance of Virgin Megastore. Listen for the town hall clock.
- While the clock is chiming for 3pm, start clapping and cheering UNTIL the chiming finishes.
- Then form an orderly SINGLE QUEUE outside the main entrance of Virgin Megastores trailing back across Fargate.
For the next 5-6 minutes do any/all or none of the following: (1) If anyone asks why you are queuing, say Robbie Williams is coming to the shop. They should join the queue. (2) Ring a friend and say you are waiting for Robbie Williams. (3) Chat to people next to you in the queue. (4)Never mention the mob.
At around 3:07pm start clapping. You must walk away from the mob site, do not linger near the mob site. Go about your normal life.
---
Shortly before 3pm the top of Fargate seemed to be getting a little busier. Things looked as if they could go a little awry as a natural crowd had already formed to watch a troupe of young girls that a media promotions team had organised to prance about and hand out flyers.
However, as the chimes for 3 o'clock rang, 70 or possibly more random people started cheering and applauding for no apparent reason. Innocent shoppers and bystanders looked confused and wondered what was happening.
After the chimes finished, the mob duly followed instructions and formed an orderly queue outside Virgin and told anybody who asked that Robbie Williams was coming to the shop. The teenage dancing girls were _totally_ taken in by this and ran screaming into Virgin, unwittingly adding to the success of the flash mob.
More innocent members of the public became taken in by what was going on and the flash mob grew in size. Spontaneous chants of "Robbie, Robbie" (think "Jerry, Jerry") erupted as the mob got into character. A company of method actors trained by Stanislavski himself could not have put on a finer performance. One wag pleaded to the imaginary Robbie "We'll let you entertain us".
Some people weren't quite so easily taken in. A woman from the promotions team declared to the flash mob that she worked in TV and that "Robbie Williams would never come to a record shop in Sheffield". The mob retorted that she was just trying to push her way to the head of the queue.
At around five past three the flash mob burst into a final wave of spontaneous cheering and applause and left as quickly as it had arrived leaving bemused onlookers, some disappointed young girls and a certain amount of confusion in its wake.
It's a good thing that a few Sheffield folk have got off their backsides to participate in a spontaneous community event, no matter how trivial and short-lived, however I'm inclined to believe that trying to organise a demo to protest against a school closure or loss of another public amenity would, unfortunately, be less well-attended.
does this count as newz? wot if i got 50 random people and told them to go into a shop for no apparent reason and then told them to line up for no reason....or maybe the reason is fun?whatever... the other day i saw some people on devonshire green i think i might post that up on indymedia... news alert..someone saw some people doing stuff on devonshire green.
shall i list all the things i did 'for fun' ? or all the things i did for no real reason? this is a load of bs...if/when a good use is found for this type of thing then put it up...untill then proper newz only pleaze... i know anyone can post i dont have a problem with that but...there are guidelines come on people sort it out....are we going to get a post everytime one of these happens?
i know at the beggining of this project nobody was sure what type of thing to post and such like but we have a rythm now lets stick to it...
Flash mob is not a regular event. as it started in new york and takes on different forms in each city, i think tracing its journey is worthwhile. from an analytical point of view you could locate this phenomena within theatre or art discourse as well as just a form of entertainment.
Look, I know a thing or two about real news and these smug apolitical Interweb nob-ends with their pointless "situationism-Lite" happenings are not it.
The Interweb is a wonderful thing for organising (and globalising!) resistance, but 99 per cent of stuff on - or off - it is sheer dross and dreck.
Let us consign these "flash nobs" to the dusty bin of history.
"A MOB is an inexplicable gathering of a group of people in a place for a short period of time" How different is this from a radio station instructing their listeners to go to a specific location to get free stickers? you know what i did see was hallam fm give out stickers and stuff in town on saturday amazing!!! (is this worthy of the news wire) i admit that when this came about i agree it was ok to have an article on it but...as for culture pokemon was culture when i am going to see an article on that? it is self indulgent rubbish in the least and i am not sure if it fits with the indymedia ethic. I admit that they are 'popular' but wait untill some guy is selling mobile phone accesories out of the back of his car at ones of these 'flash mobs' now that would be real culture!!
I'd reckon that people having a bit of harmless fun is top notch news these days.
Notwithstanding...
Sheffield has a history of inclusive participation - flash mobbing extends the hand of friendship beyond those interwebbies and technigeekies - to real people - passers-by.
Can I please have my Robbie Williams CD back, you've had it for over 3 months now...
Comments
Hide the following 9 comments
!!! Sheffield Flash Mob #1 - A Storming Success !!!
30.08.2003 15:59
sheffield flash mob
----
Here are the instructions for Sheffield Mob #1
IMPORTANT:
A MOB is an inexplicable gathering of a group of people in a place for
a short period of time.
Be sure to forward this note as quick as possible to other people you know who might like to join in.
(1) At some point during the day on Saturday August 30th synchronise your watch by using the speaking clock or
the following website :-
(2) by 2:50pm based on your star sign you should have already located
yourselves in the following pubs.
Aries, Libra, Taurus, Scorpio.
The Old Monk, Norfolk St (Near Crucible)
Gemini, Sagittarius, Cancer, Capricorn.
Wetherspoons, Cambridge Street (Near City Hall)
Leo, Aquarius, Virgo, Pisces.
Fountain Bar (formerly TPWoods), Leopold Street (Opposite Virgin)
(3) At about this time a MOB rep wearing a hat/baseball cap will make themselves known, appear and pass out further instructions. Read the instructions carefully and then hide the piece of paper about your person so that it can not be seen.
(4) The instructions will provide the destination of the MOB site,
and you should arrive there no earlier than 2:59pm and no later than 2:59pm. If you are early, stall, if you are late hurry! although no one will
need to rush.
(5) The instructions will contain everything you need to know. Most
importantly the time to leave the MOB site by is 3:10pm. The
dispersal is just as important to the success of this MOB as is the arrival. Everyone should leave as quickly and orderly as they can and truly disperse.
(6) At all times remember that a MOB is just for fun....
---
At the pub at the appointed time was a chap wearing a tartan hat and handing out these instructions on slips of paper:
---
Instructions for Sheffield Mob #1
Make sure you are at the location by 2:58pm. When you have read and understood this information, hide it away somewhere.
Allow enough time to get to Virgin Megastores at the top of Fargate. On leaving the bar, make your way to the top of Fargate and assemble right outside the main entrance of Virgin Megastore. Listen for the town hall clock.
- While the clock is chiming for 3pm, start clapping and cheering UNTIL the chiming finishes.
- Then form an orderly SINGLE QUEUE outside the main entrance of Virgin Megastores trailing back across Fargate.
For the next 5-6 minutes do any/all or none of the following:
(1) If anyone asks why you are queuing, say Robbie Williams is coming to the shop. They should join the queue.
(2) Ring a friend and say you are waiting for Robbie Williams.
(3) Chat to people next to you in the queue.
(4)Never mention the mob.
At around 3:07pm start clapping. You must walk away from the mob site, do not linger near the mob site. Go about your normal life.
---
Shortly before 3pm the top of Fargate seemed to be getting a little busier. Things looked as if they could go a little awry as a natural crowd had already formed to watch a troupe of young girls that a media promotions team had organised to prance about and hand out flyers.
However, as the chimes for 3 o'clock rang, 70 or possibly more random people started cheering and applauding for no apparent reason. Innocent shoppers and bystanders looked confused and wondered what was happening.
After the chimes finished, the mob duly followed instructions and formed an orderly queue outside Virgin and told anybody who asked that Robbie Williams was coming to the shop. The teenage dancing girls were _totally_ taken in by this and ran screaming into Virgin, unwittingly adding to the success of the flash mob.
More innocent members of the public became taken in by what was going on and the flash mob grew in size. Spontaneous chants of "Robbie, Robbie" (think "Jerry, Jerry") erupted as the mob got into character. A company of method actors trained by Stanislavski himself could not have put on a finer performance. One wag pleaded to the imaginary Robbie "We'll let you entertain us".
Some people weren't quite so easily taken in. A woman from the promotions team declared to the flash mob that she worked in TV and that "Robbie Williams would never come to a record shop in Sheffield". The mob retorted that she was just trying to push her way to the head of the queue.
At around five past three the flash mob burst into a final wave of spontaneous cheering and applause and left as quickly as it had arrived leaving bemused onlookers, some disappointed young girls and a certain amount of confusion in its wake.
It's a good thing that a few Sheffield folk have got off their backsides to participate in a spontaneous community event, no matter how trivial and short-lived, however I'm inclined to believe that trying to organise a demo to protest against a school closure or loss of another public amenity would, unfortunately, be less well-attended.
Chip Scooter
Sheffmob # 1
31.08.2003 08:15
Spacehopper
does this count as newz?
31.08.2003 16:26
wot if i got 50 random people and told them to go into a shop for no apparent reason and then told them to line up for no reason....or maybe the reason is fun?whatever...
the other day i saw some people on devonshire green i think i might post that up on indymedia... news alert..someone saw some people doing stuff on devonshire green.
shall i list all the things i did 'for fun' ?
or all the things i did for no real reason?
this is a load of bs...if/when a good use is found for this type of thing then put it up...untill then proper newz only pleaze...
i know anyone can post i dont have a problem with that but...there are guidelines
come on people sort it out....are we going to get a post everytime one of these happens?
i know at the beggining of this project nobody was sure what type of thing to post and such like but we have a rythm now lets stick to it...
concerned person
flash mob analysis
31.08.2003 18:10
tinajones
I think this is news...
01.09.2003 14:15
It should be classified as culture so it shows up in that section:
Chris
No no not news
01.09.2003 16:27
The Interweb is a wonderful thing for organising (and globalising!) resistance, but 99 per cent of stuff on - or off - it is sheer dross and dreck.
Let us consign these "flash nobs" to the dusty bin of history.
Cheers
an actual news editor
i respect your opinion but...
01.09.2003 18:54
a short period of time"
How different is this from a radio station instructing their listeners to go to a specific location to get free stickers?
you know what i did see was hallam fm give out stickers and stuff in town on saturday amazing!!! (is this worthy of the news wire)
i admit that when this came about i agree it was ok to have an article on it but...as for culture pokemon was culture when i am going to see an article on that?
it is self indulgent rubbish in the least and i am not sure if it fits with the indymedia ethic. I admit that they are 'popular' but wait untill some guy is selling mobile phone accesories out of the back of his car at ones of these 'flash mobs' now that would be real culture!!
concerned person
This might sort them out
03.09.2003 10:40
sly
yes, yes - hot news
16.09.2003 14:50
In response to "an actual news editor"...
Dear An,
So, it's not news?
Why?
I'd reckon that people having a bit of harmless fun is top notch news these days.
Notwithstanding...
Sheffield has a history of inclusive participation - flash mobbing extends the hand of friendship beyond those interwebbies and technigeekies - to real people - passers-by.
Can I please have my Robbie Williams CD back, you've had it for over 3 months now...
DJ Dogbreath