NYC subway "performers" nowhere to be seen

A couple years ago when I was in NYC the subway was quite similar to the way it is now - dirty and busy, yet for the most part very safe, efficient, and easy(ish) to understand. Considering all the multitude of direction that the trains go, it is actually one of the most understandable mass transit systems in the world (just ask anyone who has been to London.) However, this article is not about that.

This, or something similar to it, used to be an incredibly common sight in the subway terminals, particularly the popular ones near the World Trade Center and Times Square. I have been here for several weeks now and I have not seen a single performance anywhere. To be fair, many of the "performances" were getting out of control as people began bringing amplifiers and full drum sets into the subway and it was extremely loud. The acoustics in that sort of environment are great for the musician but could be considered quite an assault on your ears.

Plus the fact that you had no choice but to listen to it because they were in the only path leading to your destination, may have lead to them getting shut down. Some of them were actually very very talented and on more than one occasion i encountered a singer or performer that was so amazing that it was hard for me to believe that they didn't have some sort of record contract.

That being said. Mostly their presence was pretty annoying.

These type of dance troupes were very common on the subway and while I definitely can admire the fact that these, mostly men, are extremely talented and athletic, having someone perform flips in front of you on a crowded train, is not only a bit scary, but is also annoying. They would travel from car to car and turn on a soundtrack and do their performance for 1 minute or so. Then they would ask for money.

As you can tell from the pictures, most of the people, presumably locals for the most part, completely ignore them. As a general rule i would wear my big earmuff headphones just to be left alone.

You know what your commute has been missing all of these years? A mariachi band that is so loud it is painful.

In a way I am a little bit sad to see that this tradition has ended because it was a fantastic way to see some extremely talented individuals but I think the fact that the people started to perform ON THE TRAINS is the reason why it was eventually shut down. The performances in the stations was fine, because you could quickly walk past them.

I honestly believe that if people hadn't gone so far over the top by bringing full drum kits and amplifiers and other such noise-pollution items that this would still be going on today. However, it ended up being one of those "give em an inch, and they will take a mile" type situations.

This video features Lucky Chops which is one of the best that I ever saw and although I didn't film this, I saw this exact performance years ago.

While extremely talented, performers like Lucky Chops are probably a big part of the reason why this has all been shut down. Unfortunately, they went too far and were too loud and even if you are good, if you are loud, you are going to get complaints and while I don't know how long it has been going on, this NYC tradition appears to have been completely shut down (at least for now.)