But what happens if the silence goes on ... and on ... and on? Like the song says, "Here, can you handle this?"
Blue Man Group wants to know.
On Saturday, the blue mimes bring their multimedia act to BankAtlantic Center in Sunrise, where they plan to investigate, among other things, the effect of a sonic vacuum on a rock-like concert spectacle. It's all part of the group's latest rock-like touring production, How to Be a Megastar 2.1, in which the audience joins the blue men in "learning," and sending up, the rituals of the big gig.
One piece of the tutorial, of course, is how not to be a megastar. "You'd never have a 45-second moment of silence that's so awkward people start to giggle," said Marc Roberts, one of the three blue men in Saturday's show. But an excruciating, mid-song pause is exactly what Blue Man Group unleashes as it stumbles through megastar basics.
"We like to live in this awkward silence, this totally uncomfortable state that would never happen at a rock concert," Roberts said.
How to be a Megastar 2.1 also features many things that would go down at a real show: a live band, songs that rock, jaw-dropping visual effects and the blue men themselves pounding out rhythms on a battery of strange contraptions. The tour is a sequel of sorts to The Complex Rock Tour, Blue Man Group's first satire -- part tribute, part takedown -- of arena-rock conventions.
In the original, Blue Man Group and the audience took an audio-visual class together covering topics such as "The Fake Ending" and "The One-Armed Fist Pump." The sequel adds new songs and new routines. "We definitely take the whole deconstruction ... of the rock concert quite a bit further," Roberts said.
New tropes include what might be the ultimate on-stage party accessory: the champagne snorkel -- "so you can drink champagne while you're doing your drum solo," Roberts said. At one point the mimes order a Megastar manual from a customer-service representative, played in a prerecorded segment by Saturday Night Live cast member Fred Armisen, who used to be a drummer in another Blue Man production.
For this tour, singer Adrian Hartley replaces Tracy Bonham, who sang and co-wrote material on The Complex album that Blue Man Group released in 2003. That album, which also featured guest turns by Dave Matthews and the band Venus Hum, is still the musical foundation for Megastar. But the producers have introduced new songs including "Rock" and "Go," which elaborate on "The Fake Ending," wherein a band says good night and then returns for encores.
The audience takes part in Megastar by cheering, applauding, singing along and fist-pumping on cue. The role is passive in that the crowd does as it's told, as it would for a real rock frontman. It's participatory, too, because the same crowd delivers lines and punch lines, acts out the script, and approves or vetoes certain choices the blue men are required to make as part of their schooling.
"There's almost a sense of [audience] authority, and we look to them for 'Is this right? Is This what we're supposed to do?'" Roberts said. "They want to be a part of it. They've kind of taken ownership of it every night, every show. So when it's done collectively, it's a collaboration."
Megastar has a script and a set list. But Roberts said the script leaves room for nightly, real-time alterations. The audience might steer a routine one way or another -- or an over excited concertgoer will rush the stage. Blue Man Group can also improvise within some set pieces -- sometimes they've had to. "We've had situations where our instruments just shut down on us," Roberts said. "Something that's inherent about the Blue Man is that there are successes and failures. It's how you deal with it."
Roberts is one of the many performers who went to Blue Man school -- the real one -- and were trained to play blue men in one of the company's many residencies and tours. His background is in theater, and he calls this production "one of the most organic ... I could hope to be in."