It’s happened to most people at least once: you’re at the barricade waiting for your favorite band, or maybe you’re sitting in the stands with artist merchandise in hand, anticipating the moment they’ll step on stage. The excitement builds in your chest, right up until a person about a foot taller than you nudges their way into your space. It might be the girl next to you, loudly complaining over your favorite song about how bad their vocals are in person. If you’re in the hardcore scene, it could be that one guy in the mosh pit targeting people half his size, or a girl throwing herself into the band’s drum kit when she gets a little too into the music.
We’ve all experienced the terrible etiquette of concertgoers in recent years. No doubt you’ve seen videos circulating all over the internet about the “crazy guy at last week’s show.” But when did this start? And why is it so common now?
Many people believe that it came from the post-COVID lack of social awareness. Because so many concerts were cancelled during this time, people started to lose their social skills and attach to their phones as a means of coping. This could have been the catalyst for some of the behavior seen at concerts from the past few years; the overabundance of phones in the crowd recording, no one in the audience singing along, throwing objects on stage to gain an artist’s attention. It’s possible these could all be due to the lack of socializing during quarantine.
Others shift the blame to age, saying Gen Z isn’t educated on these topics as much as older generations. However, I’ve found from my concert-going experiences that aggression can come from anyone of any age. The grandma behind you might seem sweet when she compliments your sweater at the beginning of the night, but may also be the one kicking your seat later because you chose to stand along with the rest of the crowd.
It could be attributed to the rise of social media, with people feeling the urge to push their way forward in a shoulder-to-shoulder crowd just to get the best spot to record from. This has, on multiple occasions, led to crowd crushing. The number of bodies in the room, filled with people who haven’t eaten in hours or hydrated properly, can lead to dangerous levels of heat that could be catastrophic.
People are always looking for someone to blame for these sometimes deadly incidents, but what this most often boils down to is how you yourself choose to act during a show. So next time you find yourself buying tickets for a concert you’re excited for, make sure to remind yourself to stay hydrated, keep yourself fed and keep your limbs to yourself so that everyone is able to have a good time.
