You’ve finally got your hands on your favorite artist’s concert tickets you’ve been wanting since the artist announced the tour. You wait months for the concert date to arrive, planning out your outfit and memorizing the lyrics to your favorite songs, only to be disturbed by the rudest, most insensitive people you think you’ve ever encountered.
This is what it is like to go to concerts now. Forget all the fun you thought you were going to have; instead, just be constantly annoyed by the loudmouths standing (or sitting) right behind you.
The feeling of seeing your favorite artist live is indescribable. In today’s concert culture people lack the proper etiquette and understanding on how to act at a concert. You shouldn’t be recording the whole concert or screaming at artists to get noticed, or just generally be so loud that it makes people turn their heads.
I attended my first ever concert back in November for Chase Atlantic. I was so excited to see my favorite band since I was young and I waited months for the date to arrive.
The concert was amazing; the visuals and the live instruments all made me truly enjoy the moment. I was lucky not to be in the pit, considering I’m 5’1 and would probably get trampled, but I would look out into the crowd and see a flood of phones. People were completely out of the moment, just glued to their phones recording.
I was also frequently interrupted by the people screaming at the lead singer to take his shirt off, and people constantly screaming at the wrong time. I also was blessed with the smell of cherry grapefruit funfetti vape smoke blowing right in front of my face. Bringing in your vapes or alcohol to concerts is against most concert venues’ rules, and half the time if you go intoxicated, your behavior will become more insensitive.
The trend of yelling inappropriate comments at artists while they’re performing some of their most emotional and impactful songs is so incredibly rude. It’s not normal to yell at performers, they are people as well and deserve to be treated with respect, you don’t know these artists! You’re there to have fun and support the artist, not believe that you know the performer personally and scream at them in order to get noticed.
Take Mitski: her music is extremely emotional and focuses more on calm and quiet music that people can personally connect to. So why do I see videos of people screaming at her, calling her “mother” and screaming “please let me have your babies” during the most gut wrenching quiet moments during her show? It’s plain disrespectful, and these comments have even stopped her from touring.
Indie artists seem to be the main target of this phenomenon of odd behavior, compared to pop or rock and metal that have more older people attending who actually know how to act. Beabadoobee has spoken up about the extreme phone usage along with Billie Ellish . Steve Lacy has told a fan to “be quiet” after a fan asked if he could say hi to her mom, and most recently, Chappell Roan called out the VIP section for not dancing with everyone else.
If an artist wants you to dance or sing your heart out you should. Don’t be the one nonchalant person who thinks you’re too cool to have fun at a concert you paid for. The more fun you have at concerts the more memories you’ll make, and why wouldn’t you like that!
Don’t judge someone else for having fun and singing especially. If someone next to you knows all the words and absolutely adores the artist, don’t make them feel insecure and give them side eyes. Treat the artist with respect, but also the people attending.
The importance of knowing proper concert etiquette can change the whole vibe of the show. Have some common sense when going to concerts and don’t try to ruin someone’s experience. Don’t scream at artists during their most emotional songs. Don’t be on your phone recording the whole entire show. Don’t come intoxicated. Don’t throw things on stage. But, do be in the moment and dress up, and sing your heart out.
