When attending concerts, there is always a fine line between having a great time and bothering other people around you. Should anyone be moving and dancing without worrying about the surrounding? When does the dancing become a problem for people around you?
A drunk guy annoyed me the whole time during Raphael Saadiq’s concert last Saturday, he definitively spoiled my experience, banging his head like a sick man (and he had long hair), hitting with his head everyone who wouldn’t participate into his moshing-jumping dance, and hitting me in the face or in the elbow each time I wanted to take a picture, and it was intentional. I wanted to punch him in the face, and I am not a violent person. I could have moved but it was packed, and I couldn’t find another good spot, plus there was no reason to back up when I had been waiting for hours to save this perfect location! May be he was having the time of his life but he was bothering everybody around him, and when I told him he was fucking annoying, he screamed at him some obscenities with bitch-fuck-ass in the subtitles,… At the top of this he was shouting at the stage the n-word every five seconds, and since he wasn’t black,… anyway, you get the picture!
It wasn’t a punk show, and if people were dancing over Saadiq’s soul/R&B music, none of this crazy drunken agitation was justified. So I thought afterwards, what is exactly tolerable at a concert, when does our behavior starts being a problem for the rest of the people?
It really depends on concert, this same guy at a punk show would have been tolerable, moshing, stage diving and jumping is accepted at a punk/hardcore concert and nobody would have complained or even would have had the idea to complain, at another concert, it is another story… the rules vary from one genre to another, and the fucked-up obnoxious guy had no place at a Saadiq concert but could have been right at home at a Trash Talk/Fucked Up one… and in this case I would have had one hundred of that same guy around me.
So this got me thinking, why do I tolerate the moshing at a punk show and didn’t at another one? What are the rules? Are the rules different at different concerts? I guess. Although I hate rules in general, but based on my old and recent experiences, here are a few things, that people with some good sense should avoid to do:
– You can only mosh, surf the crowd or even risk yourself at stage diving if the music is punk or hardcore.
– There is no singing-along! Especially during a Fiona Apple show.
– You can’t shout obscenities to the band at the stage: I don’t see a case for it, never!
– There shouldn’t be any dancing allowed with a full-to-the-top glass of beer in one hand.
– The dancing should be limited: we are all here to see the performer(s), not your bad dancing ability, and the spectacle should first be on stage.
– There is no such thing as a dancing space, we are all here to have a good spot, and you can’t save the space around you to dance when it can be occupied by three other people!
– It is not because you have been sitting there for hours that you have saved the spot for 10 other people, who are supposedly with you, and show up a few minutes before the show starts.
– You have found a spot front row, you are very lucky and you enjoy the band don’t you? So why are you talking very loud during the whole time?
– It is not because the venue is crowded, that you should take advantage of the situation, most girls don’t appreciate to be pawed on the ass.
– Yes I am taking pictures, and yes I am taking notes, and yes I am able to enjoy the show nevertheless, mind your own business and stop worrying about my own concert experience.
I can only dream, going to a concert is accepting to be annoyed by other people, but lots of people should be more reasonable.