A few weeks ago, I went to the beabadoobee concert in Boston. My friends and I were in the standing room only section of TD Garden, and we ended up behind a mom, her daughter and her daughter’s friend. When beabadoobee came out on stage, everyone stood up. For the first few songs, the mom did too. When she eventually sat down, she was visibly aggravated at the people in front of her who inevitably blocked her view. I heard her telling her daughter that she was tired after a day of work and didn’t see why everyone needed to stand for every song. At first, I wrote her off as a parent who was peeved that they had to go through the hassle of a concert just to listen to an artist that they didn’t even like. But as I thought about it, I realized that maybe the mom had a point. Maybe it is a bit ridiculous to stand throughout a roughly two hour show, especially when the setlist is not consistently high-energy.
With these last few years being a time of iconic concerts — think Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour and Beyonce’s Renaissance World Tour — it seems concert etiquette has become more of a hot topic. Viral TikToks have shown people complaining about how their fellow concert-goers are behaving — from harassing others to screaming every lyric to shaming someone for not knowing songs or participating in fan rituals. This worsening lack of consideration isn't just frustrating, but also dangerous. More fans, often girls aged 11 to 17, are passing out at concerts. Artists themselves are getting injured because members of the audience are throwing objects at them. Harry Styles has been hit multiple times in the eye by projectiles while on his Love on Tour. P!nk was recently handed a bag of someone’s ashes while performing at Hyde Park. And everyone remembers the infamous Astroworld performance in Houston, where a crowd surge and stampede caused multiple deaths.
Many speculate that concert etiquette going down the drain can be traced back to the 2020 COVID-19 quarantine. Some argue that not socializing for the better part of a year has caused many of us to lose basic social awareness and disregard common sense in public spaces. Others suggest that this generation of parents feels comfortable allowing their children to attend concerts alone due to tracking technology, and thus we are left with young people attending some of the biggest tours of all time without any metric for behaving respectfully.
Regardless of the impetus, a major reason concert etiquette isn’t improving is that many people don’t think it should. Personally, I can’t remember the last time I stayed seated when the main act of a concert was performing — except when I went to a symphony concert dedicated to John Williams. This weekend, I’ll be attending the Sweat Tour with Charli XCX and Troye Sivan, and I sure won’t be sitting then either. But I do believe that a lot of concert etiquette is determined by subtle factors: the performer, the venue and the personal connection one might feel to the artist or tour itself. For instance, at a Laufey concert, you wouldn’t see people screaming and starting mosh pits because her appeal lies in her beautiful voice, lyrics and classical influences — none of which can be appreciated when the sole focus is on treating the concert like a party. At the Sweat Tour, however, I expect that the audience will be on their feet and a part of the performance itself, as Charli and Troye are known for making club music with a strong emphasis on dance and performance.
About a year ago, Adele made headlines for defending a fan who stood throughout her concert, despite being told multiple times to sit by security. While Adele may disagree, someone standing and singing along could easily detract from the concert experience for others — especially at a show people paid a lot of money to attend and where the focus is on her powerful live voice, not the audience. With concert ticket prices being more expensive than ever, it only seems fair that enjoying the concert should be a top priority.
Regardless of the tour or artist, certain things should not become the norm. Signs that are large enough to block people’s view, screaming through an entire concert and pushing to get closer to the stage are all behaviors that universally take away from the experience for other people. Trying to make an artist notice you is not more important than your fellow concert goers having a good time. And if you, like my little sister at the Eras Tour, think that screaming at the top of your lungs is more important than other people hearing the artist they paid to see, you might want to consider just staying home and shuffling your Spotify playlist instead.
Mary O’Riordan ’27 can be reached at mary_oriordan@brown.edu. Please send responses to this opinion to letters@browndailyherald.com and other op-eds to opinions@browndailyherald.com.
