I’m a 17 year old high school senior, so that means I’m on TikTok a lot. There’s a variety of stuff I see, but every now and then I come across someone talking about recent poor concert etiquette. If you’re not sure what that is, it’s simple: respect and take care of each other. This mostly applies to people in general admission who are standing packed together like sardines, and it’s necessary to keep everyone feeling okay and safe. Over the decades it’s been very prevalent in that type of culture, although there have always been a few exceptions. In these cases, people ostracize the person bringing harm and get them out. This created safe and healthy environments for concert goers.
Because of COVID, lots of concerts had to be canceled and rescheduled. With the blooming of new concerts and festivals, more people have been attending and less people care about concert etiquette. The biggest example of this was Astroworld, in which a crowd crush killed 8 people and caused 2 more to die later in a hospital that night. In total, 25 were hospitalized and over 300 people were treated for injuries at the festival. Obviously, this is due to a lot more than just poor concert etiquette, but it was definitely a huge factor.
I didn’t think much of it, I only heard stories, but over Thanksgiving I experienced it first hand. It wasn’t nearly as bad as Astroworld, but it still spoiled what was supposed to be a good time. I went to the Baby Gravy concert (Yung Gravy and bbno$) with my friend and my boyfriend, and I was beyond excited as I got tickets way back in the beginning of summer. When we got into the crowd, things were pretty ok for a while, until the openers started. People were pushing their way to the front of the crowd (which you’re not supposed to do; whoever gets there first gets to be first) and a girl rammed into my friend on purpose and acted as if nothing had happened. The people in front of us kept backing up into me and wouldn’t stop even after I elbowed them.
The first concert I ever attended was All Time Low at The Fillmore in Minneapolis in which I was standing, which was general admission. My experience was so much better because the people attending were actually respectful. The crowd wasn’t crushing, pushing, or pulling, and people didn’t push to the front unless they had a friend holding their spot. It was easy to get out of the crowd; people made room to let us out. This is what a concert is supposed to be like.
Although people weren’t as nice as they should have been, Yung Gravy and bbno$ handled things really well. They stopped the concert when they noticed people fainted or threw up, and made sure to pass out water intermittently throughout the concert. We did end up leaving early because I felt like passing out (and it was a nightmare trying to get through the crowd) but it could definitely have been better if people had proper concert etiquette.
With more and more people attending concerts and more and more people allowed to be packed together, I hope they start to realize the harm they could possibly bring to the people around them. In big events like this, it’s a given to try to at least be aware of your surroundings and make sure you’re not hurting anyone. If you’re planning on attending a concert in the coming months, please make sure you’re treating the people around you with respect.