I stood at a concert

If you’d paid £200 per ticket, you’d just give it up to someone who says they need to sit down? You’d be sitting further away from the act you paid for.
You are a very nice person!

Obviously people are referring to stadium gigs because your average student union or small night club venue doesn't HAVE seated tickets therefore there's no argument!

Now you're being condescending towards "pop" concerts but I don't remember the 70,000ish audience in muse at Wembley or rammnstein in the principality all sitting down politely (or just "swaying a bit") either?

Come on give us example of all the gigs youve been to in venues large enough to have a majority of seated tickets where the audience just "swayed slightly" in their seats. Because they sound like great fun.

If your point made sense and there were only actually a small minority in every gig who wanted to stand and everyone else is standing resentfully as a consequence of being behind them then it's a bit of a coincidence that they all end up in the front rows of blocks of seating, isn't it? Otherwise they would just pop up individually and there would be multiple rows of people sitting before the first weirdo selfish stander???

You can't just move or go to an aisle. I swear 90% of the people posting on this thread don't even leave their house as they don't seem to know how it works!

It's a theater, not a stadium, but we have to manage this at work when we have concerts.

It's a fully seated venue. There's no "standing area" for people to book tickets in. We don't expect people to stay seated for the whole time during a concert style show when it's a pop/rock/lively type show.

We have to try and manage audience expectations from all sides. Which can mean, where we have space, moving audience members - either moving the one or two enthusiastic dancers to less obstructive seats or moving the one or two seated to less obstructed seats.

We have to discourage dancing in the aisles, especially on the stairs of circle levels.

A lot of the time though, the band on stage are encouraging the audience to get up and dance, to join in, to have fun.

Oh I can see how that would be nicely taken advantage of at something like a taylor swift concert. Mum "can't" stand so she and the 3 preteens she's with need to move to the front row. So mum can stay seated throughout and the teens can still stand and jump around enjoying themselves.

Well yes that would be a very kind thing to do.

I agree it's a read the room situation some of the time. If the entire place is sitting down then yes it's weird to be the only one standing up.
But it's not just a case of if the people behind you are sitting down. What if everyone else in your entire block including the 30 rows in front of you have stood up? Obviously you won't be able to get all of them to sit down, so your only choice is to suck it up or stand up.
If it's an arena or stadium gig for a major lively pop act that says on the tickets and website that people around you may stand, then regardless of what the people behind you are doing, if everyone else is standing, then you can stand.
(Also i don't think there's many gigs that allow you to wander about and stand in other places other than your allocated seat by the way. For example you can't just go and stand in the aisle or get onto the pitch/floor at the 02 or Wembley Stadium as obviously it's a safety issue)

As I've said before. Take that at the O2 in April was fully seated. Including the floor. Absolutely everyone on the floor was standing. I was probably about half way back. So maybe 30 rows in front of me. If the people behind me had told me to sit down that would have been ridiculous. The floor isn't sloped. Me sitting down would have done nothing for the people behind me if the other 30 rows in front were still standing. And take that are not a sit down and tap your foot type show. Plus if I'd have tried to stand anywhere other than by my allocated seat I'd have been told to go back to my seat or be removed by security.

However IF I had got to that show and absolutely everyone stayed sitting down I would also have stayed sitting down. I would have found it utterly bizarre though and would have likely asked security if there was a reason why! And then I probably wouldn't bother buying tickets for future tours if it looked like that was the way the shows were going to be in the future.

If you moved into the aisle so that the person behind could see (through all the other standing people) then you'd almost definitely get told off by the stewards

Perhaps the person in the front row of the section could give up their seat to the person who cannot stand so they’re not blocked by people in front of them?

I would be empathetic, of course, but what if I’d been sitting for so long and I needed to stand on and off? What if my timings didn’t work for you? I wouldn’t ever be rude especially not if someone asked nicely but I wouldn’t ask standing people to sit down while I am sitting. I just wouldn’t. It’s one of those things in life.

As someone who is disabled, life is very difficult but I don’t expect everyone around me to enjoy the concert differently because of my needs. It is what it is.

Concerts are a place where you need to look around and act accordingly. If its a seated concert and people behind you are seated, don't stand up - if you want to stand up move to somewhere you aren't blocking someones view. Imagine paying good money to go to a seated concert and the person in front of you stands for the while thing!

You see it all the time on trains. People watching Netflix or listening to music without headphones - and that inc parents handing their mobiles over to kids yo let the entire train listen to Peppa Pig.

I mean, I'm sure you would be ok if you had to listen to Peppa Pig.

I think this thread shows a lot of what is very much wrong with the world. Everything is about what is very much wrong with the world. Everything is about everyone’s individual rights rather than collective responsibility. Again and again it’s all about “I have a right to [enjoy myself] rather than I have responsibility to ensure my neighbour is ok.

You see it all the time on trains. People watching Netflix or listening to music without headphones - and that inc parents handing their mobiles over to kids yo let the entire train listen to Peppa Pig.

I had a seated concert with my mam for a present as she's disabled, someone stood in front of her the whole time and refused to sit down, some people are just rude as Hell and should book standing.

It's so selfish to expect others to curb their enjoyment for your benefit.

And this, my friends, is what is wrong with the world.

(As if you can't enjoy yourself and be unselfish and non-ableist at the same time.)

I would have hoped you might be a bit more aware of the issues though if someone asked you to sit. I am in the same position as you and I wouldn’t be rude enough to just ignore them but I would try and explain why I have to stand for a moment and then sit as soon as it was comfortable so we both get a chance to enjoy the concern.

Those of us with a disability should really be able to empathise better with those that have never experienced it surely? I mean, it’s totally clear that there are many here that really don’t get it or care.

YABVU OP.

But you're clearly one of those people, so I wouldn't expect anything else.

I can’t stand for periods of time due to disability. It’s why I don’t go to concerts because I know others would be standing even in seated areas and i wouldn’t be able to see. So I just don’t go. I wouldn’t go and expect others to sit.

I had this at a recent concert I went to with my sister. There was a couple behind us stood up for most of the concert but when they sat down they expected my sister to sit down also so kept complaining. Only trouble is, everyone else in front of us was standing so if she sat down, she couldn’t see. She even moved so they could see if she stood but they still complained. In the end she told the lady it was a concert, everybody else was standing up so she was staying up. They left not long after.

@Harry12345 I have no issue with everyone standing for the big numbers. But if you intend to stand the ENTIRE time, every single song even the slow ones, then you're not even using your seat at all. It's a waste of a seat. Like PP have said, it depends on what everyone else is doing. Stand for the big numbers, that's fine, just not the whole show.

I mean might as well just stay outside and dance away if you're not bothered about seeing the singer/band. It'd be cheaper! Or go see them at a stadium, plenty of standing tickets there. But some people would like to actually see the artist they've paid £££ for. It's worse when you're in a good seat, if someone stands in front of you diagonally they'll likely block the stage and screens and you've paid hundreds to guarantee a good view...

It’s hard to get standing tickets, I’m disabled and couldn’t stand for a full concert but get up and join in when I can. Most people want to dances and move during a pop concert, I’d love to know the percentage of people who can’t stand up at all. I’d hate to have everyone sitting in front of me just because I can’t stand due to my back. So basically the majority would f people should stay at home if they want to dance to allow a small minority to see the concert?

If you have such a preference to dance you really need to try and get standing tickets, that's what they're for.

Or maybe they should just open all the seats at the back of the stage that they usually don't sell for the people obsessed with dancing who don't think anyone needs to actually SEE an artist! Everybody wins.

Tickets definitely DO say "people around you may stand"
I've had this on Disney on Ice tickets, other than fidgeting little children who are barely taller than the seats, I would hardly expect people dancing there 🤣

And, all this "people only stand because others are" is largely not true. The first song starts, or the first lively song, and the audience almost as one will stand. Not a couple stand and then it's like a Mexican Wave as people stand behind them each row to compensate

Because I'm annoyed that people stand up and block my view when I've paid a lot of money? Seats are there for a reason.

I can't stand for long due to having 20 screws and 2 rods in my back.

So yes, standing in front of me does pee me off. Which I think in this instance is fair enough.