Concert Etiquette

[Siennaa]

I have spent years going to many concerts, and it's getting shitter and shitter with people killing the atmosphere who just want to film it on their phones. I went to see Pink last night, and I can't believe so many people just want to sit there quietly at this type of concert! Is this just life now? We just accept that atmospheres are being killed so people have Instagram worthy videos?

So in this situation, what do you do? Do you stay seated and quiet so you're respecting the people around you, do you stand anyway and dance and enjoy the show how you want to?

Wouldn't it be better if venues offered areas that you weren't allowed to stand in? So I know you get standing tickets but not everyone can get hold of them, does that mean they should either sit for the whole show, or follow what's happening around them?

I think there should be seated only areas.

Else anyone who isn't actually disbanded but can't stand for long can't see.

I am seeing a political show in October at Wembley. I assume people won't stand at that one!

We went to Taylor Swift on Saturday. I danced, my daughter sang all the way through, but also sat through some. But she's neuro diverse and was enjoying it in her own way.

A woman in front of us filmed the entire thing, didn't actually watch any of it. And was stood up throughout. On balance I think my daughter got more out of it than that woman.

I'm 5 foot tall. At the Foo Fighters on Saturday I fully accepted that I would only get to see Dave Grohl on screen. However, tall people who spot a gap immediately (a few inches) in front of me and then put their 10 year old on their shoulders (who shouldn't be standing anyway) annoy me because they think their enjoyment trumps mine.

If you want you stand in front of your seat, that's great, but please be considerate of those sitting immediately behind you who came to see the show, not your back.

We was at the same concert.

Sat behind someone who spent the whole time texting her partner.

I've also seen a video this morning on tiktok from last night where an entire area are all seated and 2 young girls are standing because they wanted to dance. People around them are shouting at them and the girls are shouting back. Neither are wrong for trying to get what they want to from the concert, but surely the venues could make this better by offering seated only areas where you are to stay in your seats.

I was going to say I went to see TS on Saturday too , I have severe difficulties due to my ASD and I sat majority of the time , stood occasionally but wasn’t dancing like 99.9% of the people there and I felt so self conscious about how different I must have appeared (and also a little sad as I wish I could enjoy things like everyone else seems to)

to add in almost scared that I’ll end up online somehow for looking miserable or ungrateful when so many wanted to go and couldn’t and I look like I didn’t enjoy it - I did but I felt ‘frozen’ as it was so loud and busy etc

It's not people seated that I think is an issue. As long as they are ok with people around them standing. It's the filming the entire concert and not enjoying the moment one bit, it's killing atmospheres at concerts.

I wonder sometimes is it because peoples lives are so busy now that they worry they’ll forget and don’t trust their memories to replay it so record these things for that reason , or I suppose to share with others ? I’m not really sure but I did notice that most of the people were filming nearly all of the time

The concept of sitting at a gig is just bizarre. As for phone users, just fk them, who cares if youre in their way!

I think it's taken me a while to understand that her not dancing (she used to be a performer so dances and sings well) is not a bad thing. She's taking it in and processing it. And the processing takes days! She struggled with all the screaming!

And you know, I think TS would want people to enjoy it in their own way so don't feel bad, if you don't fit into a certain mould. If people judge, they can feck right off.

I was at the Pink concert last night and there were a lot of people standing filming the whole thing. I did wonder why you would spend so much money for a ticket to watch through your phone rather than enjoying the moment. Surely that sort of concert is for enjoying the atmosphere and having a dance.

It’s not bizarre if you can’t stand for the entire gig. What a strange thing for you to say.

i was there too last night, wasnt it a fab concert? i ended up sitting, only a few around me stood up but i had a young kid behind me so wasnt sure if he would see if i did. i went last year to sunderland and no one stood yet at the liverpool one 5 years ago everyone was stood up ( nice to see "baby" dolly too )

concerts are crap now unless you go to small venues. I went to see the Pixies at the old town and country club and it was so oversold that we were crammed in like sardines with the added fun of being shoved out of the way by people wanting more booze/fags/toilet.

I went to see Depeche mode at the O2 which is an awful venue for live music. the person next to me sat eating cheesy nachos at one point.

It's just no fun,. though I expect I am also too old now.

I'm going to a gig this week & have seats. My back isn't great. I'll stand a bit and sit a bit. I think it's fine for people to stand in the seated area. I thought most people did!

nice for you that you don't need to be seated.

In Germany god help you if you are a lone stander in a seated area. When more than half jump up, fair enough, but if you obstruct someone's view (someone who has paid a lot of money, as you have) then you will be told to sit down or you will be ejected.

If you want to stand, book a standing ticket. If you can't get a standing ticket - tough.

You can film the concert and also dance and enjoy it. It really doesn’t take a lot of time or effort to point your phone camera in the right direction, and hit record, then go back to dancing. I know not everyone wants to record any/all of a concert, but for some people (including me) that’s part of enjoying it. I love watching back the clips I took at Eras and it didn’t detract from the experience for me.

They really need to ban mobile phones during performances, it really kills the atmosphere. And it seriously distracts people around them when they are trying to watch the stage when there is a bright camera in front of them.

As for sitting/standing… it’s difficult as sometimes the performer asks everyone to stand up… but the atmosphere is so much better if everyone does stand.

If you have seated tickets, you sit down. If you want to stand, you get standing tickets. Simple.

I'd like to see phones banned at gigs. I saw Stereophonics at Shepherds Bush Empire a year or so ago and all we could see in front of us was a sea of arms holding up phone screens filming the whole bloody concert. Just watch the band FFS.
My ideal is to have a seat, but not neccesarily to sit in it. All standing gigs can be hard work if you haven't got anything to lean on #oldperson.

You’re so right and absolutely it is processing it differently. Everyone around us seemed really nice (I took my dd) but at one point I just felt so sad that I wanted to enjoy it and I was but not how everyone else did and I worried about being judged but you’re right it shouldn’t matter of people experience and enjoy things differently.

It was so loud wasn’t it ! I only feel back to ‘normal’ today !

To be fair I do prefer to sit during concerts, a lot of these venues don't have much room for dancing if you have a seat anyway and if you're somewhere like the O2 I just worry about falling down as it's quite steep! 😂But I do go in appreciating others will feel differently so if I want to see I might have to stand.

Went to a concert a couple of months ago, I was really excited to see the support act only for a group of people to heckle them and talk really loudly about how they didn't like them for their last few songs 😥

It's the obnoxious screaming I hear in TikTok's that drives me mad and all the people saying 'well I've paid for the ticket, I'm gonna enjoy it' - okay but not if your enjoyment comes to the detriment of others? One girl before a concert warned me she was going to scream and I reassured her that was fine, when she got started I did think 'oh God' but to be fair to her she didn't do it the whole time and she was clearly just really excited.

It's not that simple though is it. What if you have a venue that seats 60,000, and only 10,000 are standing tickets. But 40,000 want to stand and dance? They can't dance? They just have to sit because they have a seat? If that became a rule then concerts would be half empty guaranteed.

Whilst not technically a 'live' concert the best concert I've experienced in the recent past was ABBA Voyage. Absolutely no phones allowed so everyone was fully engaged. There's the dance floor for those who want to stand and seating for everyone else. Lots of audience participation and everyone in the seated area stayed sitting until the final few songs such as Dancing Queen where everyone was dancing and no one complained!
I definitely think phones have been detrimental to the atmosphere at concerts.

No, people would learn to live with that rule. There's plenty of countries where this is considered normal. Or concert venues would adjust. Most have variable numbers of seats anyway. Why does your wish to dance override somebody else's wish to actually see the stage?