I stood at a concert

[MangosteenSoda]

Went to a concert and had a seat to the side of the stage. In my experience, everyone stands when the act comes on. This didn’t happen universally, but probably around a quarter of the crowd started by standing. I was a little in front of most of the other ‘standers’ and sort of leaned on my seat a bit to minimise myself I suppose, but wanted to enjoy the songs and not sit.

A few songs in, a lady behind me tapped my arm and asked me to sit because her boyfriend/husband (sitting next to her) couldn’t see. I just said, ‘I’m sorry, but this is a concert’ and carried on standing. I’m pretty small and there were massive screens and a stage. I don’t think I blocked it all out.

A few songs later, the ‘very popular and famous’ song was performed and everyone stood up including the woman and her boyfriend. After that, most of the crowd continued standing and a bunch of people were dancing like windmills and nobody bothered them. The angry man and his girlfriend stormed out at this point.

I don’t have a particular aibu, but I felt that I was only asked to sit because I looked like an easy target to ask. It annoyed me that the woman had to ask for the guy and that it was put to me that I should sit because this guy’s preference was all important. I also felt sad for the woman because she was wearing the band T Shirt (so I assumed she was the fan) and this guy seemed to ruin her night with his moans and complaints while she just seemed to want to dance and enjoy the concert like everyone else.

So, should there be areas at concerts where everyone has to stay seated? I don’t think all the seating areas should be this way because they outnumber the floor and it would make for pretty sedentary concerts but maybe a compromise somewhere?

So those who said YABU but will stand for the big songs .... how come you get to choose to stand up then? What if the people behind you don't want to stand?

I don't stand for them

Equally what's the obsession about standing up (and annoying other people) makes you a better person / better connoisseur of music than some one who doesn't?

That’s what I mean though about being guided by the majority and respecting people around you.

I imagine in the scenario you describe no one would actually be sitting?!

I don’t think there are hard and fast rules either way but people just need to think about others - and that applies to both sides. If you’re in seated, you need to accept that it’s a concert and that sometimes people might still stand. If you’re in seated and you like to stand, you need to accept that sometimes you might need to sit if no one else is standing.

It doesn't and I never said it does but several people on this thread have commented that they find it quite sad that people can't enjoy music without remaining seated.

They probably also remain seated at parties because there's no need to dance

I think if you’re in seated you’re guided by people around you. If there are lots of others standing then I don’t think it’s unreasonable to stand.

Not sure- it is just the big rousing end numbers right at the end that everyone just collectively gets up and starts dancing and honestly I think if you have seen a band before you sort of learn the way it works I guess. But it’s a bit like who starts a chant at a football match - how does everyone suddenly join in? I think it is difficult to complain about 20 mins for the last song rather than 2 hours of standing

Of course I don't disagree with anything you've said.

I disagree with everyone on here who says you have to remain seating regardless because they don't want to stand.

YANBU.
Saying buy a standing ticket is like saying if you want to sit down without anyone else ever getting up to dance buy a front row seat. In fact, if you don’t want anyone standing in front of you, buy a front row seat.
Standing tickets are limited and sell out quickly.
I suppose venues could specify some areas are sit down only and dancing is forbidden but I guess the reason that they don’t is because on the whole people want to get up and dance so these wouldn’t be popular.

Do you expect the arena to rip out the seats because it is something like King of Leon where the majority wish to dance? Maybe they can pop them back in in time for a classical evening. Or should they just not bother selling tickets for the fixed seating at their venue?

The Usher Hall removes all the ground floor seats for rock concerts. I saw Jack White, The War on Drugs and Christine and the Queens on the upper seated levels- no dancing. The ground floor was standing only.

The first time I saw Foo Fighters was at the (fully sold out) SECC at Glasgow. The floor of the arena was heaving with standing audience. The seated area was seated.

It was the same recently for The War on Drugs at Glasgow. Howver as you point out things seem to have changed. I will simply avoid these venues where standing is allowed in the seated area.

I don’t think MN is very representative here. At least not representative of the 23k mostly standing people I was surrounded by for the majority of last night.

As it stands (no apologies for the pun), buying a seat at a concert venue gives you the option of sitting or standing. I’m not sure why we can’t all agree that some blocks should be reserved for mandatory sitting down then everyone can be happy. The balance of standing space to seats is massively unbalanced and many more people who actually attend concerts appear to want to stand.

I bought seat tickets because the person I attended with likes to sit sometimes and stand sometimes so she had the option to get up and down. I’m 5’1 and nearly every adult is taller than me and don’t resent anyone in front of me standing at what is usually an event where people stand. This is also true for many sporting events.

I'm glad you posted this. I've been to 100s of non classical concerts over the years, always seated where that's an option but loads where it was standing only.

I've tailed off going to non classical concerts and what is being described on here as "universal" wasn't my experience. However things seem to have changed and I probably will avoid concerts where seated means damn all.

It very much depends on the venue and the artist - a musical at a theatre, a classical concert, or a small venue without a dance floor then it is not the custom/etiquette to stand.
But an arena or stadium rock or pop concert then it is absolutely the norm to stand with a 'seated' ticket, to join in with the experience and atmosphere.
It seems a bit disingenuous to suggest otherwise for those types of concert - a basic youtube search will show you that for some venues/artists the majority of the crowd stand.

It doesn’t make anyone better, but a desire to move to music is a fairly universal human trait. Standing up facilitates that better for me than sitting and tapping my toes if I’m really into a song.

I think you just have to be mindful of others around you. If everyone stands up then fine but if the people directly behind you are sitting, I think it's rude and selfish to block their view. I'm going to a concert later in the year but at the moment, I have trouble with my knee, foot and leg and can't stand for too long at a time. I will have spent a considerable amount of money on the tickets, transport and accommodation, so I'd feel pretty pissed off if I had to sit and look at someone's arse!

But if the person behind cannot stand and asks you nicely to sit down then you should oblige. Or if there were small kids behind you then surely you have to have a bit of cop on. To think you are entitled to stand at or worse again on your seat for the duration of a gig is pure ignorance. Standing tickets are what you want to be buying even if they are more expensive. You can dance, jump, mosh and sway to your hearts content.

Exactly. It’s all about common sense.

Seated means you have access to a seat. It doesn’t mean mandatory seating in most cases, as another poster has pointed out by sharing several venues’ seating policies. It means that (unlike standing) you can take rest breaks between sets/during songs if you want to, visit the loos and stretch your legs and be easily able to resume your place in the venue and it gives you somewhere to put bags/coats/merch down if you have them. Buying access to your seat doesn’t influence how other people around you will behave if they are keeping with the venue’s rules. I don’t think dancing during concerts is a really new thing. I remember standing and dancing to Steps as a child in the 90s.

As I said I don't recall this phenonom at the various concerts I attended for the rock concerts in the 90s and 00s.

Considering pretty much everyone was standing by part way through it's evidently normal to stand

Thats why the OP is asking if there are or should be seats specifically for seated ONLY

And what if (as was the case when I saw Taylor Swift this year) literally everyone is standing in front of me? If I sit I won’t be able to see, and the person behind will still probably have a restricted view as well. It would need everyone in the block to sit to accommodate that, which would take stewards to intervene to enforce that - which they won’t because it’s not the venue’s policy that being seated is mandatory. So in that case I probably would have declined. I saw plenty of kids dancing happily behind adults dancing in front of them. Standing on seats is unacceptable (and prohibited for safety reasons) but standing and dancing by your seat is fairly normal for some concerts.

You haven't been on MN long have you

Yes I do think it's absolutely po faced to sit rigidly, glaring and huffing at people daring to enjoy themselves at a heaving, loud, fun concert with thousands of attendees. We are living that snippet of time alongside a band, probably one of our favourites bands, who also feed on the energy of the venue to improve their performance. Venues where nine times out of ten "tHe RuLeS" actually say explicitly that people are allowed to dance and stand, and will do so, even in the (gasp!) seated area. Heaven forfend.

We live very strapped-in, genteel and curtailed lives as a whole. Imagine back to being in any tribe, maybe being Aboriginal, Native American, or Vikings. Or being just anyone in a group in a forest somewhere. Remember back to being any part of prehistoric humanity. Drumbeats, darkness, singing, dancing. Fire and movement. It's a primal urge to want to dance in a group of excited humans surrounded by celebration and loud music.

It's already hemmed in enough, with the tiny seats and £35 pints and ticket scalpers. I'm fucked if I'm also being told to sit on my bottom and behave. Obviously, at a classical concert or standing actually ON the seats, windmilling and touching other people etc is unacceptable. There's limits. That's why the stewards exist.

It's not your fucking toddler group where we sit still on the mat and listen 😅 (I'm not trying to be edgy, I have every little outlet for such behaviour, in fact I had to learn to feel free enough to publicly enjoy myself ie dancing etc, and it really is the best way).

Considering people standing up started at about a quarter of the crowd and professed to almost everyone then it is reasonable to accept that this is the normal protocol.

Like suggested they should have a 'seated only' area

If you look at the vast press and Social Media coverage of concerts last night which paused for or celebrated the football (eg The Killers at the 02, Kings of Leon in Manchester) you will see 'standing' in the 'seated' areas - this really is the norm at this type of concert.

Some older venues may for safety reasons require you to remain seated eg on balcony levels but this is usually stated on the ticket.

And perhaps all other venues where standing (singing and dancing) in the seated areas is the norm should have on the seated tickets 'be aware other people may stand' (as people have said already appears on some tickets). Perhaps because the stewards need something to refer to when someone complains about people standing around them, other than saying 'it's a rock concert what did you expect', which wouldn't work as apparently many on this thread do expect people to sit.

This having been said given the amount of responses on here perhaps there should be allocated seated areas where it is forbidden to stand to accommodate fans who would prefer that experience.

I am short and have ongoing health conditions which mean I cannot always stand throughout a concert but knowing that is the norm for people to want to join in as much as possible, I would not expect others to sit around me. This is also quite impractical in a large venue when even if those around you can be requested to sit, those in the areas further away from you will still be obscuring your view.

I've found this thread quite challenging as up-to-now I had not realised that this was such a contentious issue.