Was I wrong at this gig?

[NotabigdealbutWWYD]

Not the hugest deal in the world, I think I was right, dp thinks I was wrong, and friends are about 50/50 so just curious as to what others think.

I was recently at a standing gig. Queued for a couple of hours to get in and get a good spot.

I'm not exactly tall myself (5ft 5") and managed to get very near the front.

About half way through this woman basically shoves me, I turn around and she pointed to go in front of me.

There was about 2 inches of space between me and the person in front, so I said "sorry there's no space", she pointed at the 2 inches of space and suggested I move back. I, politely at this point, refused, and she started shouting "but I'm small, it's not fair, you could see over me" etc. She was only about an inch shorter than me. It went back and forth like this for a minute.

I was pissed off by this point so I said it wasn't my problem and off she went after shoving me again and calling me a cunt.

I felt justified in the end because she was horrible, but dp thinks I should have just let her go in front, as do a few other people.

Should I have just let a smaller person go in front of me or was I right?

YABU - I should have let her go

YANBU - I was right not to move.

(I was with my DIL who is my height, but if I'm with my son who's 6ft 4" we do stand off to the side so I like to think I'm not an inconsiderate arsehole at gigs)

There’s etiquette! No way would you push in front of me after I’d queued for hours. You’d be getting pushed straight back!

Yes, in my more agile, feistier youth I had no hesitation in sharpening my elbows and shoving them as hard as I could into the face/neck/chest etc. of a cheeky fucker chancer who tried shoving their way onto the front at the last minute (usually having torn themselves away from the bar just as the main act came on stage). Pure ruthless in my teens, I was.

I have noticed the prolonged stare is quite popular at the moment. I just stare back -my stare game is quite good!

@NotabigdealbutWWYD YANBU she was though. What’s her height got to do with you?! You weren’t much taller than her anyway. You reacted in the day way l would have done

If she'd started out by shoving me then I'd have doubled down even if I could have moved that's really rude. I don't think you were unreasonable at all

I'm a shortie and appreciate taller people letting me in front, I don't demand it though. She was definitely BU and the shoving you is assault. What an unpleasant woman!

She wasn't just touching her though, she was shoving. I'm more than used to being squashed against people and jolted around in a mosh pit and that is part of the experience but if someone is purposely shoving me to move me out of my space because they felt entitled to it I'd tell them to keep their hands off me. That's not prissy behaviour at all.

You were right! It’s first come first serve. Otherwise where do you draw the line? Does everyone have to arrange themselves by height order when they get in there? 😂

Standing room is a free for all. I’m short but wouldn’t expect anyone to let me go in front. If I was behind a v tall person I might try and wiggle in front if there’s room or to the side. Otherwise Id just try to see around people and through little gaps to catch a quick glimpse of the band.

Yes, I want the stalls separated into sections with varying (short arses, middling, and get to the back you lanky gits) height barriers at the entrances. 🙂

I'm getting the rage just reading this, and I don't have a whisper of a gig on the horizon. If one comes along, I will probably book seats. But I've done my time queuing for a barrier spot, only to be overtaken by some 6'5'' chancer and his giant pals, who arrived in the queue well after me, in the literal race to the front. And as we all know, the barrier spot is sacrosanct, once it's been 'earned'. Anyone who tries muscling in after that is getting very short shrift indeed.

On one occasion I was standing at full 5'1" height to the side, and some bloke squeezed past and blocked my view of the headliners altogether. He told me very patronisingly to chill out, it was no big deal. Cool, then. I stuck my elbows out and crammed myself right back in front of him. He fucked off to annoy someone else.

Like they have at theme parks?!: ‘you need to be this tall to ride’ 😂

My eldest has a theory that if you go see bands with a middle aged fan base (Paul Heaton,Killers, Charlatans, that sort of thing), you basically get ushered through if you’re polite enough.
We saw a kid getting overwhelmed seeing at their favourite song live for what was obviously the first time, and some older folk insisting they get closer. Sweet.

Conversely, my friends kid went to a show where the overnight campers had taken it upon themselves to number the queue thus securing their own prime spots. Except security weren’t having that and marched them in in single file till they got to the pit where it was a a scrum to get to the barrier.

You were absolutely right. I might have felt a little bit bad about it but once she called you a cunt i wouldn’t have lost any sleep I’ve over it.

Oh I went to a gig once and people had been sleeping outside for the prime standing spot for 2 days apparently.

They had been sleeping at the doors to the seated section, so they were kicked to the back of the queue of the standing which was pretty bloody long by then. I really felt for them. I showed up 2 hours early and got right up to the barrier as well. I did spot one of them afterwards and gave them something the band had passed out to some people though, meant more to her than it did to me.

I do love a gig, but not enough to be sleeping outside for 2 days, it takes me 3-5 working days to get my body functioning again after a standing gig and that's without sleeping on concrete 🤣

I am on your side OP , but I find people are very quick to get nasty at gigs these days. I recently had to go to the loo so I was wanting to go across to the side , not in front of people, and got a fair bit of abuse for my troubles

My middle aged, three kids later, post menopausal bladder is why I don't eat anything past 4 p.m. before a gig, and only sip tap water after that. Once I've secured my place at the front, I'll leave my coat slung over the barrier while I use the loo one last time just before the support act comes on. Then that's it until after the gig finishes.

YANBU

I'm only 5ft on a good day, I would never assume that I should get in front because of it, nor would I ask. And given how rude she was, you were just right

Ay, see how well that goes 😂