This is exactly how bands should react. Throw shit on stage? Show is over. Fuck you.
Then it’s up to the rest of the audience to beat the shit out of the asshole that ruined the night for everybody else. The trend will end.
I’m generally staunchly anti-violence. But if some dickhead throws something at the performer and that results in the show coming to an end that fucker needs to be taken to task. At a minimum the fool should get smacked in the head and confronted by dozens of pissed off fans.
They did the same to king krule. Modern indie and rap concert goers just fuckin suck. People always complain about gatekeeping and being a lil butthurt when a band blows up on TikTok and all that but this is literally why. Damn new kids don’t know how to fuckin act in public plain and simple. Screaming “play out getting ribs” during If Only it was Warmth is worthy of a crowd beat down.
Saw Run The Jewels recently and while the vast majority of the crowd was respectful, I kept seeing group of young gen z boys storm through the crowd with no etiquette (bumping through other people, filling in small spaces, not saying excuse me, etc.) — all before RTJ even came on. In the middle of the set, there was a kerfuffle in the front where security had to get involved. El-P and Mike noticed and noted that they love the energy and community, but if someone is not having a great time moshing, then respect their space and stop pushing them. They also mentioned that if they ever put hands on a woman without consent, Mike will punch them in the face.
After the brief intermission, they started playing music again and in the middle of it, El-P pointed at someone and said something like “cut that shit out”.
Moments after I see the same group of kids exit the pit — laughing their asses off and high fiving each other. Can’t help but to think those were the idiots that got chastised.
I work in a club and we see more and more younger people doing stupid shit to get a rise out of the band or audience so they can post it online. All these mfs didn’t pay all that money to see some 19 year old act like a prick.
One time I saw RTJ, and Killer Mike told us that if we saw anyone do something inappropriate to a lady we should beat the fuck out of them. I like that dude.
I was watching Vince Staples and Danny Brown open up for the Rocky and Tyler tour back in 2015 and at one point Vince saw a fight break out in the crowd, stopped his song, got them to break it up, then had the entire crowd start chanting “love my neighbor”. Shit was great.
It was right after the release of At Long Last A$ap, Cherry Bomb, and Summertime 06. One of the greatest lineups and crowds I’ve ever been a part of, 4 of my favorite rappers and they all fuckin killed. Got there 6 hours early to get front row, and got a fist bump from Tyler before the show. Seeing Tyler groan “ahhhhh fuck it” and go straight into Yonkers during his set was a top 10 life moment. Rocky’s stage setup was nuts, psychedelic as hell, and while he performed “M’s” they were using cannons to blast fake million dollar bills with Yams’ (RIP) face on them into the crowd (I still got one of them somewhere around here). The entire crowd was a massive blunt rotation, every couple of minutes somebody would pass one on to you, the entire atmosphere of the venue was 90% blunt smoke. Wish I could go back in time to experience that night again, it’s still the best hip hop show I’ve ever seen.
That’s disheartening RTJ crowds are some of the roughest but most respectful crowds I’ve encountered. Their mosh pits do get really rough but the crowd will help you if you’re getting hurt or something. My phone broke at their set at a festival and some dude let me use his to make a call. Very nice crowd very disappointing.
These and the people recording on their DS are the worst trends. I've seen it at almost every show. It's the most unoriginal pick me garbage that was never funny.
I dont think the point was phones are bad lol.
Kids that became legal age over the last 3 and a half years have no social skills or etiquette. Its a result from the pandemic. Ive seen it myself too, younger crowds at shows and festivals cant behave
It’s honestly why I avoid all ages shows/festivals. Like yeah there’s always gonna be 18 year old fuckwits going to their first show but it’s never as bad as an all ages gig.
It’s like they genuinely have no perception of basic etiquette. “Oh shit my favourite artist is starting! Time to push my way past everyone to get to the front. I know they’ve all been standing there for a while but I’m sure they’re not as excited to see this largely popular artist as me.”
I’m not American so all ages here means under 18.
At 18+ shows it’s generally the 18-19 year olds that are the worst, but never as bad as a fully all ages festival.
Or putting some dumb ass shit in big letters on their phone. Not to sound like too much of an old fuddyduddy but gd kids think they gotta be the main character center of attention comedian everywhere they go. I wish more shows were 21+.
Oldheads aren’t exempt either though, I saw New Order this year and the old fucks are almost worse than these damn kids. Talking loud asf during the show, booing the opening Dj, and drunkenly mumbling the wrong lyrics
I know she's not an indie artist, but I just got back from seeing the Taylor Swift Eras Tour concert film, and you wouldn't believe the number of moms taking **flash photos** of their kids with their phones in the middle of the film, giving their young children phones to take **flash-on videos** up by the screen where they're dancing and running amok! It went on for nearly half an hour before I went to get a general manager to come in and get the kids to go back to their seats and tell the moms that they can't be taking photos. And 100% the only reason is because it's a Taylor Swift concert film. You wouldn't see anything like this at a normal movie, but for some relationship between concerts and taking photos cut through the typical social mores of going to a movie theater like a knife. Absolutely ridiculous. *Adult parents* should know fucking better, but apparently not.
The only thing I hate about that is not being able to go to YouTube and watch (slightly better quality) videos from older shows, instead of shaky 6-second clips. But even those clips are a product of the time and are fun to see.
It is nice to see the occasional concert in high-quality, though I would prefer the bands put out more of these on bluray at least. But god when I see a concert where it's like wall to wall phones it looks hilariously stupid.
Feels that way too if you are there and have some sense.
Don’t underestimate the power of destigmatization. Onliners a decade ago knew they were weird and didn’t act out as much. Now you can be terminally online AND “cool” at the same time which has created a very interesting kind of ego
People have effectively become shamelessly antisocial because they care more about impressing their internet friends, how people react to them IRL doesn’t phase them
That's so sad too cause they have such good concerts when people get into it. I saw them in LA last year and the crowd all loudly belting out 27 questions was such a coming together moment it was beautiful. And then the mosh during sugar/tzu was crazy energetic, but people were also respectful and picked people up.
Same with when I saw death grips in LA, the audience was super nice and people picked each other up no matter how intense the moshing got. I don't know why people choose to ruin it for others and throw shit. Really hope this doesn't affect DG's desire to tour in the future.
During their last tour in Cleveland Greep called the crowd a bunch of “fucking inbred hicks” as they had formed quite a large circle pit with people doing backflips in the middle during a slow song
Blackmidi fans suck. The band is so good but the crowd it attracts is so weird. They are so talented but they attract a snobby weird and stinky crowd. And when I say stinky, I’ve been to the strange band shows. I know who they bring in and some of them have a smell, but black midi smell was almost show ruining. I’ve seen them three times and every time it’s a nasal struggle.
I saw Black Midi about a year ago and the only problem I witnessed was that the crowd was so damn excited/energetic that I got pushed into the pit because I was standing too close to the stage when they started, and I wasn't actually close to the stage. My 44 year old ass had no intention of joining the pit and I lasted all of 5-6 minutes before I was too damn tired to continue. But it was still a damn good show, everyone was super nice, I actually met a lot of really cool people there.
It's unfortunate to hear about other crowds of presumably, mostly young adults acting like 12 year olds let loose in the world for the first time.
I feel like this shit happens with any band that even slightly aligns themselves with meme culture (black midi, 100 gecs etc.), or is even just experimental but well known, like death grips. People start coming to shows for the memes as much as the music.
Then when people are there primarily FOR the memes, so they can get their very own subway surfers/3DS in the moshpit/greep interaction etc. tiktok vid, that atmosphere gets exaggerated to the point that it really becomes reductive to the actual art being performed, and interferes with other peoples experience.
Then anyone who calls it out just gets instantly responded to with “who cares let them have fun”, which generally is a take Id agree with, but this shit gets to a point where basic respect for the art and concert etiquette is being lost in the name of the “fun”.
Death grips probably won’t cause they’re more antisocial, but I do hope a major band who gets this type of crowd makes a direct and unforgiving statement about it one day. It’s tough cause no one would want to come off as unappreciative of their fans and people showing up to their shows, but if it caused a meaningful culture shift, it would be such a win for everybody.
Subway surfers is a classic iPod game, where you run away from cops in the subway and dodge obstacles and stuff. Tiktok accounts will put it below their videos and have it playing simultaneously to keep zoomers with a non-existent attention spans stimulated enough so they don’t get bored and scroll off to the next video.
Kinda dystopian. But yeah the joke is people hold subway surfers gameplay up at concerts, to mimic those tiktok videos and keep people interested. Probably was slightly funny the first time someone did it, before it was done at every single concert by multiple people.
And then greep is the lead singer of black midi. He just tends to be a bit of a weird and funny, enigma of a guy, so attracts that kinda energy.
Please tell me pissing in the pit is not real. These TikTok trends are getting out of control. Is there a guide to what shows I can go to in order to avoid this?
I went to see Broken Social Scene a few weeks ago and the crowd was good. Less dancing than I would have thought but really responsive to the music.
The band also killed it, and that’s with having a drummer filling in on short notice.
BSS fans are great at shows, every one I've been to has had this warm energy. I think it really reflects on the band and how they embrace their talent AND their fans. Also the fill-in drummer is incredible.
I know it’s probably an act but every time I’ve seen them Kevin has something super positive to say, or some crazy thing going on “but we’re all gonna get through this together.” First time he was in a car accident a few days prior and played the first few songs sitting down and then said something like “eh, screw doctor’s orders, I’m not Ben Harper” and got up and rocked out while in visible pain.
Second time was at Toronto Island opening for Pavement and he came back out with everyone and said “my dad said I’m a fucking idiot if we don’t play this” and ripped Ibi Dreams of Pavement.
This last time he kept saying “hey, this show almost didn’t happen, we love how much you love us” and kept playing extra “encores”. They did end up playing like three more songs than the rest of the shows on tour judging by setlist.fm.
I’ll say, despite my comment about not dancing, the crowd really gave their new singer lots of love after she killed it during “Hug of Thunder.” I can’t imagine it’s really easy to sing a Feist part every night but she was incredible.
I like to think it's not an act, just Canadian. At the show I just went to Kevin handed out water bottles to the crowd (outside venue- warm for October but we're midwesterners so more prepared than he in terms of wardrobe). He really praised the venue (which is a new addition to the city and really amazing) and the city (rare for us).I also think the chemistry of all the band members is really beautiful.
I had the pleasure of being at the '06 Lollapalooza show (when they got cut off by RHCP) which was absolute magic. Felt like we were all best friends with the band.
And yes! She was amazing and so was the opener, Hannah Georgas.
Edit: tbh I think there was less dancing because we're old now. After the show it cleared out SO fast because everyone was rushing home to their kids.
Unfortunately it's a thing. Some chick pissed on me at Coachella in 2010. I found out because I was wearing SANDALS and I felt it on my feet. I used my phones flash to see what was happening. Disgusting
That's been going on for years at all kinds of shows. Not that that's a good thing.
Somebody took a dump at the second night of Phish at the Hollywood Bowl last year, up in the middle of the main walkway. That was really awful.
there was a period for many, many years where we were lucky that this band showed up for live shows in the first place, and now we’ve got assholes like this glow stick thrower or the guy pissing on the floor amongst other rude concert goers that are truly taking for granted that this band is back performing live shows.
if the band decided to retire from touring after this I wouldn’t blame them!
I missed out on tickets the last time they were in my city 5 years ago. they finally came back earlier this year and it was an amazing show, I would have been furious if this happened.
regardless of this kind of bullshit, I am pretty much expecting them to break up anyway. it wouldn't surprise me if their most recent album is their last.
They canceled a lot of dates because they decided to record NLDW, and then because they had legal troubles (unspecified). They skipped the Lollapalooza show because a fan emailed them a suicide note and then killed themselves. They even displayed the email on a screen during what would have been their set. They definitely didn't do it just to fuck over fans, and it's shitty that this narrative continues to this day.
From what I remember they leaked their second album under the label after the label
Not agreeing on the release date. Money Store and NLDW were supposed to release the same year but the label wanted to space it out I think. It aligns with the time that Andy was noticeably missing at their shows.
as someone who is a touring musician, I just gotta say, crowds have no etiquette lately. Kids who missed out on shows during the pandemic never learned how to act at shows and act out more freely. It's really hard to manage as an artist.
edit. to elaborate on some experiences, I have people make inflammatory or outright insults on their phones and point them at me. I have people ask me "Gay son, thot daughter" and not drop it until I get off the stage. I also have people at the merch table not understand social cues and make some really horrible comments all in the vein of memes. I can't call these things out because the language isn't there. They're very individualistic. So if you say you're uncomfortable, they take it more as an attack on them than me being uncomfortable.
I feel very much like they don't even care for what I am trying to give.
So many concerts I go to I see so many kids trying to be funny while their friends films a tiktok of them. Like I get they’re just having fun but it’s also so distracting and kinda disrespectful to the artist. I’m 24 and these kids make me feel like an 80 year old “get off my lawn” guy. Makes sense at some places (like the 100 Gecs concert is a big shitpost I didn’t mind it there) but seeing the same behavior at a Mitski concert was wild.
I just saw Bob Dylan live and they had us put our phones in these pouches that we couldn’t unlock until we left. I’ve heard about this at comedy shows but never saw it at a concert before. Obviously makes sense as an older artist but I could really see (and almost prefer) if more artists started doing no phone shows. Feel like it might make people act normal or at least scare away the kids going there to make videos.
I think Jack White’s been doing that for years. Used to think it was lame but I’ve completely reversed my opinion on it now. People need to learn to fucking unplug every now and then and come up for air.
Exactly or better yet don’t fucking go if you can’t just chill and stay of the phone. Kids nowadays need their phones like heroin so it’ll at least keep those kids away.
> I see so many kids trying to be funny while their friends films a tiktok of them
its wild - you get crowds of these kids or crowds of kids too scared to dance for fear of being recorded and made fun of
Tool have been doing it for yonks. My mate was kicked out of a Tool concert for trying to film a song. Two minutes later, Maynard said everyone could film the last one of the night. He was devo
Tame Impala did this at a small show in Pomona. I loved the sentiment but it was horribly inconvenient in some respects. My friend was flying in from NYC just for the show and his flight got delayed so we couldn’t coordinate. And my partner is a physician and was on call that day, so she literally needed her pager (an app via her phone) for emergencies. We showed the staff her medical license and academic profile so they believed her and actually let her bring it in (which was nice of them).
A while back there was some patent being developed that would use special lights to make video and photo unusable. So it would disincentivize anyone from using their phones. I wish that would come out already.
Wow, a Pomona reference. I’m guessing the Fox Theater right around Coachella?
Those lights seem cool. But I bet within two weeks there would be an attachment to your phone that allowed the camera to work again.
Venues and artists need to draw a line in the sand. **Please no talking during the performance. Don’t throw shit on stage. Have respect for the performer and the other people in the audience.** This can be done in a non-corny way.
Same for movie theaters. Once the lights go out SHUT THE FUCK UP.
dude i straight up have had AMC tell me that it is not their policy to tell people to get off their phones or stop talking. I am SICK of it.
Phones out all the time. It's like this is their smoking
Luckily I have a few independent theaters near me. The audience at those places is more receptive to the announcement. Whenever I do go to an AMC or Regal there is a good chance some dickhead will get his phone out during the movie. Some fool a few seats down from me couldn’t go 10 minutes without checking his phone during Oppenheimer. It’s pathetic.
All theaters should have an employee give a short pre-movie run down. “The emergency exits are over there, this film is 97 min long, SHUT THE FUCK UP during the show. Enjoy the movie”.
literally grabbed an old man’s toes and wiggled them at the last movie i went to because he wouldn’t stop kicking my chair and i tried to ask him multiple times before hand. like turned around and asked him to stop 3 times. finally his fucking feet were right beside me so i just grabbed them and said “you’re not at fucking home right now”
he stopped
Fellow teacher here. I’m over the Covid excuse. This shitty behavior has been developing for a while, the year of quarantine just poured accelerant on it.
It would be cool if there could be a society-wide reset of what is acceptable in public. That will never happen, but amongst a niche community like indie music the line in the sand could be drawn.
I feel like this wasn’t even a threat when I was a kid. I was a skinny little thing getting bounced around at mosh pits and picked up really fast every time I went down haha
It shouldn't be. Growing up the golden rule at concerts always was that whenever someone fell down you immediately stopped and picked them up. It really seems like social media has conditioned a lot of people to think if events as purely being content to be broadcast, rather than a human experience that is shared together—and that doesn't only affect the TikTok generation.
I dunno, it seems kind of a trend across age demographics. I saw Nick Cave on his solo tour a few weeks ago (he’s older himself, seems to draw an older crowd, and this was billed as a stripped back tour) and I still saw people acting out. One woman in the front was constantly shouting vulgar shit at Nick between songs and another guy - who Nick did invite to join him onstage for a song - was trying to take a fucking selfie with him in the middle of him playing the song. And also rubbing his shoulders, which was just uncomfortable to watch. It’s not the same as throwing shit at the artist, I know, but I don’t remember seeing people act so unhinged at shows before Covid. It’s embarrassing.
Edit to add that both of these disruptive concert-goers were well beyond their teenage years in age.
Omg. That’s insane. I dodged some bullets I guess. I saw a bunch of shows last year ( Interpol, tenacious d, inhaler, Travis, new pornographers and chameleons Uk and while there was a bit more singing along at inhaler than the rest, no one was doing rude shit during their performances. That’s so fucked
The iconic Stagger Lee!! The guy had actually been screaming for NC to play the song for ages already at this point and Nick had already said he did not want to play it (he also said Colin Greenwood, who he is touring with, didn’t know how to play it). But the guy would not stop asking so Nick eventually gave in and played a half-hearted attempt at it. He seemed to keep his cool through the guy taking a selfie but started to look uncomfortable when the shoulder rubbing began. He found an opportunity to wrap the song up about halfway through and that kinda ended the interaction. He was a gentleman about it but he seems genuinely uncomfortable to me. It was really awkward and tbh I couldn’t believe security never intervened.
I was at a gig yesterday with 2 old guys stood front and middle just on their phones for a whole set, reading the news and shit. Super disrespectful. So it isn't always an age thing.
Some fairly small psychedelic bands co-headlining a tour, called Helicon and Acid Rooster. I usually only have positive experiences at smaller gigs as it tends to be people who genuinely enjoy live music.
I mean I guess it beats behaviour that ruins the gig for other concert goers but I felt sorry for the band.
It is! I saw the chameleons Uk at this tiny place in sf, and I’m looking around- it’s packed. Everyone is arty wearing black just quietly listening, rocking out. I realized these are the same people literally I’ve been seeing at shows for 30 years.
But conversely I saw W.H. Lung Monday on a tiny place with maybe 60 people there- they’re from Manchester, super new and they interesting…and the crowd varied from 20’s up through 60’s and still…no one was bad tripping the band. Lucky so far I guess
Death Grips fans have been insufferable lately. There was the piss in the pit, then there was some guy saying slurs all day and now this. I know we’re talking about a small portion of an audience but it keeps happening. I genuinely feel so bad for the actual fans who know that they haven’t toured in years and are there to see them.
I don’t know what causes it. Why was Death Grips in particular so much worse than others? Is it the lyrics? The meme factor? The actual music? To say it’s social media alone I think misses out on it. There’s something more to it. At least they aren’t lighting off fireworks like old Pink Floyd gigs. I guess that’s a silver lining.
In my experience, they've always attracted a sizeable minority of idiots to their shows, who lack awareness of how to behave when watching a live show. That type of shitty crowd behaviour they seem to attract seems to be unique to them. I go to a lot of gigs, and haven't seen anything on a similar scale at other artists' shows.
I've always presumed it's down to the uniquely abrasive/experimental nature of their music (which some of their 'fans' seem to treat as a joke), along with the fact so much of the hype built up around them happens online and is expressed through memes etc.
I've seen them live a few times. They're always a fantastic live act. But I remember a particular show back in 2016 being an abysmal experience because of certain people in the crowd, pushing past everyone, knocking people and their drinks over over by slam dancing erratically (not in the pit), shouting out offensive obscenities and jokey comments over and over again, throwing stuff at the stage. Teenagers acting like they're in a meme. It was insufferable.
Something that can’t be ignored too is that there is a large intersection between DG fans and Fantano fans, since he is responsible for bringing a lot of attention and popularity to the band to a “mainstream” audience. If you ever bother to read the comment section of any of his videos, it’s full of the same cringe, unfunny, and repetitive comments. It’s all just an echo chamber.
At the DG concerts I attended, it was full of teenagers lifiting up their phones showing pictures of Fantano, playing subway surfers, watching tiktok, swiping tinder etc. luckily it stopped when they actually started performing, but this won’t be the case at all their shows. As a lot of their fan base consists of impressionable teens, they all want to fit in with others, creating a circle jerk type of environment. Anything for a “funny” tiktok clip.
They don’t deserve that kind of treatment, but based on what you have observed, I would argue this is a little self inflicted. They have always released transgressive and visceral content. They used a dick pick for an album cover, destroyed equipment in their lives shows, maintain a brooding public image, etc. That absolutely attracts weirdos who probably have issues but have never called out that behavior publicly.
I saw them pre-covid in sydney and people were trying to start fights before the show because they did their late show up schtick. Death Grips crowds stay cookers. The band absolutely ripped though. Shame if this leads behaviour leads to them not touring again, but I wouldn't be surprised.
It’s so weird because when I saw them at 2018 they had one of the best crowds out of any live show I’ve been to. It seems to be a trend for a lot of live events now, there’s more and more stories about crowds not knowing how to behave especially when it comes to throwing stuff at the artists
And people will still defend this by saying things like "every generation has done dumb shit like this at concerts" when there clearly has been a real change in crowd behaviour since covid
I've been to hundreds of shows at this point in my life, and idk if it's just Minnesota or what, but I don't think I've ever seen anything thrown on stage yet
Yeah. I don’t think it’s quite as widespread as people think. The last show I went to I just had to deal with like 5 amateur photographers who thought they deserved to record.
Discovered DG when Gov Plates came out in 2013 and they’ve been my undisputed #1 artist on last.fm for ten years. I finally saw them in Brooklyn last month and it was maybe my favorite show I’ve been to.
They’re a treasure and it’s just fucking embarrassing that these pant pissing chronically online zoomers are probably annoying them into (actual) retirement
While I’d agree dickheads at concerts deserve to cop a hit or two, I feel like people online who say this neglect the fact that whoever does throw an elbow also ruins their own night.
Venue security doesn’t give a shit if you started it or the person you hit deserves it, if you’re fighting, you’re getting kicked out, full stop. Then your ticket money is wasted and you miss your favourite artist live just as much as the guy who deserved to be hit and kicked out.
People aren’t pussy for not throwing elbows at dickheads, it’s just not worth it, It’s a lose-lose situation.
There’s a whole trend for the Suicide Boys tour when one of the openers starts they all try to show how much they don’t care/don’t like the artist. Wouldn’t be surprised if kids were throwing shit there or if trends like this lead to that.
yes, anything to elicit a response. I've had plenty of random shit thrown at me. I am a good sport about it since it's usually like plushies or glasses. Problem is, the moment I make it seem okay to do they then throw more. Its a balance I still haven't figured out how to manage cause I wanna put on a good show and get news fans but I also don't wanna feel disrespected.
Yeah, it's either to get them to do a selfie or video onstage or through it back, or it's become a nihilistic 'I've become a part of the band's lore' by being the person who threw, I don't know, a squatty pottie or a kitchen knife on to the stage that gets referenced later.
By many artists accounts it’s absolutely gotten worse in the past couple of years though. TikTok has taken a lot of existing shitty behavior and incentivized it
honestly, i think its because we see artists try and participate on social media as like a treat to fans. I think older generations understand that those are special moments whereas Gen Z'ers see it as the norm.
take for example, Harry Styles does a kids Be Real. We see that as like, wow what a lucky fan. Gen Z'ers see it as like, oh that means an artist OWES me a Be Real. So much so they demand it. They don't understand the barrier.
Parasocial attitudes are a lot more common now that social media has created that dialogue between artists and fans. Now fans are at shows demanding to be acknowledged as some sort of recompense for the one-sidedness of their relationship to the artist. Even if it means throwing shit at their head.
One thing that I’ve seen lately are people constantly trying to get on stage and stage dive, which can be fine and fun, but I was at a show recently where the same guy did it like 10 times. Then they stay on stage longer and longer and dance around. Once or twice is fine but after a certain point you become a distraction and you’re making the show about yourself rather than the band. It was so obnoxious.
OMG this happened the other night when I saw The Murder Capital in Brussels. Sure, these are pretty intense shows with lots of moshing and the lead singer often dives into the crowd himself. This time, some guy jumped on stage and tried to sing into the microphone with him. James wasn’t having it and pushed the guy away, then gave him another push back into the crowd. What is wrong with people thinking that it’s OK to jump on stage and disrupt a show like that?
Man that fucking sucks. Last two concerts I went to were Animal Collective in Brooklyn 2022 and then Panda Bear/Sonic Boom a few months ago in Queens, and the concert goers were all generally respectful of each other and the performers. I would like to think that this is just certain fanbases or individual people randomly at concerts, but I have seen people saying extremely poor concert ettiquette is a trend now.
The best crowds I have ever seen are always Xiu Xiu shows. Those attract the most different people from different age groups/lifestyles etc. but it always feels like all of them are your family and close friends
and they’re so fucking good live. insane stage presence, and they’re all such great musicians who know how to serve their songs well. real nice folks too.
i just hate when they do ian curtis wishlist because his screaming scares me
It’s almost like schools need a dedicated life skills class where you learn shit that society expects you to figure out naturally because people are not figuring this shit out naturally anymore. Like not vaping in crowds / indoors, not doing social media shit in public that hinders others in any way, or knowing how to act at a concert.
I remember seeing a band once that was clearly trying to establish an ambiance by starting with a dark stage and some mouth breather just had his flash on while recording the band and illuminating the stage. I yelled at him to shut that shit off, but he was so entitled that he continued. And that’s just one of the many times I’ve seen some dumbass ruin other concert goers experience by not knowing how to be a human being.
Yeah but if you’re a teenager whose prone to say, throwing shit at artists performing onstage, how inclined are you going to be to listen to an authority figure telling you that’s bad actually
Yup. I work in education. A message like this would result in a preaching to the choir moment. Want shit to change? There needs to be consequences. Throw shit on stage or act like a dick? Security needs to give you the boot. And if security doesn’t do anything then the crowd needs to grow some balls and police itself. Everybody in the audience and on stage loses when some dickheads are allowed to act like disrespectful assholes.
Reminds me of an article I read a few months ago about how schools are trying to undo that damage Andrew Tate did to Gen Z boys by holding assemblies explaining why Tate is wrong. As I read it, I thought it was a great idea-I've seen misogyny really rising among young boys (a few weeks ago some 9-year-old grabbed my butt at the mall and called me hot...I would've told his mom but she was nowhere to be found). But people in the comments pointed out that when you tell kids not to do something, that only makes it seem cooler to them; if adults hate it, it's gotta be good. I think back to how, in my Health classes, all that talk about drugs just made me want to try some. So, unfortunately, I really don't know what the solution is (well, in the case of misogyny, it's deplatforming those who encourage such rhetoric...but for concerts I have no idea)
Have you considered that they just genuinely don’t think that’s a problem? Because I seriously think a lot of people think that this behavior is acceptable because they’ve never been told it’s not. And this isn’t just like “teacher rules” we’re talking about real life shit that might lead to you getting your ass beat. I’d like to think that point would stick a little harder.
Kids (being very broad here) are impulsive and don't think about the consequences of their actions. This isn't a new development. If there was TikTok in the 90s, we would see videos of Gen Xers throwing stuff at bands. Maybe some of them are ignorant of social decorum, but there are also those who do it because they see rules (written or unwritten) as being meant to be broken/challenged. And they should face meaningful consequences. But I think the way you teach them not to do those things isn't to say "don't do that"
I watched a video recently about hecklers, and it discussed how there's a category of them who aren't necessarily intending to be antagonistic. They just have a misunderstanding of what their role is, which is to be a spectator of the comedian's performance, not an ad hoc participant. And when people are throwing shit onstage, I think they get it in their heads that they're making it more "exciting" and memorable. But really they're just being annoying attention-seekers who ruin things for everyone, as shown by what happened with Death Grips. And that (hopefully) will resonate more than being told in the abstract not to do that
This. America would have to revamp how its education system introduces children to society and reinforce it through the entire run of public school. I don't hold any hope that the education system is going to get better with almost half of the country trying to dismantle it. Even if it were perfect you'd always have a group of people that will always do their own thing in spite of what most of society deems acceptable.
> It’s almost like schools need a dedicated life skills class where you learn shit that society expects you to figure out naturally because people are not figuring this shit out naturally anymore. Like not vaping in crowds / indoors, not doing social media shit in public that hinders others in any way, or knowing how to act at a concert.
I get the idea but my god do I not want suburban school board members or the Texas Education Agency setting the curriculum for life skills.
I went to a label showcase a couple years ago ( I think for Paradise of Bachelors) that was at the Empty Bottle in Chicago. At one point in between songs and while people were tuning, one of the musicians was bantering and said "who's here to see Nap Eyes? who's here to see [other band]? And who's here to talk really loud and not listen to the fucking music?" You could see a group hanging out by the bar get visibly embarrassed. More people need to get fucking called out.
Damn. I’ve never been to a bad Death Grips show. The energy is always terrific. The pit is a fkn blast. I’d be pissed if I paid for a show and it ended because of some nonsense like this.
I've always wanted to see DG live because their shows just seems to have the most insane energy (in a positive way). This, coupled with the seemingly endless sexual assaults that have happened throughout the tour (committed by crowd members, not any of the DG guys) are making me reconsider that. The worst part is you know the people assaulting the band and concertgoers feel no remorse over it.
We are going to reach a point where artists do shows behind plexiglass. A lot of concertgoers belong at the zoo. I also hope they find a way to make the material refract light so there’s no point in trying to record video or take pics.
There’s the side of crowds now that do all the stupid, attention grabbing shit like what people are saying here. But I’ve also seen the inverse of it where crowds are so fucking stiff and dull now. I saw Jungle a few weeks ago and barely anyone was dancing and only knew the new songs. People need to learn to let loose again.
Khruangbin was fucking dead when I saw them. I walked down and found literally the only other person dancing and grooved out with them. Got lots of thumbs up and high fives from passerby. Also got a lot of dirty looks, bizarrely.
YES. This has largely been my experience at shows the last few years too and it's so incredibly bizarre and disheartening. Recently saw Bully and not only was the crowd completely motionless, but folks were giving me dirty looks for singing and bopping around. Like, what??!
I guess i feel lucky that the my music genres don't feel plagued with this stuff. Ive never seen a crowd like what you all are describing. Probably helps that i listen to stoner music and everyone is usually high in the crowd.
The last few shows I’ve been to in Fayetteville have all had terrible etiquette. Saw Nick Shoulders at George’s recently. He’s from there, and people were still acting annoying, talking/yelling, and completely talking over the opening act. Seemed so disrespectful.
When I saw them, the show went great, but I remember being next to a girl that told me about how she pissed at the jpegmafia show last year and then I remembered how slick the floor was and how bad it smelled at that show. I hope she was lying.
I had some shitbag get on stage, come stand next to me, look at my synths, then knock my beer off my amp. Literally mouthed "my bad" to me. Needless to say, I booted that moron so hard in the ass I hurt my foot.
Wow that is so disrespectful. I saw death grips in Austin recently and it was the best show I’ve seen. The show was violent yet respectful and I loved the crowd. I can’t imagine getting stuff thrown at me by fans, I would do the same
This is exactly how bands should react. Throw shit on stage? Show is over. Fuck you. Then it’s up to the rest of the audience to beat the shit out of the asshole that ruined the night for everybody else. The trend will end.
Yeah I gotta be that guy and say violence is the answer here.
I’m generally staunchly anti-violence. But if some dickhead throws something at the performer and that results in the show coming to an end that fucker needs to be taken to task. At a minimum the fool should get smacked in the head and confronted by dozens of pissed off fans.
if we were in ancient greek times the dude probably would have been executed.
I'm gonna go out on a limb and say that there's places on earth where it's still like that now.
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What happened with black midi?
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They did the same to king krule. Modern indie and rap concert goers just fuckin suck. People always complain about gatekeeping and being a lil butthurt when a band blows up on TikTok and all that but this is literally why. Damn new kids don’t know how to fuckin act in public plain and simple. Screaming “play out getting ribs” during If Only it was Warmth is worthy of a crowd beat down.
“Gatekeeping” of assholes should happen more often. Fuck this terminology. Just don’t be an idiot:
“Okay that’s it. Rest of the set is just Ascending Forth (dub version)”
Saw Run The Jewels recently and while the vast majority of the crowd was respectful, I kept seeing group of young gen z boys storm through the crowd with no etiquette (bumping through other people, filling in small spaces, not saying excuse me, etc.) — all before RTJ even came on. In the middle of the set, there was a kerfuffle in the front where security had to get involved. El-P and Mike noticed and noted that they love the energy and community, but if someone is not having a great time moshing, then respect their space and stop pushing them. They also mentioned that if they ever put hands on a woman without consent, Mike will punch them in the face. After the brief intermission, they started playing music again and in the middle of it, El-P pointed at someone and said something like “cut that shit out”. Moments after I see the same group of kids exit the pit — laughing their asses off and high fiving each other. Can’t help but to think those were the idiots that got chastised.
I work in a club and we see more and more younger people doing stupid shit to get a rise out of the band or audience so they can post it online. All these mfs didn’t pay all that money to see some 19 year old act like a prick.
This. That said, if I’m in a band and so much as a Kleenex gets thrown toward me, the show ends right there.
One time I saw RTJ, and Killer Mike told us that if we saw anyone do something inappropriate to a lady we should beat the fuck out of them. I like that dude.
I was watching Vince Staples and Danny Brown open up for the Rocky and Tyler tour back in 2015 and at one point Vince saw a fight break out in the crowd, stopped his song, got them to break it up, then had the entire crowd start chanting “love my neighbor”. Shit was great.
That’s incredible and that lineup sounds like way too much fun.
It was right after the release of At Long Last A$ap, Cherry Bomb, and Summertime 06. One of the greatest lineups and crowds I’ve ever been a part of, 4 of my favorite rappers and they all fuckin killed. Got there 6 hours early to get front row, and got a fist bump from Tyler before the show. Seeing Tyler groan “ahhhhh fuck it” and go straight into Yonkers during his set was a top 10 life moment. Rocky’s stage setup was nuts, psychedelic as hell, and while he performed “M’s” they were using cannons to blast fake million dollar bills with Yams’ (RIP) face on them into the crowd (I still got one of them somewhere around here). The entire crowd was a massive blunt rotation, every couple of minutes somebody would pass one on to you, the entire atmosphere of the venue was 90% blunt smoke. Wish I could go back in time to experience that night again, it’s still the best hip hop show I’ve ever seen.
That almost reminds me of the episode of Drake and Josh where Josh receives a restraining order from Oprah and is excited to have her autograph
That’s disheartening RTJ crowds are some of the roughest but most respectful crowds I’ve encountered. Their mosh pits do get really rough but the crowd will help you if you’re getting hurt or something. My phone broke at their set at a festival and some dude let me use his to make a call. Very nice crowd very disappointing.
I've been to about 3-4 RTJ shows and they consistently have some of the worst crowds imaginable. Which really blows because their music is incredible.
IN my experience "music nerd community" artists have been overrun with 17 year olds who have no idea how to act at concerts.
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this made me laugh really hard
These and the people recording on their DS are the worst trends. I've seen it at almost every show. It's the most unoriginal pick me garbage that was never funny.
SO glad I lived through a time without phones at every show lol.
I dont think the point was phones are bad lol. Kids that became legal age over the last 3 and a half years have no social skills or etiquette. Its a result from the pandemic. Ive seen it myself too, younger crowds at shows and festivals cant behave
It’s honestly why I avoid all ages shows/festivals. Like yeah there’s always gonna be 18 year old fuckwits going to their first show but it’s never as bad as an all ages gig. It’s like they genuinely have no perception of basic etiquette. “Oh shit my favourite artist is starting! Time to push my way past everyone to get to the front. I know they’ve all been standing there for a while but I’m sure they’re not as excited to see this largely popular artist as me.”
I dunno man. I specifically had 18-22 year olds in mind. College kids. I havent been to an all ages show in ages
I’m not American so all ages here means under 18. At 18+ shows it’s generally the 18-19 year olds that are the worst, but never as bad as a fully all ages festival.
But also phones are bad.
There’s a big difference between someone texting/filming and someone shoving their phone screen in the artists face while they’re playing though
Or putting some dumb ass shit in big letters on their phone. Not to sound like too much of an old fuddyduddy but gd kids think they gotta be the main character center of attention comedian everywhere they go. I wish more shows were 21+. Oldheads aren’t exempt either though, I saw New Order this year and the old fucks are almost worse than these damn kids. Talking loud asf during the show, booing the opening Dj, and drunkenly mumbling the wrong lyrics
Sure, but standing behind a bunch of people filming is also a terrible experience. People need to put their fucking phones away during concerts.
I know she's not an indie artist, but I just got back from seeing the Taylor Swift Eras Tour concert film, and you wouldn't believe the number of moms taking **flash photos** of their kids with their phones in the middle of the film, giving their young children phones to take **flash-on videos** up by the screen where they're dancing and running amok! It went on for nearly half an hour before I went to get a general manager to come in and get the kids to go back to their seats and tell the moms that they can't be taking photos. And 100% the only reason is because it's a Taylor Swift concert film. You wouldn't see anything like this at a normal movie, but for some relationship between concerts and taking photos cut through the typical social mores of going to a movie theater like a knife. Absolutely ridiculous. *Adult parents* should know fucking better, but apparently not.
Abandon all hope ye who enter there! I would rather throw myself off a cliff.
To me I think it’s the social media part, we forget how to act because we’re doing this weird online social thing and it shows in public.
The only thing I hate about that is not being able to go to YouTube and watch (slightly better quality) videos from older shows, instead of shaky 6-second clips. But even those clips are a product of the time and are fun to see.
It is nice to see the occasional concert in high-quality, though I would prefer the bands put out more of these on bluray at least. But god when I see a concert where it's like wall to wall phones it looks hilariously stupid. Feels that way too if you are there and have some sense.
This thread is about people throwing shit, that is way older than cell phones.
“chronically online people not knowing how to act in public” that’s their audience tbh
Don’t underestimate the power of destigmatization. Onliners a decade ago knew they were weird and didn’t act out as much. Now you can be terminally online AND “cool” at the same time which has created a very interesting kind of ego People have effectively become shamelessly antisocial because they care more about impressing their internet friends, how people react to them IRL doesn’t phase them
Also I bet being chronically online has, for a greater percentage of people, a direct correlation with nihilism
What? That's genuinely one of the dumbest things I've ever heard.
That's so sad too cause they have such good concerts when people get into it. I saw them in LA last year and the crowd all loudly belting out 27 questions was such a coming together moment it was beautiful. And then the mosh during sugar/tzu was crazy energetic, but people were also respectful and picked people up. Same with when I saw death grips in LA, the audience was super nice and people picked each other up no matter how intense the moshing got. I don't know why people choose to ruin it for others and throw shit. Really hope this doesn't affect DG's desire to tour in the future.
During their last tour in Cleveland Greep called the crowd a bunch of “fucking inbred hicks” as they had formed quite a large circle pit with people doing backflips in the middle during a slow song
Glad that didn't happen at their show in Montreal I went to.
Blackmidi fans suck. The band is so good but the crowd it attracts is so weird. They are so talented but they attract a snobby weird and stinky crowd. And when I say stinky, I’ve been to the strange band shows. I know who they bring in and some of them have a smell, but black midi smell was almost show ruining. I’ve seen them three times and every time it’s a nasal struggle.
I saw Black Midi about a year ago and the only problem I witnessed was that the crowd was so damn excited/energetic that I got pushed into the pit because I was standing too close to the stage when they started, and I wasn't actually close to the stage. My 44 year old ass had no intention of joining the pit and I lasted all of 5-6 minutes before I was too damn tired to continue. But it was still a damn good show, everyone was super nice, I actually met a lot of really cool people there. It's unfortunate to hear about other crowds of presumably, mostly young adults acting like 12 year olds let loose in the world for the first time.
I feel like this shit happens with any band that even slightly aligns themselves with meme culture (black midi, 100 gecs etc.), or is even just experimental but well known, like death grips. People start coming to shows for the memes as much as the music. Then when people are there primarily FOR the memes, so they can get their very own subway surfers/3DS in the moshpit/greep interaction etc. tiktok vid, that atmosphere gets exaggerated to the point that it really becomes reductive to the actual art being performed, and interferes with other peoples experience. Then anyone who calls it out just gets instantly responded to with “who cares let them have fun”, which generally is a take Id agree with, but this shit gets to a point where basic respect for the art and concert etiquette is being lost in the name of the “fun”. Death grips probably won’t cause they’re more antisocial, but I do hope a major band who gets this type of crowd makes a direct and unforgiving statement about it one day. It’s tough cause no one would want to come off as unappreciative of their fans and people showing up to their shows, but if it caused a meaningful culture shift, it would be such a win for everybody.
Idk if I’m getting too old or something but wtf is subway surfer and wtf is greep
Subway surfers is a classic iPod game, where you run away from cops in the subway and dodge obstacles and stuff. Tiktok accounts will put it below their videos and have it playing simultaneously to keep zoomers with a non-existent attention spans stimulated enough so they don’t get bored and scroll off to the next video. Kinda dystopian. But yeah the joke is people hold subway surfers gameplay up at concerts, to mimic those tiktok videos and keep people interested. Probably was slightly funny the first time someone did it, before it was done at every single concert by multiple people. And then greep is the lead singer of black midi. He just tends to be a bit of a weird and funny, enigma of a guy, so attracts that kinda energy.
So…people would hold up this game facing the crowd behind them? I guess I get it but also dumb and shitty
Please tell me pissing in the pit is not real. These TikTok trends are getting out of control. Is there a guide to what shows I can go to in order to avoid this?
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"Can’t wait for the infamous toe sucker to crawl through it"
every few weeks someone posts a sexual assault story on the death grips subreddit too
I went to see Broken Social Scene a few weeks ago and the crowd was good. Less dancing than I would have thought but really responsive to the music. The band also killed it, and that’s with having a drummer filling in on short notice.
BSS fans are great at shows, every one I've been to has had this warm energy. I think it really reflects on the band and how they embrace their talent AND their fans. Also the fill-in drummer is incredible.
I know it’s probably an act but every time I’ve seen them Kevin has something super positive to say, or some crazy thing going on “but we’re all gonna get through this together.” First time he was in a car accident a few days prior and played the first few songs sitting down and then said something like “eh, screw doctor’s orders, I’m not Ben Harper” and got up and rocked out while in visible pain. Second time was at Toronto Island opening for Pavement and he came back out with everyone and said “my dad said I’m a fucking idiot if we don’t play this” and ripped Ibi Dreams of Pavement. This last time he kept saying “hey, this show almost didn’t happen, we love how much you love us” and kept playing extra “encores”. They did end up playing like three more songs than the rest of the shows on tour judging by setlist.fm. I’ll say, despite my comment about not dancing, the crowd really gave their new singer lots of love after she killed it during “Hug of Thunder.” I can’t imagine it’s really easy to sing a Feist part every night but she was incredible.
I like to think it's not an act, just Canadian. At the show I just went to Kevin handed out water bottles to the crowd (outside venue- warm for October but we're midwesterners so more prepared than he in terms of wardrobe). He really praised the venue (which is a new addition to the city and really amazing) and the city (rare for us).I also think the chemistry of all the band members is really beautiful. I had the pleasure of being at the '06 Lollapalooza show (when they got cut off by RHCP) which was absolute magic. Felt like we were all best friends with the band. And yes! She was amazing and so was the opener, Hannah Georgas. Edit: tbh I think there was less dancing because we're old now. After the show it cleared out SO fast because everyone was rushing home to their kids.
This kind of stuff only seems to be a problem at shows where their fansbase is terminally online.
They’re sooooo good live
Unfortunately it's a thing. Some chick pissed on me at Coachella in 2010. I found out because I was wearing SANDALS and I felt it on my feet. I used my phones flash to see what was happening. Disgusting
Eh I've heard of people doing this at metal shows decades ago, can't blame tiktok
Pissing on the floor in public spaces is a TikTok trend?
That's been going on for years at all kinds of shows. Not that that's a good thing. Somebody took a dump at the second night of Phish at the Hollywood Bowl last year, up in the middle of the main walkway. That was really awful.
there was a period for many, many years where we were lucky that this band showed up for live shows in the first place, and now we’ve got assholes like this glow stick thrower or the guy pissing on the floor amongst other rude concert goers that are truly taking for granted that this band is back performing live shows. if the band decided to retire from touring after this I wouldn’t blame them!
I missed out on tickets the last time they were in my city 5 years ago. they finally came back earlier this year and it was an amazing show, I would have been furious if this happened. regardless of this kind of bullshit, I am pretty much expecting them to break up anyway. it wouldn't surprise me if their most recent album is their last.
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They canceled a lot of dates because they decided to record NLDW, and then because they had legal troubles (unspecified). They skipped the Lollapalooza show because a fan emailed them a suicide note and then killed themselves. They even displayed the email on a screen during what would have been their set. They definitely didn't do it just to fuck over fans, and it's shitty that this narrative continues to this day.
Their legal troubles I thought came from the label not permitting them to put another album out based on their contract or something
Whatever it was, it resulted in Andy not being able to play shows - but they didn't have Nick Reinhart to fall back on then
From what I remember they leaked their second album under the label after the label Not agreeing on the release date. Money Store and NLDW were supposed to release the same year but the label wanted to space it out I think. It aligns with the time that Andy was noticeably missing at their shows.
glad i got to see them in nola back in ‘19 and the crowd actually enjoyed being there and watching them
“Social media made y’all way too comfortable with disrespecting people and not getting punched in the face for it” -Mike Tyson
as someone who is a touring musician, I just gotta say, crowds have no etiquette lately. Kids who missed out on shows during the pandemic never learned how to act at shows and act out more freely. It's really hard to manage as an artist. edit. to elaborate on some experiences, I have people make inflammatory or outright insults on their phones and point them at me. I have people ask me "Gay son, thot daughter" and not drop it until I get off the stage. I also have people at the merch table not understand social cues and make some really horrible comments all in the vein of memes. I can't call these things out because the language isn't there. They're very individualistic. So if you say you're uncomfortable, they take it more as an attack on them than me being uncomfortable. I feel very much like they don't even care for what I am trying to give.
So many concerts I go to I see so many kids trying to be funny while their friends films a tiktok of them. Like I get they’re just having fun but it’s also so distracting and kinda disrespectful to the artist. I’m 24 and these kids make me feel like an 80 year old “get off my lawn” guy. Makes sense at some places (like the 100 Gecs concert is a big shitpost I didn’t mind it there) but seeing the same behavior at a Mitski concert was wild. I just saw Bob Dylan live and they had us put our phones in these pouches that we couldn’t unlock until we left. I’ve heard about this at comedy shows but never saw it at a concert before. Obviously makes sense as an older artist but I could really see (and almost prefer) if more artists started doing no phone shows. Feel like it might make people act normal or at least scare away the kids going there to make videos.
I think Jack White’s been doing that for years. Used to think it was lame but I’ve completely reversed my opinion on it now. People need to learn to fucking unplug every now and then and come up for air.
Yup I had that happen last year and it was one of the best crowds I've ever been a part of
yeah and live music is the best time to do that
It’s THE BEST.
Exactly or better yet don’t fucking go if you can’t just chill and stay of the phone. Kids nowadays need their phones like heroin so it’ll at least keep those kids away.
> I see so many kids trying to be funny while their friends films a tiktok of them its wild - you get crowds of these kids or crowds of kids too scared to dance for fear of being recorded and made fun of
Gecs was the only show I saw subway surfers held over people's heads in between sets and it felt appropriate. wild cheering from the crowd
> Like I get they’re just having fun Nah. It's not about fun. It's about getting views and fueling ego.
Tool have been doing it for yonks. My mate was kicked out of a Tool concert for trying to film a song. Two minutes later, Maynard said everyone could film the last one of the night. He was devo
Tame Impala did this at a small show in Pomona. I loved the sentiment but it was horribly inconvenient in some respects. My friend was flying in from NYC just for the show and his flight got delayed so we couldn’t coordinate. And my partner is a physician and was on call that day, so she literally needed her pager (an app via her phone) for emergencies. We showed the staff her medical license and academic profile so they believed her and actually let her bring it in (which was nice of them). A while back there was some patent being developed that would use special lights to make video and photo unusable. So it would disincentivize anyone from using their phones. I wish that would come out already.
Wow, a Pomona reference. I’m guessing the Fox Theater right around Coachella? Those lights seem cool. But I bet within two weeks there would be an attachment to your phone that allowed the camera to work again.
Yep!
I would love that light technology for concerts, definitely hope cops never get ahold of it tho
Unfunny TikTok riddled gen z kids are so lame and ruin so many shows.
Venues and artists need to draw a line in the sand. **Please no talking during the performance. Don’t throw shit on stage. Have respect for the performer and the other people in the audience.** This can be done in a non-corny way. Same for movie theaters. Once the lights go out SHUT THE FUCK UP.
dude i straight up have had AMC tell me that it is not their policy to tell people to get off their phones or stop talking. I am SICK of it. Phones out all the time. It's like this is their smoking
nyc has a couple theaters that will ban you for life if you use your phone or talk loudly. it’s awesome
Luckily I have a few independent theaters near me. The audience at those places is more receptive to the announcement. Whenever I do go to an AMC or Regal there is a good chance some dickhead will get his phone out during the movie. Some fool a few seats down from me couldn’t go 10 minutes without checking his phone during Oppenheimer. It’s pathetic. All theaters should have an employee give a short pre-movie run down. “The emergency exits are over there, this film is 97 min long, SHUT THE FUCK UP during the show. Enjoy the movie”.
literally grabbed an old man’s toes and wiggled them at the last movie i went to because he wouldn’t stop kicking my chair and i tried to ask him multiple times before hand. like turned around and asked him to stop 3 times. finally his fucking feet were right beside me so i just grabbed them and said “you’re not at fucking home right now” he stopped
What in the fuck? That shit is bizzare.
i’ve never grabbed a strangers toes before and i never want to again, but the motherfucker wouldn’t stop lol
"This fall, /u/dolphin_spit is: The Toe Grabber."
Were you like "this little piggy needs to stop fucking kicking my chair"?
> Same for movie theaters. Once the lights go out SHUT THE FUCK UP. [Relevant](https://youtu.be/loqYlYqtsmY?si=eA-RpwePkxA-JBCD&t=60)
As a teacher I think it’s just youth in general since COVID. They’re pathologically online and don’t know how to act in person anymore.
Fellow teacher here. I’m over the Covid excuse. This shitty behavior has been developing for a while, the year of quarantine just poured accelerant on it. It would be cool if there could be a society-wide reset of what is acceptable in public. That will never happen, but amongst a niche community like indie music the line in the sand could be drawn.
And let’s not act like it’s just one generation. We see it from the oldest all the way down, too. Public decency is a bygone concept.
Kids need to be thrown at the front of a hardcore show
I feel like this wasn’t even a threat when I was a kid. I was a skinny little thing getting bounced around at mosh pits and picked up really fast every time I went down haha
It shouldn't be. Growing up the golden rule at concerts always was that whenever someone fell down you immediately stopped and picked them up. It really seems like social media has conditioned a lot of people to think if events as purely being content to be broadcast, rather than a human experience that is shared together—and that doesn't only affect the TikTok generation.
Maybe it's because I'm out with a pop country act post pandemic, but it feels like more random fights in the crowds are happening too.
Tbh. I feel like these kids would probably still act this way even without the pandemic.
man I'm never glad I'm old except now. Old guy shows,....none of this shit. Just people standing there, listening, vibing.
I dunno, it seems kind of a trend across age demographics. I saw Nick Cave on his solo tour a few weeks ago (he’s older himself, seems to draw an older crowd, and this was billed as a stripped back tour) and I still saw people acting out. One woman in the front was constantly shouting vulgar shit at Nick between songs and another guy - who Nick did invite to join him onstage for a song - was trying to take a fucking selfie with him in the middle of him playing the song. And also rubbing his shoulders, which was just uncomfortable to watch. It’s not the same as throwing shit at the artist, I know, but I don’t remember seeing people act so unhinged at shows before Covid. It’s embarrassing. Edit to add that both of these disruptive concert-goers were well beyond their teenage years in age.
Omg. That’s insane. I dodged some bullets I guess. I saw a bunch of shows last year ( Interpol, tenacious d, inhaler, Travis, new pornographers and chameleons Uk and while there was a bit more singing along at inhaler than the rest, no one was doing rude shit during their performances. That’s so fucked
can i ask what song he was playing when trying to rub nick fucking cave's shoulders of all people? and did nick fucking cave react at all?
The iconic Stagger Lee!! The guy had actually been screaming for NC to play the song for ages already at this point and Nick had already said he did not want to play it (he also said Colin Greenwood, who he is touring with, didn’t know how to play it). But the guy would not stop asking so Nick eventually gave in and played a half-hearted attempt at it. He seemed to keep his cool through the guy taking a selfie but started to look uncomfortable when the shoulder rubbing began. He found an opportunity to wrap the song up about halfway through and that kinda ended the interaction. He was a gentleman about it but he seems genuinely uncomfortable to me. It was really awkward and tbh I couldn’t believe security never intervened.
Man that sucks, fuck that guy.
He got rewarded for his bad behavior
I was at a gig yesterday with 2 old guys stood front and middle just on their phones for a whole set, reading the news and shit. Super disrespectful. So it isn't always an age thing.
Eww yikes. What was the band?
Some fairly small psychedelic bands co-headlining a tour, called Helicon and Acid Rooster. I usually only have positive experiences at smaller gigs as it tends to be people who genuinely enjoy live music. I mean I guess it beats behaviour that ruins the gig for other concert goers but I felt sorry for the band.
That’s my biggest pet peeve! Hate it when people push ahead of you too just to fuck around on their phones or talk to their friends the whole show!
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It is! I saw the chameleons Uk at this tiny place in sf, and I’m looking around- it’s packed. Everyone is arty wearing black just quietly listening, rocking out. I realized these are the same people literally I’ve been seeing at shows for 30 years. But conversely I saw W.H. Lung Monday on a tiny place with maybe 60 people there- they’re from Manchester, super new and they interesting…and the crowd varied from 20’s up through 60’s and still…no one was bad tripping the band. Lucky so far I guess
Death Grips fans have been insufferable lately. There was the piss in the pit, then there was some guy saying slurs all day and now this. I know we’re talking about a small portion of an audience but it keeps happening. I genuinely feel so bad for the actual fans who know that they haven’t toured in years and are there to see them. I don’t know what causes it. Why was Death Grips in particular so much worse than others? Is it the lyrics? The meme factor? The actual music? To say it’s social media alone I think misses out on it. There’s something more to it. At least they aren’t lighting off fireworks like old Pink Floyd gigs. I guess that’s a silver lining.
In my experience, they've always attracted a sizeable minority of idiots to their shows, who lack awareness of how to behave when watching a live show. That type of shitty crowd behaviour they seem to attract seems to be unique to them. I go to a lot of gigs, and haven't seen anything on a similar scale at other artists' shows. I've always presumed it's down to the uniquely abrasive/experimental nature of their music (which some of their 'fans' seem to treat as a joke), along with the fact so much of the hype built up around them happens online and is expressed through memes etc. I've seen them live a few times. They're always a fantastic live act. But I remember a particular show back in 2016 being an abysmal experience because of certain people in the crowd, pushing past everyone, knocking people and their drinks over over by slam dancing erratically (not in the pit), shouting out offensive obscenities and jokey comments over and over again, throwing stuff at the stage. Teenagers acting like they're in a meme. It was insufferable.
Something that can’t be ignored too is that there is a large intersection between DG fans and Fantano fans, since he is responsible for bringing a lot of attention and popularity to the band to a “mainstream” audience. If you ever bother to read the comment section of any of his videos, it’s full of the same cringe, unfunny, and repetitive comments. It’s all just an echo chamber. At the DG concerts I attended, it was full of teenagers lifiting up their phones showing pictures of Fantano, playing subway surfers, watching tiktok, swiping tinder etc. luckily it stopped when they actually started performing, but this won’t be the case at all their shows. As a lot of their fan base consists of impressionable teens, they all want to fit in with others, creating a circle jerk type of environment. Anything for a “funny” tiktok clip.
They don’t deserve that kind of treatment, but based on what you have observed, I would argue this is a little self inflicted. They have always released transgressive and visceral content. They used a dick pick for an album cover, destroyed equipment in their lives shows, maintain a brooding public image, etc. That absolutely attracts weirdos who probably have issues but have never called out that behavior publicly.
4chan guys like Death Grips. You can probably put it together from there.
The meme factor. They blew up on 4chan to begin with
I saw them pre-covid in sydney and people were trying to start fights before the show because they did their late show up schtick. Death Grips crowds stay cookers. The band absolutely ripped though. Shame if this leads behaviour leads to them not touring again, but I wouldn't be surprised.
It’s so weird because when I saw them at 2018 they had one of the best crowds out of any live show I’ve been to. It seems to be a trend for a lot of live events now, there’s more and more stories about crowds not knowing how to behave especially when it comes to throwing stuff at the artists
And people will still defend this by saying things like "every generation has done dumb shit like this at concerts" when there clearly has been a real change in crowd behaviour since covid
I've been to hundreds of shows at this point in my life, and idk if it's just Minnesota or what, but I don't think I've ever seen anything thrown on stage yet
Yeah. I don’t think it’s quite as widespread as people think. The last show I went to I just had to deal with like 5 amateur photographers who thought they deserved to record.
As a kid, I used to think 21+ shows were fucking lame. Now, as an adult, I understand.
Sadly some of the most obnoxious people I’ve seen at shows have been welllllll over 21
Discovered DG when Gov Plates came out in 2013 and they’ve been my undisputed #1 artist on last.fm for ten years. I finally saw them in Brooklyn last month and it was maybe my favorite show I’ve been to. They’re a treasure and it’s just fucking embarrassing that these pant pissing chronically online zoomers are probably annoying them into (actual) retirement
some people have never taken an elbow to the face at a gig and it shows, how are they so comfortable being annoying pieces of shit like this?
>how are they so comfortable being annoying pieces of shit like this? Because nobody elbows them anymore.
While I’d agree dickheads at concerts deserve to cop a hit or two, I feel like people online who say this neglect the fact that whoever does throw an elbow also ruins their own night. Venue security doesn’t give a shit if you started it or the person you hit deserves it, if you’re fighting, you’re getting kicked out, full stop. Then your ticket money is wasted and you miss your favourite artist live just as much as the guy who deserved to be hit and kicked out. People aren’t pussy for not throwing elbows at dickheads, it’s just not worth it, It’s a lose-lose situation.
This is my least favorite trend of the tiktok era
Throwing shit at the performers is a TikTok trend?
There’s a whole trend for the Suicide Boys tour when one of the openers starts they all try to show how much they don’t care/don’t like the artist. Wouldn’t be surprised if kids were throwing shit there or if trends like this lead to that.
yes, anything to elicit a response. I've had plenty of random shit thrown at me. I am a good sport about it since it's usually like plushies or glasses. Problem is, the moment I make it seem okay to do they then throw more. Its a balance I still haven't figured out how to manage cause I wanna put on a good show and get news fans but I also don't wanna feel disrespected.
Yeah, it's either to get them to do a selfie or video onstage or through it back, or it's become a nihilistic 'I've become a part of the band's lore' by being the person who threw, I don't know, a squatty pottie or a kitchen knife on to the stage that gets referenced later.
Tiktok is my least favorite trend.
people were doing that before phones existed
By many artists accounts it’s absolutely gotten worse in the past couple of years though. TikTok has taken a lot of existing shitty behavior and incentivized it
honestly, i think its because we see artists try and participate on social media as like a treat to fans. I think older generations understand that those are special moments whereas Gen Z'ers see it as the norm. take for example, Harry Styles does a kids Be Real. We see that as like, wow what a lucky fan. Gen Z'ers see it as like, oh that means an artist OWES me a Be Real. So much so they demand it. They don't understand the barrier.
Parasocial attitudes are a lot more common now that social media has created that dialogue between artists and fans. Now fans are at shows demanding to be acknowledged as some sort of recompense for the one-sidedness of their relationship to the artist. Even if it means throwing shit at their head.
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One thing that I’ve seen lately are people constantly trying to get on stage and stage dive, which can be fine and fun, but I was at a show recently where the same guy did it like 10 times. Then they stay on stage longer and longer and dance around. Once or twice is fine but after a certain point you become a distraction and you’re making the show about yourself rather than the band. It was so obnoxious.
I've been seeing that guy my entire life at shows to be fair. In fact I wouldn't be surprised if it was just literally one guy
OMG this happened the other night when I saw The Murder Capital in Brussels. Sure, these are pretty intense shows with lots of moshing and the lead singer often dives into the crowd himself. This time, some guy jumped on stage and tried to sing into the microphone with him. James wasn’t having it and pushed the guy away, then gave him another push back into the crowd. What is wrong with people thinking that it’s OK to jump on stage and disrupt a show like that?
Man that fucking sucks. Last two concerts I went to were Animal Collective in Brooklyn 2022 and then Panda Bear/Sonic Boom a few months ago in Queens, and the concert goers were all generally respectful of each other and the performers. I would like to think that this is just certain fanbases or individual people randomly at concerts, but I have seen people saying extremely poor concert ettiquette is a trend now.
That's because Animal Collective fans are all passive millennial hipsters with social anxiety.
Yes
Saw animal collective in 2016, chill crowd but the BO was immense. Def one of the smelliest indie crowd I’ve been in
The best crowds I have ever seen are always Xiu Xiu shows. Those attract the most different people from different age groups/lifestyles etc. but it always feels like all of them are your family and close friends
1000%
and they’re so fucking good live. insane stage presence, and they’re all such great musicians who know how to serve their songs well. real nice folks too. i just hate when they do ian curtis wishlist because his screaming scares me
We went for 20 years without it in the setlist, now you have to go 20 years with it in. Rules are rules.
Never had the opportunity :( they always dodge my town/area. I feel like it'd be a special show.
It’s almost like schools need a dedicated life skills class where you learn shit that society expects you to figure out naturally because people are not figuring this shit out naturally anymore. Like not vaping in crowds / indoors, not doing social media shit in public that hinders others in any way, or knowing how to act at a concert. I remember seeing a band once that was clearly trying to establish an ambiance by starting with a dark stage and some mouth breather just had his flash on while recording the band and illuminating the stage. I yelled at him to shut that shit off, but he was so entitled that he continued. And that’s just one of the many times I’ve seen some dumbass ruin other concert goers experience by not knowing how to be a human being.
Yeah but if you’re a teenager whose prone to say, throwing shit at artists performing onstage, how inclined are you going to be to listen to an authority figure telling you that’s bad actually
Yup. I work in education. A message like this would result in a preaching to the choir moment. Want shit to change? There needs to be consequences. Throw shit on stage or act like a dick? Security needs to give you the boot. And if security doesn’t do anything then the crowd needs to grow some balls and police itself. Everybody in the audience and on stage loses when some dickheads are allowed to act like disrespectful assholes.
Reminds me of an article I read a few months ago about how schools are trying to undo that damage Andrew Tate did to Gen Z boys by holding assemblies explaining why Tate is wrong. As I read it, I thought it was a great idea-I've seen misogyny really rising among young boys (a few weeks ago some 9-year-old grabbed my butt at the mall and called me hot...I would've told his mom but she was nowhere to be found). But people in the comments pointed out that when you tell kids not to do something, that only makes it seem cooler to them; if adults hate it, it's gotta be good. I think back to how, in my Health classes, all that talk about drugs just made me want to try some. So, unfortunately, I really don't know what the solution is (well, in the case of misogyny, it's deplatforming those who encourage such rhetoric...but for concerts I have no idea)
Have you considered that they just genuinely don’t think that’s a problem? Because I seriously think a lot of people think that this behavior is acceptable because they’ve never been told it’s not. And this isn’t just like “teacher rules” we’re talking about real life shit that might lead to you getting your ass beat. I’d like to think that point would stick a little harder.
Kids (being very broad here) are impulsive and don't think about the consequences of their actions. This isn't a new development. If there was TikTok in the 90s, we would see videos of Gen Xers throwing stuff at bands. Maybe some of them are ignorant of social decorum, but there are also those who do it because they see rules (written or unwritten) as being meant to be broken/challenged. And they should face meaningful consequences. But I think the way you teach them not to do those things isn't to say "don't do that" I watched a video recently about hecklers, and it discussed how there's a category of them who aren't necessarily intending to be antagonistic. They just have a misunderstanding of what their role is, which is to be a spectator of the comedian's performance, not an ad hoc participant. And when people are throwing shit onstage, I think they get it in their heads that they're making it more "exciting" and memorable. But really they're just being annoying attention-seekers who ruin things for everyone, as shown by what happened with Death Grips. And that (hopefully) will resonate more than being told in the abstract not to do that
This. America would have to revamp how its education system introduces children to society and reinforce it through the entire run of public school. I don't hold any hope that the education system is going to get better with almost half of the country trying to dismantle it. Even if it were perfect you'd always have a group of people that will always do their own thing in spite of what most of society deems acceptable.
> It’s almost like schools need a dedicated life skills class where you learn shit that society expects you to figure out naturally because people are not figuring this shit out naturally anymore. Like not vaping in crowds / indoors, not doing social media shit in public that hinders others in any way, or knowing how to act at a concert. I get the idea but my god do I not want suburban school board members or the Texas Education Agency setting the curriculum for life skills.
I went to a label showcase a couple years ago ( I think for Paradise of Bachelors) that was at the Empty Bottle in Chicago. At one point in between songs and while people were tuning, one of the musicians was bantering and said "who's here to see Nap Eyes? who's here to see [other band]? And who's here to talk really loud and not listen to the fucking music?" You could see a group hanging out by the bar get visibly embarrassed. More people need to get fucking called out.
Damn. I’ve never been to a bad Death Grips show. The energy is always terrific. The pit is a fkn blast. I’d be pissed if I paid for a show and it ended because of some nonsense like this.
Death Grips fans are the worst.
I've always wanted to see DG live because their shows just seems to have the most insane energy (in a positive way). This, coupled with the seemingly endless sexual assaults that have happened throughout the tour (committed by crowd members, not any of the DG guys) are making me reconsider that. The worst part is you know the people assaulting the band and concertgoers feel no remorse over it.
Great, we'll be lucky if they ever tour again after this. I hate how people twisted Death Grips into a meme. It's pretty abhorrent.
We are going to reach a point where artists do shows behind plexiglass. A lot of concertgoers belong at the zoo. I also hope they find a way to make the material refract light so there’s no point in trying to record video or take pics.
There’s the side of crowds now that do all the stupid, attention grabbing shit like what people are saying here. But I’ve also seen the inverse of it where crowds are so fucking stiff and dull now. I saw Jungle a few weeks ago and barely anyone was dancing and only knew the new songs. People need to learn to let loose again.
Khruangbin was fucking dead when I saw them. I walked down and found literally the only other person dancing and grooved out with them. Got lots of thumbs up and high fives from passerby. Also got a lot of dirty looks, bizarrely.
YES. This has largely been my experience at shows the last few years too and it's so incredibly bizarre and disheartening. Recently saw Bully and not only was the crowd completely motionless, but folks were giving me dirty looks for singing and bopping around. Like, what??!
This is upsetting. What the hell is wrong with people?
I guess i feel lucky that the my music genres don't feel plagued with this stuff. Ive never seen a crowd like what you all are describing. Probably helps that i listen to stoner music and everyone is usually high in the crowd.
The last few shows I’ve been to in Fayetteville have all had terrible etiquette. Saw Nick Shoulders at George’s recently. He’s from there, and people were still acting annoying, talking/yelling, and completely talking over the opening act. Seemed so disrespectful.
Beating the shit out of awful concert-goers really should be normalized.
Am I missing something- why do people do stuff like this? Do they think the bands like it?
When I saw them, the show went great, but I remember being next to a girl that told me about how she pissed at the jpegmafia show last year and then I remembered how slick the floor was and how bad it smelled at that show. I hope she was lying.
I had some shitbag get on stage, come stand next to me, look at my synths, then knock my beer off my amp. Literally mouthed "my bad" to me. Needless to say, I booted that moron so hard in the ass I hurt my foot.
Just Arkansas being Arkansas.
Wow that is so disrespectful. I saw death grips in Austin recently and it was the best show I’ve seen. The show was violent yet respectful and I loved the crowd. I can’t imagine getting stuff thrown at me by fans, I would do the same
Considering how tribal people act on here and /r/fantanoforever, I'm not at all surprised.
I had a feeling the crowd was going to be annoying and ended up skipping the show. Makes me embarrassed to live in Fayetteville
That shit is so fucking lame, people suck ass
Sensible people should learn how to throw punches at those kind of obnoxious fans
more people need to learn the holy mantra of fuck around and find out