Is Concert Etiquette Dead?

Every time I decide to go and scroll on Twitter, especially during festival and tour season, I see people complaining about how shit people’s behaviour at concerts has become, mainly since lockdown ended. What I want to know is, have people forgotten how to act due to being isolated for so long? Is a new generation of music fans and concert goers introducing new social norms to concerts and festivals?

The first thing I’m going to mention is camping. I’ll admit it, I have camped a day before a concert many times. Not even 24 hours in most cases, I’d get there at night the day before the concert and then doors open at around 5pm the next day. To some people, this is crazy and unnecessary behaviour, which I get but I have to say, the vibe is amazing, with all your friends, up until 4 o clock in the morning, meeting new people. However, there are a lot of people who do take it too far, I mean camping outside a concert venue for more than 2 days is crazy to me, but I have seen so many cases of fans camping for up to 5 days, sometimes longer, before a concert, and my question is WHY? I’m all for having fun and enjoying the experience and everything else that comes with it, but camping outside a music venue for close to a week? I can’t begin to tell you how unsafe and unhygienic that is. I do find it funny reading music fans on twitter kicking off over camping and making jokes about how bad the first few rows smell due to camping out for days and not showering, and whilst some people do just take it too far and bully people, in a way I kind of agree with them. If being at the very front of a large capacity venue worth catching all sorts of colds and not showering for days? No, it isn’t. Get a hotel and show up the morning of the concert, or even the night before, but a whole week before? Go home. Since camping culture has become so widespread and common, a lot of music venues have started to say that those who camp won’t be honoured and their place in line doesn’t mean anything when it comes to doors opening. Whilst I see what the venues are trying to do, at the end of the day, if people want to camp, they will, and I don’t think giving out rules (that are rarely applied by the venues anyway) is going to stop them.

Whilst the controversy surrounding camping culture is the main topic I wanted to mention, there are a few other things I’ve noticed going wrong when it comes to how people should be acting at concerts. With the rise of social media, especially twitter and stan culture, people are scared to breath without being ‘cancelled’ on twitter. I completely get doing it to people who have seriously harmed you or those around them or done something criminal or offensive, but why on earth am I seeing fans ‘cancelling’ other fans for stupid things like getting lyrics up for the support act, going on their phones instead of listening to the support act, I get you see it as rude or whatever but why are you getting upset about it on twitter, I guess I’ll never understand it. People can’t have fun at concerts anymore or act how they want (whilst remaining respectful) because someone around them is always ready to write a twitter thread. However, on the other hand you do get someone every now and again who thinks they can shove and push and hit people and they will always use the excuse ‘it’s a gig, expect to be pushed’ yeah, in a mosh pit, what I don’t expect is to be stood there nowhere near the pit, minding my own business and be punched in the back of the head or knocked to the floor, the point, this actually happened, that I had to be dragged over the barrier because a girl felt the need to dig her elbows into the back of my throat to the point I was struggling for breath. There’s no need to act like that and in conclusion I think people just need to learn you must be respectful at concerts. If you don’t get the space you wanted, get over it, hundreds of people would probably have killed to be in your position.