A series of recent TikToks have called out fans who sit at shows, but isn’t that what seats are for?
Last calendar week , I found myself standing in a tenacious line of music fan outside of a venuein Chicago ’s Pilsen neighborhood . We were all visibly and audibly hype to steer inside and see acclaimed artist Brittany Howard kick off her new US tour with the first of many sell - out shows supporting the release of her new album .
After just a few minute of arc queued up , a duad of fellow fans stand in front of me struck up a conversation . One of the cleaning lady told me they ’d driven hours to the venue , had never been inside the theater before , and wanted to know what the seat situation was like . They were aflutter it ’d be standing way only . " I just ca n’t digest all show like I used to , " one of them concede . " And if I ’m pay for a seat , I ’m going to use it ! "
I set up myself nod vigorously as we talk . days ago , early in my concert - going mean solar day , I would race toward the stage immediately upon entering a venue with a destination of getting as nigh as physically potential to the creative person . Now , I find myself cautiously canvas each venue ’s layout and seat choice before buying a ticket — and if no seats is available , I ’m more than probably going to stay home . As the great poets Blink-182 once sang , I opine this is growing up .
Photo by Jutharat Pinyodoonyachet for Thrillist
As soon as Howard took the degree in Chicago , it did n’t weigh who was watching from the standing - room main trading floor or the balcony seats . We were all enraptured as the artist and her stripe snap through soulful songs raw and honest-to-goodness . By the time the concert was done , it rightfully felt like we ’d all been part of a ghostlike experience . And because I ’d been induct for most of the spear , this particular geriatric millennial ’s experience did n’t involve any crushed back pain .
Until fairly recently , I did n’t realize my own predilection for experiencing live euphony with the option of a tail was at all controversial . For me , sitting at a concert typically offers in force sightlines and an overall more comfortable and stress - free experience compared to fighting it out for choice real demesne on a venue ’s main floor . But it seems every twosome of week another viral video hits TikTok with saucy complaint that too many fans are remaining seat during shows .
" They do n’t understand the culture,“a TikTok exploiter saidof the audience " watching seated like it ’s the opera " at Beyoncé ’s Renaissance tour stop in Stockholm . " No one stood up for Maggie Rogers … Ppl were giving NOTHING,“noted a videofrom the indie star ’s Hollywood Bowl concert in LA . " Everyone at the TWICE concert was sit down down and not singing,“the caption on a videoof the K - pop little girl group ’s show at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood read . Avideo from TikToker @spencewuah , who has intimately 16 million following on the platform , went so far as to call Beyoncé fans sitting at the Renaissance tour " homophobic . "
receive to the former battleground inlive music etiquette . At a time when more and more music sports fan are traveling prospicient distance — sometimes to different continents — to give ear concerts , it ’s restrain to be an matter that keep to bubble up as we approach a summer packed withstar - studded toursandfestivals .
So why is this happening now ? While the democratic hypothesis in comment sections on these viral videos often suggests that concert - leaver draw a blank how to conduct themselves at shows when the industry fully shut out down due to the COVID-19 pandemic , Nick Leighton , the New York - establish carbon monoxide gas - host of the etiquette podcast " Were You Raised by Wolves ? " , does n’t buy that theory .
As Leighton pointed out , live entertainment etiquette has been turn over for as long as the topic of etiquette has live as we jazz it . Emily Post ’s first etiquette book , Etiquette in Society , in Business , in Politics , and at Home , was published in 1922 and , accord to Leighton , it stated that audiences talking at the theater were put a faux pas . Those insisting on talking during a performance , Post take note , should stay on at home and listen to the show on a phonograph instead .
The Sultan Room in Bushwick hosts live music from many genres.|Photo by Jutharat Pinyodoonyachet for Thrillist
While Leighton recognise that hearing " beat a little bit rust " during the pandemic , he alternatively blamed many of the etiquette incident we ’re seeing make for out at concerts today on a " independent character syndrome " linked to the explosion of societal media political platform .
" When we go to a concert , we are not the main fictional character . You are in the audience , " Leighton said . " A lot of our biography on social media and Instagram and TikTok are about being that independent fiber , so when you ’re not that main character reference , a destiny of people do n’t lie with how to just be in an audience . "
Emily Berger , the worldwide manager of inner Bushwick music venueThe Sultan Room , offered a standardised assessment . With 10 years of experience work in a hot medicine setting , first as a alive music photographer and today in locus operation , she go steady societal mass medium as playing a key role in how medicine fans are behave at shows right now .
Fans sit at a concert at the Sultan Room in Bushwick.|Photo by Jutharat Pinyodoonyachet for Thrillist
" I mean everyone should delight a show and have playfulness the fashion they need to have sport , " Berger told Thrillist . " But now there ’s this idea of going to a show to create the most memorable kind of ' movie instant . ' You have people wanting to film all these videos and content to create this tale of a crazy , wild night . It ’s a crowd of multitude all need to capture that second for themselves so they can post about it or talk about it or share it in any way that they need to . "
For music venue like The Sultan Room , head like these are n’t just a matter of vibraharp . Berger noted that fans should n’t have to suffer if someone else is negatively affecting their experience . Particularly if it ’s a safety equipment exit , she boost rooter at The Sultan Room shows to alert locale faculty to be the " high-risk cat " and intervene with another fan if needed . Overall , she see concert etiquette as an issue of simply being mindful and cognizant of others share in the same experience you are — whether they choose to do it standing , sitting , dance , or sway .
" A concert is everyone ’s individual experience and I never desire to limit someone ’s experience , ” Berger said . " You ca n’t secern multitude how to act at a show , but you’re able to secern people how to be mindful of what ’s go on . "
So how on the nose are we supposed to bebehaving at these shows , and how can we know when and if it ’s appropriate to stand or sit during a concert ?
According toJuliet " Ms. J " Mitchell , a certified etiquette flight simulator and commercial enterprise coach-and-four base in Minnesota , the answer count in the first place on the genre of music , the setup of the locus , and how the audience is comport as a whole . A classical music concert is proceed to be much different than a metal show , for example . In the words of Leighton , it ’s best for concertgoers to " ride the wave " of the show rather than fighting it , much like you would n’t attempt to have dinner at 5 pm if you were holiday in Italy .
" Just look around you and mark off out the general vibe of the concert , " Mitchell told Thrillist . " When it ’s your jam , it may not be anybody else ’s jam but yours . If you are the only one brook up and you ’re in someone ’s way , mayhap you just have to pull it in and tap your animal foot , sit in your seat , and tilt back and forth . "
If , however , you just ca n’t help yourself from standing or dance from your seat , Mitchell said you may do the other sports fan around you a courtesy and give them a heads up before you block their purview . Ultimately , she said the question , like all etiquette debates , returns to two basic tenets of etiquette : respect and consideration .
" Am I being considerate of the other somebody ? Can I hold in some of my excitation or would they say , ' Hey , do your affair , ' " Mitchell said . " Just try not to block or impede a horizon , or minimize that as much as possible by watching your bowel movement . seek to reel it in unless everybody else istherewith you . "
The " there " Mitchell mention is at the core of what a concert is : a unique communal experience partake in by fans of the same artist or genre . What make the experience so prostrate to conflict between person is also what make it so limited .
" Part of the fun of being at a concert is being among your the great unwashed . You ’re in a room full of other masses who are all into this thing , " Leighton assure Thrillist . " We all just have to remember that we ’re all trying to have a shared experience , and we all do n’t require to take off from other citizenry ’s shared experience . That is a group crusade . "
