Let’s face it: crowd etiquette has hit rock bottom. 

With concerts now back in full swing and bands announcing tours out the ass, crowds of new and old fans are being drawn into concert venues across the globe. During the openers, the crowd remains relatively calm, depending on the artist and the fans in the crowd, but usually, once the second or headlining artist comes out that’s when things start to change.

At live shows, there is the usual dancing, moshing, and crowd surfing, but recently something more intimidating has started to take on a bigger life—crowd rushing. 

A crowd rush occurs when a group of people is confined in an area and there is movement such as pushing that causes crowd patrons to cram together and eventually fall over. 

I’ve been to shows before the pandemic and there wasn’t really an issue with it, but recently crowd rushing has become so severe that some bands are having to stop mid-set to tell crowds to take a few steps back so people at the barricade can breathe. Some bands have even gone far enough to threaten that they will cut their sets short if the crowd doesn’t operate safely. 

A prime example that everyone is at least familiar with is the 2021 Astroworld Festival. At this fest, a fatal crowd crush occurred where it is suspected the surge happened when rapper Travis Scott came onto the main stage. This surge was caused by people who were pushing to get to the front of the crowd so they could get to the stage. 

Events like this are not uncommon nowadays at shows. Some people in the crowd never get the chance to snag an early entry ticket or simply cannot afford the prices of the early entry tickets (as tickets have racked up in price) so they go to their next best (and free) option—pushing. 

Pushing can occur from any point in the crowd, but I would say from experience most of it comes from the back of the crowd once the main artist comes onto the stage. This might not sound uncommon for a concert because the point of the show is you paid to be there so the least that should happen is that you actually see the artist, but moves like this can be dangerous as the back of the crowd rushes to the front, the front of the crowd has nowhere else to go but straight into the barricade. 

But this also poses problems for the middle of the crowd as usually, depending on what show you’re at, this is where the mosh pit usually opens up. For the pit to open you need some space to allow people to go crazy and do whatever in there, but if people are packed together and can barely move, the opening of the pit usually causes more problems within the crowd as more people are pushed into more people for more room. 

Now, to be clear, I’m not bashing mosh pits or wanting to see your favorite artist with your own two eyes. But, to be completely clear, I am 100% bashing the people who never learned concert etiquette and/or learned it from people who believe that being rough at shows is the right thing to do because this also bleeds into other events’ crowds.

When the University of Alabama came to Death Valley to play LSU I knew I was going to see some sort of disagreement with fans in and around the stadium, but I never thought it would’ve been over the lack of room in the student section.

This was a big game for both schools, but people were crowding the walkways and stairways that lined the bleacher seats of the stadium. This is not usually a problem as most students who have game day tickets flood the stadium to show school spirit, but people who were still not in the student section were trying to maneuver their way into the stadium. 

The movement caused people to cram together, trip over ledges on walkways and to even fall onto students who were sitting in the bleachers. Being crammed together plus alcohol consumption before, and during, the game caused short tempers and some verbal altercations in the section. This went on for most of the game and no security personnel came in to try and direct people to less crowded parts of the section. 

This is not something new for crowds nowadays. Ever since pandemic restrictions have been lifted, venue security has gone lax and people are starting to take advantage of it, and it’s getting people hurt and ruining live music experiences. 

So, next time you’re at a show carefully move your way closer to the stage, and don’t be an asshole.