There are many great upcoming tours in 2023, so if you haven’t been to a concert post-pandemic, you’re going to want to brief yourself on the current concert culture.
What used to be a chance to see your favorite artist perform live now feels like a social media-driven competition.
Concerts have become a competitive space in all aspects of the word. For starters, the process of getting a ticket has become an anxiety-inducing nightmare. Even putting together the perfect outfit can feel a bit competitive depending on the concert.
The competitive atmosphere of concerts seems like a result of concert fever after being stuck at home for so long, but a larger part of it seems to be about obtaining status.
There has been a shift in the culture and etiquette for live shows, and the effects of the pandemic, or rather, the coping methods people turned to during the pandemic, are partly to blame.
Though the world shut down during the pandemic, social media lived on.
TikTok was more popular than ever, and people looked to it as a way to pass the time. It’s known that the pandemic had tremendous effects on people’s ability to interact with others, but it’s important to see how this side effect of the pandemic affected the live music experience.
The desire to video everything in hopes of capturing the perfect moment seems to stem from lingering FOMO due to isolation during the peak of the pandemic.
Freshly deprived of human interaction, the transition into post-pandemic life was not easy. People had to almost relearn how to behave in social settings and interact with others. But somewhere along the line, concert etiquette also got lost in translation.
People will push boundaries and violate the unspoken rules of appropriate concert behavior to compete for the artist’s attention.
If you’re familiar with Beatlemania, then you know this type of behavior isn’t new. The difference between then and now is the existence of social media.
Crowd members will throw things at the artist, hold up signs that block other people’s view and yell at inappropriate times in hopes of getting their attention and catching the moment on video for social media. They’ll do anything, even if that means throwing concert etiquette out the window.
At one of Clairo’s shows in 2022, a fan yelled, “you’re so hot” after the artist finished her performance of her song “Blouse,” which is about being over-sexualized. She was very obviously uncomfortable and even asked the crowd to stop yelling things at her.
Another example is Harry Styles getting hit in the eye by a Skittle that a fan threw at him during his performance.
Since he is known to interact with fans, people are even more determined to get his attention. It started with fans throwing things like hats, sunglasses and boas (which he happily wears), but then it turned into potential safety hazards, such as water and candy.
For reasons I cannot seem to figure out, a fan threw a handful of Skittles on stage and one of them hit Styles in the eye, which left him to finish the rest of the show squinting and holding his hand over his eye.
People no longer show up an hour before the venue’s doors open. Instead, they camp outside the venues for days, sometimes weeks in advance. Camping is not a new practice, but in recent years, it has almost become sport, and it is a controversial topic of conversation in online spaces.
Fans will leave behind their trash on the ground and leave the venue after the show without bothering to retrieve or dispose of their camping gear. Campers also bypass the venue’s system and create their own numbering or wristband systems.
In some cases, camping can be a fun experience and an opportunity to make friends, but some people report negative experiences with fellow line members while camping, such as name-calling, racism and other inappropriate behavior.
Arriving to a smaller venue a few hours early will definitely get you relatively closer to the stage. In smaller venues, being closer to the stage usually means you’ll get a better view.
This isn’t necessarily true for larger venues, where there are giant screens set up so that everyone is able to see the artist. If the artist has a different stage setup (i.e., stage is in the middle of the room or there is a catwalk), the barricade might not be the best view because you’ll only be able to see the artist for some parts of the show rather than the entire time.
But what is considered the best view? Is it the spot that gives you a clear view of the artist, light and screen displays from all angles during the show? Or is it the spot that lets you get the best videos and photos? For the avid campers, it’s the latter.
The close-up concert clips you’ve seen on your TikTok and Instagram feeds are taken by the first few rows. I used to think it was kind of nice to see clips of the shows on my feed because I could at least live vicariously through the people filming them. Then, I saw a video of what these front rows look like from another point of view in the arena.
The first five rows stand as still as they can, not even daring to dance along or express any emotion, as they watch the show through their phone (even though the artist is right in front of them).
What’s worse is some of the barricaders will watermark their photos with their Twitter handle and tweet them while the artist is performing. It’s a bit bizarre to think about spending all that money and sleeping on the sidewalk for days just to watch the show through your phone screen as you film the entire concert without even cracking a smile.
Cheating the camping system to secure the front row solely because you want to leave the venue with better, clearer footage than someone else standing further away from the stage ruins the experience of camping for everyone.
A lot of people don’t want their favorite artists to go viral on TikTok out of fear they will become “TikTokified,” meaning there will be a new wave of fans who discovered the artist via TikTok and make scoring tickets even more difficult.
The irony of it all? Despite this concern, they still can’t resist the urge to share their concert videos for the world to enjoy.
I’m not saying you shouldn’t take videos at a concert. In fact, I think you should take advantage of the fact that we live in a time where you can save your best experiences and memories on your phone and relive them any time you want. However, there is a difference between taking videos during your favorite songs and filming the entire show for social media.
I understand wanting to take as many videos as you can because you don’t want to forget anything (trust me, I’ve been there), but you’re less likely to remember the concert if you’re looking through your phone the whole time. Besides, enjoying the concert without a phone in front of your face will be a better experience for both you and the artist.
In whatever ways you decide to take part in concert culture, be mindful of concert etiquette. Also, you shouldn’t worry about catching a specific moment on video because chances are someone will post their videos online for you to watch anyway.
If you have your mind set on experiencing a concert in the front row, lining up early or even camping might be for you, but I guarantee that you will have fun no matter where you are in the venue.