# The 10 most annoying concert behaviors



## GuitarsCanada (Dec 30, 2005)

_From Rolling Stone Magazine


_I have witnessed all of them too many times to mention, except number 5


By Andy Greene
January 14, 2013 3:33 PM ET

Going to rock concerts has always meant dealing with a bunch of unruly people, many of them very drunk – but it seems like lately things have been worse than ever. Attention spans are at an all-time low, and the ubiquity of smartphones has resulted in a huge percentage of the audience at any given show barely paying attention to the action onstage. Here are the 10 most annoying behaviors at rock concerts:
*1. Taking pictures the entire freaking show.*
I get it. You want to show all your friends on Facebook and Twitter that you saw a cool concert. Fine. Take a photo. Take five if you want! But please, don't take 77. You always manage to hold your camera right in my line of sight. You don't even look like you're enjoying the show while you're doing this. All your attention is on the photos. And you know what? Those photos are all going to look like shit. Every single one of them. You're too far away. You'll probably never even look at them. Also, you see those guys right in front of the stage with the giant cameras? They're taking great professional pictures. There's really no need for yours.
*2. Checking e-mail, Facebook and Twitter every couple of minutes.*
Unless you're a surgeon or a firefighter, everything can wait. Live in the moment. Enjoy the show. You paid good money to be here. You can e-mail your friends when you get home. Also, that cellphone emits a very harsh and distracting glow. For the love of God, just turn it off.
On Daily Beast: Technology's Awkward Bathroom Invasion
*3. Incessantly talking to your friends.*
You might not like whatever song is playing. You may be bored with the show in general. You may have been dragged here against your will. But you've been chattering the entire show, and I can hear every word. It's driving me crazy. Please shut up. Please. I can't tell you how many shows I attend where the two people in front of me are yelling in each others' ears the entire night. Not only is my sightline blocked when their heads come together, but I can hear them. Maybe go to a coffee shop when the show is done. Lie under an oak tree and talk until the sun comes up. I don't care. Just quiet down so I can enjoy the show.
*4. Yelling out requests.*
Look, I hope Morrissey plays "There Is A Light That Never Goes Out" also. That would be cool – but stop screaming for it. Most of the time the set list is pre-determined, and you're screaming in my ear. They're going to play what they're going to play. Go along for the ride. And to the guy screaming for a super obscure B-side from 15 years ago? Nobody thinks you're cool.
*5. Yelling out "Freebird!"*
This request deserves its own subcategory of irritation. This joke has never been funny. Not once. Just stop. It was lame in 1981. Now it's just infuriating.
*6. Pushing your way to the front.*
If a concert is general admission, the people in front earned their spots. They got there early and laid claim to their space. The people all the way in front might have even spent all day camped out by the doors, so when the lights go off and you shove your way to the front, you're being a huge asshole. Don't do that. If you show up late and there's only room in the back, you've just gotta deal with it.
*7. Getting so drunk you puke.*
At pretty much any big concert, you'll see a janitor emerge after a couple of songs with a big broom and a bucket of sawdust. It means somebody puked. It's a bummer for the puker, but the people all around have to deal with the aftermath. Don't be the vomit guy. There's no worse kind of person to be at the concert.
*8. Loudly complaining after the show because the band didn't play your favorite song.*
Not all artists take the Rod Stewart/Billy Joel/Tom Petty approach of "nothing but the hits." Performers like Neil Young or Van Morrison are unpredictable. This is actually a good thing. Try to enjoy the show you're getting as opposed the one you wish you were seeing. Besides, haven't you heard "Brown Eyed Girl" and "Southern Man" enough?
*9. Filming the entire show on your iPhone.*
This distracts people even worse than taking pictures, and usually results in an equally horrid product. The sad irony is that people tend to film their favorite songs, but the smiles on their faces are gone when all their concentration goes into capturing these moments on film. Tomorrow morning, YouTube will be cluttered with crappy cellphone videos of every song from whatever show you're seeing. There's no need to add to that. You paid good money to see a show, and you're joylessly watching it through a tiny screen on your iPhone. It just doesn't make any sense.
*10. Yelling "Sit down!" at people who are standing up.*
This is a real problem at theater and arena shows that attract fans over the age of, say, 40. Nobody can quite agree when to stand or when to sit down. Inevitably, there are some people standing right in front of people that wish to remain seated. Between songs, someone will scream "Sit down!" The stander either obliges, or yells back something like "Go fuck yourself." The person in the seat just seethes with rage, and the tension seeps through the whole section. Often the person is standing only because someone in front of them is standing. It leads to chaos, and grumpy old people spending the entire show miserable. This has to stop. Here's a simple rule of thumb: If you can't see, stand up. It's very easy. Inversely, if everyone in front of you is seated, sit down. Go with the flow and just relax. We're all in this concert together.


Read more: The 10 Most Annoying Concert Behaviors | Music News | Rolling Stone 
Follow us: @rollingstone on Twitter | RollingStone on Facebook


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## vadsy (Dec 2, 2010)

It was 1998, I was 16. I got into a no minors establishment to see a battle of the bands, it was a friends band and I actually came through the back with them. Halfway through the groups set a dude from the bar yells out "Play some Skynyrd... mannnn!" Lots of folks laughed, I thought it was funny as hell and so did my buddy's band. Years later I was hanging out at some random show with the bass player from my friends band and he yells out the same thing and for some reason nobody found it funny not even us, his friends. Bass players, hey?


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## zontar (Oct 25, 2007)

I get some of those--but overall--ignore them.

I did take some video at a blues festival last summer--but I wasn't concerned with the visual.

In fact you can tell I wasn't watching the screen--I was watching the stage live--because my framing was off--and jittery.

but the audio sounded cool.

It was for me personal use--no plans of putting any of it on youtube--although some others did--and their video was better than mine...

I did take a few pictures and I knew most wouldn't be that great--but so what

My focus was on listening and enjoying the experience as well.
It was a great day.

Let Andy Greene be a stick in the mud if he wants...


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## Guest (Feb 28, 2013)

Pearl Jam
Molson Park Barrie
1998

Huge crowd.

We were back, on the edge of the mosh pit.

Girl gets up on her boyfriend's shoulders. Very much obstructing the view of people behind her.

People yelling. Cajolling.

She flips them off.

All of a sudden you see a full, large, bottle of water arcing through the air. I remember watching it fly, end over end over end over end, in slow motion.

The trajectory a gracefully parabola outlined against the dusk sky.

And perfect.

Just perfect aim.

She went down hard.

The crowd cheered.

Pearl Jam played Better Man.


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## surlybastard (Feb 20, 2011)

The funny thing about #5 is some band's reaction to it. Apparently if you yell it at a Phish concert they will play it, in it's entirety. And if someone yells it again, they'll stop whatever they're doing and play it again. This is their strategy to get people to stop yelling it.

But generally it's a great list, I have one friend who breaks many of these rules at concerts much to my annoyance, I sent the RS article to him when I saw it a couple of weeks ago, he didn't get the hint...


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## SKATTERBRANE (Feb 14, 2013)

I am the guy seething because I PAID for a reserved SEAT, not a reserved place to stand.

11. People who sing along. I did not pay to hear YOU sing . It is big money to see someone in concert, let me sit in peace and be able to see and HEAR the show from the seat I paid for. And get off my lawn.


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## marcos (Jan 13, 2009)

Do like I do, dont go. Simple as that !!!


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## JHarasym (Mar 27, 2007)

Here's my #1 (showing my age): worst at indoor shows : a girl sitting directly behind me and to the side, hooting at siren volume (seemingly right in my ear) every time the band does anything. I understand audience members wanting to enthusiastically show their appreciation, but there are many less obnoxious ways to do so. Like pulling your top up.


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## Roryfan (Apr 19, 2010)

JHarasym said:


> Here's my #1 (showing my age): worst at indoor shows : a girl sitting directly behind me and to the side, hooting at siren volume (seemingly right in my ear) every time the band does anything. I understand audience members wanting to enthusiastically show their appreciation, but there are many less obnoxious ways to do so. Like pulling your top up.



Saw Skynryd at the Indy 500 last yr, I wish those broads would've left their tops on & made some noise instead. Shudder.

The worst thing I've ever experienced at a concert did not make the list. Went with a buddy & his kids to see Prince's Musicology show at the ACC a few (8ish?) yrs ago. A few stupid chicks behind us would scream during the entire song about how sexy Prince was and then remain quiet in between songs. When my buddy told them to shut up, one of them actually cupped her hands and shrieked directly into his ear. It was at that exact moment that I understood why the Beatles stopped touring.


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## GuitarsCanada (Dec 30, 2005)

Of all of them, singing is the one I think that bothers me the most. Especially if you are at a show with an entertainer that can really sing. Metallica does not fit the bill. I am talking more of real singers with beautiful voices and all you can here is some fool trying to sing along that is hopelessly incapable. That will ruin a show real fast.


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## Guest (Mar 4, 2013)

marcos said:


> Do like I do, dont go. Simple as that !!!


same here. I watch on u-tube. productions are good with close ups you can't 
see from a seat. also, you can pause to go get a beer and not miss a note.


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## OldGuitarPlayer (Feb 25, 2013)

I don't like it when security throws you out for smoking a joint.


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## guitarman2 (Aug 25, 2006)

I love to listen to music and have a couple of good systems set up for doing just that. I'll go to smaller outdoor type concerts (Fairs, etc) that don't cost alot. But between the evil ticket master and the crap you have to put up with unruly fans I just don't bother. My money gets used for better things. 
I had tickets for the last Roger Waters Wall concert in Toronto, but a couple weeks before the concert I thought better of it, and decided to sell them and not go. They sold easily in a day for exactly what I paid.


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## zontar (Oct 25, 2007)

guitarman2 said:


> I love to listen to music and have a couple of good systems set up for doing just that. I'll go to smaller outdoor type concerts (Fairs, etc) that don't cost alot. But between the evil ticket master and the crap you have to put up with unruly fans I just don't bother. My money gets used for better things.
> I had tickets for the last Roger Waters Wall concert in Toronto, but a couple weeks before the concert I thought better of it, and decided to sell them and not go. They sold easily in a day for exactly what I paid.


One of the reasons I cut down on concerts--besides the escalating prices--was that they became a madhouse of bodies.
You'd be on the floor for a band that shouldn't have a moshpit--but one would form any ways.
That kind of thing.

But the Blues Festival I was at last summer was more than decently priced ($30 for the Saturday is what we paid--but if we'd been there for the Friday night & Sunday it would still have been cheap--I forget the price)
They won't be having one this year due to lack of funds--well they could have charged $50 or $60 and it still would have been more than worth it. (8 bands--plus a jam at the end.)


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## bluzfish (Mar 12, 2011)

I'm so old I can remember when a normal arena concert cost 2.50, 3.50 and 4.50 (1/2 to 1 hour's work) and you would see 3 bands - Jimi, The Doors and Janis - Rory, Soft Machine and Cream - Albert King, Vanilla Fudge and Led Zeppelin - and so on, every weekend. People who wanted to stand, shout and sing and act like silly fools were forced by peer pressure to the arena floor area and joints were passed around freely by strangers. Of course, it was a 10 mile walk uphill both ways in bare feet through raging blizzards to get to the concerts, but it was worth it. sdsreevilGuitar::rockon::rockon2:


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## zontar (Oct 25, 2007)

bluzfish said:


> Of course, it was a 10 mile walk uphill both ways in bare feet through raging blizzards to get to the concerts, but it was worth it. sdsreevilGuitar::rockon::rockon2:


I must be younger than you--it was only a 5 mile walk through freezing rain--but it was still uphill both ways.


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## Option1 (May 26, 2012)

Oh gawd, the filming the entire concert with their iphone is a major bug of mine. Not because of the annoyance at the concert itself, but the clogging of ewechube with their incredibly crappy, out of focus, shaky, tonally pathetic, visual diarrhoea of a video such that making searching for a song by the band concerned becomes impossible. Even worse when they label their visual faeces something like "Super High Quality HD of band X LIVE!" It's not, it really isn't - not even to a blind deaf dead person.

Neil


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## LowWatt (Jun 27, 2007)

This is why I only to go to smaller shows. Big shows tend to be overpriced, disconnected from the artist, filled with fans more interested in capturing the moment for their personal records than enjoying the experience and the sound is so mixed down and processed by the time it's in the crowd, why bother going? A good small show doesn't cost you much (almost always under $10) and is filled with people who legitimately are there to enjoy the show and a band that you can actually get close to and probably share a beer with after. All the it requires is getting off your ass and seeking out good new music instead of the repetitive shit that is the life blood of commercial radio, classic or modern.


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