Behave at a Rock Concert

Behaving yourself at a rock show can be very important to your enjoyment of the event, and the safety of yourself and others.

Steps

  1. Arrive early enough to get to your seats before the rest of the row is filled, if possible. In some stadiums or civic centers, you may have a half mile hike to arrive at your seat, and threading your way through a line of people can cause a lot of stress.
  2. Listen to ushers, security people, and others whose job it is to ensure your safety, as well as the safety of the rest of the people who are attending.
  3. Obey the rules for the venue where you are attending, including drinking and recreational drug use. These may be a very real part of the rock scene, but you should be concerned enough to behave responsibly.
  4. Be polite to people around you. Again, this may not be the ordinary attitude for concert goers, but it will tend to make it easier to enjoy the show. Here are some things which you should note.
    • Do not push and shove to get to a merchandise table, food and beverage vendor, or restroom. Rock music fans are like any group, they can be laid back and mellow, or volatile and edgy.
    • Do not throw things, insult people, or complain to people sitting near you. If the band stinks, walk out, or if there is another group coming up, chill out and wait for them.
    • Don't block the view for other concert goers. If the crowd gets up and start screaming or waving their arms, join them, but don't try to do a one person show in the stands for your own entertainment.
  5. Keep your hands, elbows, and generally all of your body parts to yourself. You may be stoked and overjoyed with the show, but you should still allow others to enjoy it in their own way.
  6. Go with the flow. Some rock concerts, usually the best ones, do get a little out of control, and if you are into it, it is fine to get involved with the crowd.
  7. Don't be disrespectful about other bands there that you may not like, especially when conversing with your friends. People can get very touchy on the subject of bands they like.
  8. Dress appropriately. Generally the best clothing to wear is that of similar bands to the headline act but as long as it's in the style of the music it's okay (e.g. black for a metal band, checkers for a ska band etc.) for most styles no-one really cares what you look like and for the ones where people do you'll probably already know the dress code.
  9. Always make an effort to get there in time for the support band as they can often put on a better show than the headline act and you never know where they are going to go in the future.
  10. Enjoy yourself. Your main aim in the gig is to have fun. This depends on what your idea of fun is, if you want to be a barrier boy then you need to get onto that front barrier right at the start and never let go no matter how squashed and deafened you get. If you want to sit and not be squashed then go upstairs. If you want to be a demon of the pit then you need to rip your shirt off and start acting like a gorilla in heat. Choose where you want to fit into the gig.

Tips

  • If you fall down, get back up quickly. If you are near someone who has fallen down, help them up. Being on the ground is not a good place to be at a concert.
  • DON'T PUNCH! You're not trying to hurt people because it's not a fight! Would you like everyone to punch you? Keep your hands open and push rather than punch.
  • Screaming is good. Holler those lungs out and put your arms up when instructed
  • Against the stage is a very coveted place to stand, and it is almost always first come first served,don't try to wedge your in, stages are rather finite.
  • Don't be scared of getting in there, the best technique is to go in all guns blazing when there's loads of people in there. The best defense is attack!
  • In general you shouldn't look at people aggressively while pushing them, because you're not trying to start on them so you don't want to give them the impression that you are. Just concentrate more on the music and rock out, don't be too concerned with who your pushing and what's going on.
  • Be mindful of the other individuals around you, and what they are doing. Gigs normally work on a "Do unto others as you would wish them do unto you" principal this means it's OK to push the guy who bashed against you in the pit and everyone is going nuts, but don't bash someone when you're not in a pit.
  • When crowd surfing it's best to go on your back, and try to spread your weight out so that people don't get crushed (it's also good to brush the heads of the people your moving towards so that they know that your coming and they can get there hands up ready).
  • If you're on the edge of a pit then it's your job to keep the thing going, just keep your arms up and make sure than when some dude crashes into you get him back in there
  • If it's getting sweaty you can take your t-shirt off. It's a good way of sliding through a pit like you're covered in baby oil, just don't push your armpit in someone's face when you put your arms up.
  • Be mindful of the clothing you wear. Don't wear jewelry that can injure people or anything that could be ripped off you e.g. eyebrow piercing, spiky bracelets, just use common sense. Sturdy shoes are a must because there's a lot of treading on feet. If you have long hair and you're going to be in the pit, put it up in a way so it won't stick to people and get pulled or slap people in the face. There's nothing worse than getting hit in the face with a wild ponytail.

Warnings

  • While others crowd surf, make sure to actually support them, rather than just moving out of the way as often this means that they land on someone else's head and hurt their neck.
  • If there are mosh-pits, where kids are hardcore dancing some of these rules don't apply, this is an advanced technique and needs to be studied before attempted.
  • If a shorter person attempts to get to the front of the stage (or a kid with their parent or something) LET THEM THROUGH! If you don't they won't be able to see, and complain the whole way through!
  • Don't argue with anyone that attempts to push up closer to the stage, if they're heading for the pit, you're not about to stop them.

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