For the past decade or so, music festivals have completely taken over. However, 2023 seems to be having a concert renaissance. This summer alone, major artists like Beyonce, Ed Sheeran, and Drake are embarking on major world tours. According to local news, the Cincinnati dates on Taylor Swift’s “The Eras Tour” is expected to bring $92 million to the city’s economy. With concerts becoming an economic crutch for cities to rely on, this can only mean these events are a much bigger part of our lives than they’ve already have been.
With this rise in popularity, a trend has been occurring recently. Since the reopening of venues after the pandemic, concerts themselves have been… different. Many concertgoers online, especially on TikTok, have noticed an increase in incidents towards performers. In addition, it seems that basic concert rules, like not talking during openers or how to behave in a General Admission area, have completely disappeared in recent times. With bigger crowds and younger people attending shows, how can we fix this issue?
fans, WE have to Behave Better!
Right now, artists are having an issue with security at shows. Recently, artist Bebe Rexha had a phone thrown at her during a performance in NYC. This left her bruised and the attacker was charged. On June 26, 2023, P!NK was dealt with an awkward situation when a fan threw their mothers ashes on stage.
As fans, we have to understand something: we aren’t friends with our favorite artists. When an artist is performing to a crowd of thousands, they can barely see you. Going out of your way to get the artists attention is not only rude and disruptive, but it’s very selfish. Thousands of fans bought tickets to a show, and the experience was ruined by one person trying to get noticed. There is a noticeable one-sided relationship forming, whether it’s through social media or increased artist-to-fan interaction, between a stan and their fav. For some mega fans, they view every interaction as a personal moment. While cherishing these moments is precious, an artist performing is a person in their zone. They’re supposed to feel comfortable and supported on stage.
Event Managers, We Also Need to Talk!
As someone who works in events, I’ve learned that crowds are constantly changed groups that require heavy supervision. Any wrong move could lead to a disaster or endanger the life of every patron in the building. With these fans acting more and more out of control, the best thing to prevent these incidents from happening is clearly establishing rules before a concert. While most venues email the rules to ticket owners, having an announcement or poster on the walls of the event itself could be a great solution. If an artist has screen visuals, working with an artist to create screen content before the artist takes the stage to establish the rules. These quick fixes could prevent incidents going forward and become an important precedent.
Concert-going isn’t something to be taken lightly. As we saw with the pandemic, anything can take away the privilege of seeing our favorite artists live. Moving forward, having respect for the artist, and workers at venues is critical to the sustainability of live music.
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