Sunday, March 22, 2009

Concert Etiquette.

I'm doing this apart from the actual concert review because I don't want to taint it with this bad vibe, and have to get it out. The concert itself was one of the most beautiful things I've ever seen.

However, it made me think: there should be a mandatory high school class taught on concert etiquette. Where I was standing, fairly near the stage, there was one girl who was taking up the space of four people, all her swaying and moving around, and bumping into me incessantly even when those around her weren't moving the tiniest bit. On the other hand, and the other side of me, was the opposite: a man who would not budge, no matter what. I was trapped here, between this girl who took far too much room and bumped against me again and again and this fellow who felt it was his duty to stand completely still and not budge an inch. Ugh. Learn to be middle of the road, people.

And, as a former concert venue organiser, this is one of my biggest pet peeves: when the band is playing, you do not open your mouth unless it is to sing along or cough. Especially when you are in close proximity to the stage, and thus the performers. I was about two or three feet away from the stage, and during both headlining sets, there were these people around me on most sides, getting progressively drunker, carrying out conversations loud enough to be heard over the music, particularly during the more subdued songs. Augh, people.

That said, the concert was wonderful. This did not detract from it in the slightest. Lesser concerts, it would, but I wasn't letting anything get me down. Not when I was seeing Constantines and the Weakerthans.

No comments: