If you have been to a concert in the past two years, you know very well that the post-pandemic concert crowd is rowdy, selfish and inconsiderate of others around them. Recently it feels like a miracle to leave a show without having a negative interaction with someone in the pit; from queue-jumping to drinking too much and making it everyoneâs problem, the crowd can ruin your entire evening.
Concert etiquette has not always been non-existent. Gone are the days when you could make friends in the crowd, bond over the artist youâre there to see and have a fun night with no unwelcome interruption. The pandemic has changed the standing pit for the worse, and the reason for this, like a lot of things, is TikTok.
When we were all bored, locked up in our homes for months on end, many people (myself included) found entertainment in the consumption of celebrity culture. The masses of viral videos of artists on stage filled the âFor Youâ page while we reminisced about the outside world before lockdown. Since 2020, TikTok has created many new passionate music fans, expanding artistsâ fanbases on a much larger scale than before. Fans, new and old, craved access to the live music they were watching through their phones, and once these artists started announcing their post-pandemic tours, the demand for tickets has been unprecedented (I think we all remember The Eras Tour Ticketmaster war).
Where concerts used to be about the music, for a lot of new fans, it’s now just another event to post about for their followers. The pit is always a sea of phones belonging to people trying to capture a moment that will propel them towards a single day of TikTok fame. As much as seeing screens instead of faces must annoy the artists themselves, for those in the crowd itâs not much more fun. Being not much taller than 5 foot and standing behind arms attached to phones in the air, often makes it impossible for me to see a thing, and Iâve been to many shows where I havenât been able to see the artist at all.
Even worse is that for these people to get the best videos possible, theyâll fight for the best view they can get, no matter how disrespectful they must be to get it. Starting fights in the queue over who was there first, queue-jumping, and pushing in front of people in the crowd who have been queuing for hours on end are not uncommon experiences in the post-pandemic pit. What makes this worse is that a lot of these new âfansâ arenât fans at all. Many are just there to experience the one TikTok viral song that filled their âFor Youâ page for a few weeks. You may remember seeing videos from Steve Lacyâs tour following his TikTok smash âBad Habitâ. His crowd was filled with fans who came for that single song, and could only sing the verse that blew up on TikTok. Many post-pandemic concert goers are causing trouble in the crowd in fight of their viral moment, instead of enjoying the concert for its music.
Iâm not saying going to shows for artists whose setlists you donât know word-for-word is bad (itâs something Iâm guilty of), but going to a show and having no respect for the artistsâ other fans is a problem. If youâve never been to a show before, itâs important to research concert etiquette beforehand, whether thatâs talking to friends and family about the experience of standing in a pit or resorting to the internet for explanation.
Despite being an instigator of bad concert etiquette, TikTok can still be a great place to learn about correct etiquette from creators wanting a more positive pit experience. I think as regular concert goers, we should speak up at shows to create a better experience for people around us. If someone pushes ahead of you, call them out for it; if someoneâs too drunk and is causing problems, tell security!
Iâm positive that the further away from the pandemic we get, the better crowds will be, and the more joyful the concert experience will become.