When did you last go to a concert? A festival? My last concert was mid-July, peak summertime and I had the time of my life. However, that’s not always the case nowadays, because as modern society progresses, so does concert culture - but is it progressing how we want it to?
If we compared concert culture now to, let's say, the 1980s and 90s, the difference is astronomical. Back then, instead of painstakingly waiting for Ticketmaster to load or frantically buying the first tickets you can grab your hands on, it was much simpler, and you weren’t left as an emotional wreck. People would find themselves queuing up outside box offices or patiently waiting on the phone line, receiving tickets that didn’t sell out in the blink of an eye, just like Harry Styles’s “Love On Tour” which completely sold out in under two minutes. Although the queues, both in person and online, would be long, it was rare to not get a ticket, especially as the prices were affordable, unlike ticket prices today, which have risen dramatically, depriving some people of singing their heart out to their favourite artist. This doesn’t even take into consideration resellers and bots, who buy in bulk and sell for several times the original face value, leaving you scavenging the internet to find tickets that you don’t have to sell an arm and a leg for.
Dynamic pricing is also a prevalent factor, as when demand goes up, so do the prices. This can phase out real fans, especially those in the younger demographic, causing their gig attendance to rapidly reduce as they can’t afford the exorbitant ticket prices on offer. On some occasions, we do see artists taking a stand and pushing against these changes. For example, Olivia Dean recently (mid-November) took action against the concert organisations, Ticketmaster and AXS. She critiqued them on allowing such extortionate resale prices to be available, stating that “Live music should be affordable and accessible,
and we need to find a new way of making that possible.” This then forced these sites to put a cap on future resale rates and partially refund buyers the difference between original pricing and resale pricing. All these factors occur before even getting to the concert, so what is it actually like once you’re inside the arena and waiting for the artist to come on stage?
I mean, personally, I have never had a particularly bad experience whilst attending a concert, however, that doesn’t mean concert etiquette is of a high standard. Holding up signs for nearly the entirety of a concert, trying to attain the artist’s attention - is it really worth it? All the people behind you having their view blocked and their money spent on a ticket completely wasted. The same could happen with phones, as due to developing technology in modern society, phones have now fully infiltrated live events. Despite capturing memories being something nice to look back on, if doing so hinders the view of the person behind you, problems surface and tensions can rise.
This isn’t all, as some people even go to the lengths of throwing objects on stage or actually getting on stage themselves, such as “Pyjama Man” (Johnson Wenn). Johnson has previously got onto the stage at a Katy Perry concert and a Weeknd concert, which resulted in an erosion of personal boundaries and a significant shift in focus onto artist safety. Additionally, people find that it’s okay to throw objects on stage, like when PINK got handed someone’s mum’s ashes in 2023 during her concert, or when a fan threw a phone on stage that hit Bebe Rexha on the head, causing her to be hospitalised.
It is clear that in the modern day, concert culture has completely changed in comparison to how it was in the 1980s and 90s, with the process of trying to get tickets being much more anxiety-inducing than it was back then. In addition, there has been a decline in general concert etiquette, with disruptive behaviour occurring more frequently during concerts. Despite these factors and their effects, do not let them put you off from attending a concert, as the experience of a live show is unforgettable and is a memory you will always cherish (hopefully!).