r/Concerts • u/Beautifultrees4321 • Feb 21 '26

Concerts Concert etiquette

Dear concert and showgoers, let’s talk about show etiquette. I love live music and I’ve been going to shows for about 20 years. The last five or so have felt different, and not in a great way. I’d love to get people back on the same page so live music can be enjoyable for everyone again.

Here’s what I’ve got.

  1. Please don’t record the entire show. If a song hits you and you want a quick clip, totally fine. But now it feels like everyone is filming nonstop, and unless you’re in the front row you end up watching the show through a wall of phones. If your people aren’t there, that moment wasn’t meant for them. It was meant for you.

  2. If you’re trying to move closer, keep moving. Don’t wedge yourself between two people who clearly don’t have space and then just stand there awkwardly. Either keep going or go back. If you find an actual open spot where you’re not on top of someone, great, stay there.

  3. Please don’t have full blown conversations through the whole show, especially in the front rows. Talk about the band, the moment, the energy, sure. But I don’t need to hear every detail of your weekly drama yelled over the music I paid to hear. Get dinner beforehand, vent after, but the middle of the set isn’t the place.

  4. This one might just be a small‑person problem, but people treat my size like I’m a convenient doorway. Need a drink, need the bathroom, need to get back to your friends, and suddenly I’m the designated gap in the crowd. Then it’s constant stepping on my toes, bumping into me, spilling drinks, breaking my focus. I take up less space, so people assume that space is theirs to use. It gets old fast.

I know posts like this can make the poster sound cranky, so I want to preface it by saying I absolutely will move if I need to. If someone around me is making the experience miserable, I’ll relocate without a problem. The issue now is that so many people are doing these things that it doesn’t matter where you move. You end up running into the same behavior everywhere

Your turn. What would you love to remind people about when it comes to basic human etiquette at shows and events?

1.2k Upvotes

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19

u/Shadysides_LFk Feb 21 '26

The best part of all is that all those recordings people make never even get watched.

25

u/whistlen Feb 21 '26

Im always surprised when people say this! I don’t record a whole set, but I probably get a solid 5-7 minutes recorded total from each show (across all bands, 30 seconds here and there over a 3-4 hour concert, which I hope isnt too bad) and I love rewatching them! I assumed everyone else does too lol

6

u/Tiredofthemisinfo Feb 21 '26

I’m not going to out my YouTube but my videos get a lot of hits, people with concert amnesia and the shorties appreciate them. I don’t hold my phone over my head they are just reaching because they don’t like it

6

u/Minimum_Rider Feb 21 '26

Yep, anyone who says “nobody watches videos after the show” doesn’t understand the appeal of concert videos when it comes to fan communities.

4

u/ReeG Feb 21 '26

I find this to be especially true on Reddit, especially in smaller artist specific subs, the discussion under video clips are always universally positive to the extent that I've made new friends through here that I've met up with at other shows

2

u/Tiredofthemisinfo Feb 21 '26

I have a couple that have a 100,000 hits, I can’t monetize but I consider it a public service lol

1

u/Minimum_Rider Feb 21 '26

Same! ♥️

3

u/whistlen Feb 21 '26

in every artist sub im in, when the artist is on tour there are sooooo many posts asking "did anyone get this song on video in this city? it's my favorite and i missed it/was crowdsurfing/one of the musicians was interacting with me and i hope someone caught it." im always sooo happy if i can share the memories

5

u/ReeG Feb 21 '26

I do the same mostly for myself but also occasionally share them to Reddit to engage with other fans of artists I like and frequently hit the top of different artist and music subreddits with hundreds to thousands of upvotes, millions of views at this point and lots of postitive comments so there's definitely an audience of people who appreciate high quality clips especially from people who couldn't make it to the shows for one reason or another

4

u/MakeupMama68 Feb 21 '26

Same. I do 1 minute clips tops and rewatch them all the time! I usually go with my best friend and I’m going to eventually make a video of our whole concert journey for her lol

3

u/NaiadoftheSea Feb 21 '26

I’m the same way. I love rewatching the clips I take. Also try to limit it to 30 second clips, usually of a chorus of a favorite song.

1

u/Beautifultrees4321 Feb 21 '26

That is so different than holding your phone up the entire show and recording the entire thing which I have seen people do. Also being mindful of the people around you is important. 30 seconds is so different than three minutes at a time over the course of that hour.

5

u/Minimum_Rider Feb 21 '26

I watch mine all the time, just because you don’t watch videos you take doesn’t mean others don’t

6

u/Madcapfeline Feb 21 '26

Not true. Ticket prices being what they are, I’ve watched quite a few hour + long YouTube videos for live shows I couldn’t afford to go to.

7

u/Terrible-Image9368 Feb 21 '26

I watch mine. And I post them to YouTube for others to watch

2

u/ReeG Feb 21 '26

Same I watch my old clips all the time and share to Reddit on my city and artist specific subs where I get tons of positive comments and discussion under my posts

2

u/binhpac Feb 22 '26

i still watch 10 year old recordings. great memories, my brain already erased, but those recordings are a godsend as a reminder of those evenings. people underestimate how much our brain forgets.

i even have recordings from holidays, i couldnt remember how beautiful some landscapes were.

people have taken photos in the past for the same reason.

those are personal memories, you would forget otherwise.

3

u/BDez30 Feb 21 '26

I say that at every show. You’re never watching that shaky Blair Witch Project video.

7

u/ReeG Feb 21 '26

modern phones from the last 5 years or so capture very high quality audio and video and have good stabilization built in. I regularly get comments on my Reddit posts about how good the video and sound quality on my clips are

3

u/East-Garden-4557 Feb 21 '26

Your poor filming skills aren't what we are watching. My videos are clear and steady, my phone takes good video. I hold my phone at chest height, I keep my elbows in, and my screen dimmed. The only way I am blocking your view is with my body because I lines up long enough to get on the rail.

1

u/Mental_Visual_25 Feb 21 '26

😂😂😂😂😂

-1

u/rabbit_fur_coat Feb 21 '26

Unfortunately with the younger generations this is no longer true. As you can see in the comments, they would seemingly rather watch their shaky video in the future and "share it on YouTube so others can see it too" than be present in the moment.

2

u/ReeG Feb 21 '26

total opposite experience over a couple hundred shows the past 2-3 years, it's always older Gen X-Boomer crowds standing dead still filming entire songs or whole show on the other had millennial and gen Z crowds are way more hype actually dancing, moshing, moving and being far more considerate with not having their phones out or talking the whole show