Concert Etiquette

Rant-O-Meter: 5/10

I love going to concerts. In fact, I may or may not judge the success of my year by the number of concerts I go to. At any rate, I have been to quite a few of them so I want to share some do's and don'ts for going to shows. Rock on!

1. Be decisive.

Know which artists you consider concert-worthy, so when tickets go on sale, you can immediately
snap them up and not run the risk of running out. A lot of people complain that they weren't able to go to a show because it was sold out. This after checking for tickets one day before the big event! These are the same people who couldn't make up their minds in the beginning if they wanted to go to the show in the first place.

My friend and I have a running list of our concert-worthy artists. These are the acts that we know we will go to see, no questions asked.  So the moment tickets go on sale, we immediately get ours so we can sit in gleeful anticipation of an awesome show.

2. At the show, don't be any of these people :

2.1 The attention - seeking screamer

This role is usually filled by tweens who feel the need to scream every.damn.minute during the show. "Hello Manila!  *SCREEEAM* We're now going to sing this song about my friend who committed suicide. It's sad. *SCREEAM*

I sat beside two such creatures once, and they really prepared their lungs for it. Mostly they turned it up every time the word motherf*cker came up, because seriously, when else can overly privileged young girls get the chance, or the actual reason, to use that word?  The poor little dears.


2.2 The Know-It-All

This is the guy who talks loudly before the show and during song breaks about the artist's personal life, motivations for writing the song, recent interview, or the last concert in New York and how different it was when Know-It-All last went there.

Yes, huzzah for you if you've seen them more than once, but chances are, all the other people around you are fans too and already know quite a lot about the artist. If this is their first time seeing them live because they weren't able to go to New York, it's probably going to be the last time too. So don't ruin their experience by being such a loudmouth. Shut up and just let us enjoy the damn show.

2.3 The Banner-Wielder

This is pretty tricky, because banners are pretty harmless and can actually be creative. In fact, we once planned to bring our own banners to a show. We were very creative about it and even assigned words (and an exclamation mark) for each person to wave.  But just as we were about to step out of the car we saw the line of concertgoers, and we somehow lost our balls and left our beautiful banners in the car. Sad.

But if you must bring a banner to show your love for the band, just be considerate of the people standing behind you. Don't block their view. Talk to them beforehand and make sure everything's copasetic. So far though, I haven't had to deal with this yet.

2.4 The Seat-Stander

I was lucky enough to get 4th row tickets to a concert at Araneta.  Unfortunately , a certain person whose name rhymes with Shmianca Shmaraneta, who was sitting in the 1ST ROW,  felt that her view wasn't good enough that she had to stand on her chair for quite some time. Now you know that in the lower section, it's level with no tiers. So someone standing on a chair just blocks everyone else's view. Maybe Ms Shmaraneta felt that since her family owned the stadium, she had the right to be just plain rude. Whatever dude. The rest of us know how to be considerate of other people. (Surprisingly, her husband actually told her to get back down and stop being such a douche. Or something to that effect.)

Don't be like Schmianca.

3. Take very few pictures and videos.

It might sound counterintuitive - you're probably thinking that you have to document every single moment of this amazing night. But every time you take a picture or video, you take away from the pure enjoyment of the moment. Nothing beats the memory you will have of your favorite band singing your favorite song.

Instead, take a couple of pictures when they're singing a song you don't like that much - and let's be honest, we all feel this way about certain songs even if we love the band.

If you're lucky enough to go with someone who is willing to help you, ask them to take the picture or video of your favorite song for you.

And if you're only taking selfies at concerts to post on your instagram, I JUDGE.

4. Wear appropriate clothing.

By this I mean, no heels or cocktail dresses. If you're one of those ladies who dresses like that, people are just looking at you and automatically thinking: groupie!

The question of concert tees also comes up. Is it, in fact, cool to wear a concert tee of the band you're going to see? The answer is: who cares? Wear whatever shirt you want. If they're selling merch outside, by all means go buy a shirt and change in the bathroom.

Also, try to avoid bringing your designer purse. You don't want to be jumping around lugging a heavy tote. A nice practical body bag would be perfect.

5. Above all else, enjoy yourself!

For the real music fan, the chance to see their favorite artist in the flesh and hear their favorite songs live is an awesome experience. You probably listen to their albums on repeat on your earphones, and to have that multiplied 10000 times could be life-changing. So even if you encounter any negative people who might harsh your aura, block them out. When the lights go down and the music starts, just know you're in for some of the greatest 90 minutes of your life.