Concert Etiquette: Don't Sing Unless You Know the Words
Nick Parker
Issue date: 4/19/05 Section: Opinion
Concerts are a great way to relax and have fun for an evening. Local bands and traveling acts alike have shows in Salt Lake and around the world every night.
Crowd participation is one of the biggest highs for a band. Dancing, singing, jumping around, crowd surfing and moshing are all indications that fans are having a good time. Sometimes this participation gets a little out of hand, though. I went to go see my favorite local band "Clifton" the other night and I couldn't help noticing that concerts just aren't what they used to be.
I'll start with crowd surfing. This ancient art of moving through the audience with your head to the sky and your feet in the air is too easily abused nowadays. People get their heads kicked by unscrupulous surfers, girls are groped without class and people fall into sometimes permanent injury. Being passed around like a little beach ball can and has led to some nasty injuries on each end of the waves.
Once the average concert idiot is done riding the palms of his friends, he's got to squeeze through the front lines without regard to personal comfort or space. When people are packed with less than an inch of breathing room, this guy will undoubtedly push his way past you on his way to the pit.
My least favorite part of the concert degradation in the past couple years is the transforming mosh pit. We used to get in the pit, have a little fun pushing and shoving around. Now a pit has become an all-out war zone. People flail their arms and legs in violent attempts to connect with their peers. This is not how a pit is supposed to be. It was never meant to hurt people, but support a semi-violent slamming of one another. Sure, to the non-pitter this might sound ignorant and stupid, but pits are like a family affair. Once you're knocked down, everybody should scramble to help you up and back into the fray. It seems to me that friendly pits have almost gone completely out of style. Now if you want to jump around in there a little, you have to wear body armor.
Crowd participation is one of the biggest highs for a band. Dancing, singing, jumping around, crowd surfing and moshing are all indications that fans are having a good time. Sometimes this participation gets a little out of hand, though. I went to go see my favorite local band "Clifton" the other night and I couldn't help noticing that concerts just aren't what they used to be.
I'll start with crowd surfing. This ancient art of moving through the audience with your head to the sky and your feet in the air is too easily abused nowadays. People get their heads kicked by unscrupulous surfers, girls are groped without class and people fall into sometimes permanent injury. Being passed around like a little beach ball can and has led to some nasty injuries on each end of the waves.
Once the average concert idiot is done riding the palms of his friends, he's got to squeeze through the front lines without regard to personal comfort or space. When people are packed with less than an inch of breathing room, this guy will undoubtedly push his way past you on his way to the pit.
My least favorite part of the concert degradation in the past couple years is the transforming mosh pit. We used to get in the pit, have a little fun pushing and shoving around. Now a pit has become an all-out war zone. People flail their arms and legs in violent attempts to connect with their peers. This is not how a pit is supposed to be. It was never meant to hurt people, but support a semi-violent slamming of one another. Sure, to the non-pitter this might sound ignorant and stupid, but pits are like a family affair. Once you're knocked down, everybody should scramble to help you up and back into the fray. It seems to me that friendly pits have almost gone completely out of style. Now if you want to jump around in there a little, you have to wear body armor.
