base talk Worst concert audience you've been in

[Jeremiah]

You surely have noticed that when attending and watching an artist's show, there's other factors beyond the show itself that affect its enjoyment: like your seat placement/distance from the stage, the weather, and of course, the audience.

 

Sometimes happens that the crowd doesn't match the mood of the show. They could be too quiet and not as hyped, or too loud and overpowering the singer. Other times, they could display annoying, rude or troublesome behaviour, from blocking your view or even starting fights.

 

What concert have you attended where the audience kinda tainted your experience?

 

[Mariya Takeuchi]

Michael Jackson's history at Wembley put me off concerts on that scale for life. it was half empty but everyone was crammed at the front. when his suit wouldn't open i had this woman next to me that wouldn't shut up screaming and then she kicked me to stop me from catching his hat that was like 10ft away from either of us. only went because the tickets were an award from the police after i got arrested for stealing a car and completing community work as a kid 

[ariananext]

Coldplay, their audience is mostly GP, and I wasn't a stan myself, but I knew 90% of the songs on the set list, while I was surrounded by people (especially families - people in their 40/50s and kids) who literally did not sing a single word and sat for most time, it killed my vibe tbh.

[kimberly]

I had a bad experience at the Lorde show, with too many teens pushing and shoving to try to get to the front.

 

Similar thing happened at Lil Nas X.

[Colmillo]

When I went to see My Chemical Romance there was this group of girls behind me that were complaining because I was "pushing them" but girl, this is the general/standing area, everyone is jumping, dancing, etc., if you think I have the strength to stop thousands of people from pushing each other you're very wrong, one of the girls was crying because she couldn't breathe and another was screaming at me to "stop pushing them", so annoying  

[TheBoss]

I had this annoying gay singing whale during Björk Orkestral at Primavera Sound, being a festival I couldn't move to a better place (I was on the 2nd line and Charli played next), I barely could hear her and the orchestra, until I think he read the room because everyone was annoyed and he got it from a 11 to 5, but he literally ruined my Jogá experience, and he was of course off-key

[Funhouse]

Born to Die/Paradise era Lana was a nightmare. I'm talking peak flower crown tumblr fandom. Those children were FERAL.

 

At one show my friend and I were near the front but we chose to move to the seats in the back because of the pushing and the shoving. To make matters worse it had been absolutely pouring rain too so everyone who queued smelled like a wet dog.

Edited June 23 by Funhouse

[Venice B]

Arctic Monkeys but only because I went alone and my dumbass thought it was a good idea to shove myself into the crowd. Long story short: I ended up surrounded by a bunch of straight dudes, couldn't move forward or backwards and ended up not seing a single thing that was happening on stage.

[Mr. Peanutbutter]

When I saw Lana there was this teen girl who screamed every single lyric of Arcadia. The crowd was dead silent because no one cared for this song except that one girl and she was like 10 meters from me 

[Sheep]

kpop shows are awful the crowd is somehow both too loud and too boring, 0 idea how to have any fun

 

My worst concert experience was being repeatedly groped by a drunk gay who I was trying my hardest to ignore and pay no mind to at a Carly show but that wasn't really a whole crowd issue other than the fact nobody helped at all 

Edited June 23 by Sheep

[Bubble Tea]

Britney Spears in Bangkok in 2017. A dreadful show, a watered down cheap version of the Piece of Me Residency.

 

Obvi Britney was in a terrible place mentally and being forced to perform this droll show for years on end so there was just zero spark or connection from her. It was heartbreaking really. 

[Everasking]

BREE RUNWAY's last show in London. There was a little gathering of they/thems in front of us who were exuding THEE most foul odour. I was detecting notes of rotten eggs, sewage water and sh*t, which I can only assume is from not showering for at least several weeks. Ruined the whole night for everyone in a 5 metre vicinity.

[rabbitmoon]

Arctic Monkeys back in 2011, they hadn't played in-town for a while by then, it was a smaller venue, and people went INSANE. Both me and my partner were punched in the head multiple times, and I got into a physical fight with a fully grown  man (I was still a teen at the time!). We were in GA on the floor but not up near the pit, but it was still insane. I think of it fondly now but at the time it was scary AF. 

[NEUTRON]

HOT GIRL SUMMER TOUR. I had a front row seat and yet I spent half the show fighting with security to do their job and random people who would storm the front. Annoying

[Into The Void]

I haven't had a bad experience tbh

[sway]

The 1975. A bunch of white girls with no energy, basic, bottom of the barrel who cared more about taking photos for the aesthetic than actually enjoying the concert.

[Joyride]

the audience for Tove Lo in my country was really quiet for some reason

[aotearoa]

Phoebe Bridgers

[Dante Silva]

So, I've kinda been in to this old school girl group called Bananarama since like forever and their original lineup formed for a concert tour back in 2017 which was a big deal in context of their story so I felt I needed to be there when they hit my town and had to go.

 

I arrived 90 minutes or so before the concert was due to start to find my seat and the adrenaline was pumping with anticipation as a DJ played a set on stage to get the growing crowd hyped up.
 

Anyway just before the official start time this drunken aged queen edged along my row and when he was passing along in front of me he randomly screamed in my face that my seat was his and he wanted it.

 

I was not tolerating this, I had waited a long time for this particular concert experience, knew my seat number and row and there was no way some random was going to impact upon my experience whatsoever, so I simply refused to make eye contact, completely ignored him and turned my head to the side despite him being inches from my face.

 

His partner who had stayed silent literally used his strength to push him right past me from behind and it turned out their seats were to the exact left of mine. The partner clearly anticipating further drama made sure to sit to my immediate left to act as a buffer to prevent further drama escalating from his partner.

 

I made a point of engaging in conversation with the dude to my right and proceeded to ignore the couple to my left for the entire duration of the concert.  
 

I had planned to stay seated for the entire show but someone else in the row directly in front of me decided to stand up and dance about so I was forced to stand also just to see the stage in front of him.

 

On the way out some office workers who had been sat behind me made some back handed passive aggressive comment about my dancing and in that moment I realised I had blocked the view of the woman sat directly behind me for the entire show. I felt so guilty but also knew I had no choice as I was merely doing what I had to do to ensure my view wasn't blocked by the guy in front of me.

 

Little Mix had been playing a sister venue a couple of thousand feet away earlier in the evening and on the way out there was a random drag queen whose look had become a little deflated because she had primarily been there to see Little Mix perform and to hang out in the atrium of their hall and once that was over she had decided that hanging in the atrium of the sister venue where Bananarama had played would catch more high spirited gays who would want a selfie with her presumably to maximise the level of overall concert attendees who would subsequently post the selfies and tag her on social media thus boosting her profile and giving her exposure, only no-one thought her look was that special and simply ignored her. 

[JanStan]

Madonnas Rebel Heart tour in Vegas. She was giving all she could but the audience was DEAD. She even mentioned during the show that she couldn't get a gauge what mood the crowd was in. I'm guessing everyone was hungover or were rich kids who were only there to record themselves on SM. 

[naevis]

The 1975

 

Reeked of weed and a guy spilled his beer on me

[Sazare]

Any concert where everyone in front of me has their phones up to record the whole time is the most frustrating to me tbh. I think Tove Lo's concert might have been the worst for this.
 

Just take a picture or two and put your phone down, god.

[Raphy23]

Harry Styles at coachella. Teen girls shoving and pushing. I left. also make me stop being a fan of his music.

[livelikemusic]

Britney Spears. And it wasn't the entire audience... it was the guy with his two female friends sitting behind me, my [now non-acknowledged] cousin and my mother. They were belligerent, rude and absolutely nasty. One woman removed her shoes, and hung her unclean, over-grown toenails into our faces, one of them even knocked a whole cup of beer down my mother's back during the event (on purpose) and I was elbowed in the face, hard and forcibly. Keep in mind: I was underage, too, so it was assault on a minor. Thanks to the two muscle daddies, they semi-stopped... but we did have them taken into custody post-show, due to my cousin knowing one of the police officers at the venue. And the gay guy behind me, attempted to tell me: "Honey, you might want to tell them to stop." Well, HONEY, you and your friends should have stopped.

[suburbannature]

Lana fans are so cultlike. I remember people being pushed into the barrier