Concerts are a place for all ages to come together and enjoy music. A place to dance, sing and have fun. But recently, that has all changed. Gone are the days when it was acceptable to enjoy a live show. Instead, they have become content machines, with an army of kids filming every moment.
If you look at someone a certain way or accidentally touch them in the pit, you have committed an ultimate sin. And God forbid you want to stand and dance in the seated section. But what caused this shift? Why do kids now queue for hours and make themselves ill for some eye contact with the performer? Why is it now acceptable to spend hundreds of dollars on a single concert ticket?
Concerts used to be an affordable night out that was fun for everyone. But it seems all the fun has been sucked out of the environment. It looks more like a competition now of who has queued the longest, who has been to the most shows, or who has the best content. People are no longer going to a show for the music but rather for virality.
The Impact of COVID-19
Before COVID-19, concerts were a whole different world. Barely any phones and you could see a show for as little as £15. There was no fight on Ticketmaster – in fact, it was fairly easy to get tickets to whatever show. You didn’t have to queue for 10 hours or overnight. You could show up an hour before doors and still get a good spot of even barricade.
But why did this all change after COVID? For starters, there is a whole new group of people now attending concerts. Teenagers who never went to concerts before the pandemic have no idea about concert culture or about how they are supposed to act. They are unaware of the togetherness and group effort that creates a good concert. It is not just the artist who has to put effort into a show; the audience has to do their bit as well. How the audience sings, dances, and behaves, all reflects how the artist performs.
For many, the first show they ever went to was a big stadium show like Love On Tour. They skipped the small, local shows where everyone gets comfortable in the concert nature. Skipping these essential steps of tiny venues and arenas has affected the whole cycle.
For example, Gracie Abrams’s album release shows people screaming along to the songs, but this is not the time or place. Smaller shows, especially album releases, are about enjoying the music and listening to the artist. They aren’t about who can scream the loudest or who knows the most words. Fans who have only attended stadium shows would not be aware of this and are used to being able to sing as loud as they want – to an extent.
Is TikTok to Blame?
A big reason concerts have changed is due to the lack of respect for others. As mentioned before, concerts are a time to meet new friends and bond over your love of music. Without this togetherness, concerts are completely different. There has been a shift to only caring about your personal experience. Where people queue for hours, scream, sing, and film themselves. This could be due to the TikTokifcation of concerts, another thing that has been ruined because of social media.
TikTok has created a shift from experiencing a concert to filming every second in hopes of a viral clip. Concerts have become a content machine rather than a lived experience. Many people only went to the Eras Tour or Love On Tour because they knew the clips would go viral. In some ways, it is taking the fun and carefree nature away.
All over the app, you will see videos of people complaining about others who are truly living in the moment and having fun. Users take to TikTok to complain about others dancing or ‘taking their spot’ in the pit. It is a standing area you do not have an assigned spot to stand, and people are allowed to dance and move. That is what the pit is for and will always be for.
People will also complain about those who stand and dance in the seated area, even though this is allowed and often encouraged. People on TikTok are complaining about normal concert behavior but do not see the problem with their own.
A TikTok trend that shows the shift in concert respect is filming yourself with the flash. Not only is this unnecessary, but it is rude. The flash is often so bright it blinds those around them and makes them uncomfortable. In the background of these videos, it is clear how self-conscious they are. People come to a concert to have fun, not to be filmed.
The Rise of Ticket Prices
But why do concert clips go viral on TikTok? Well, it’s because of the rising prices. Before the pandemic, tickets used to be around £20 to £80 now, the cheapest ticket is £60, going up to £150+. Not everyone can afford these new prices and is choosing to live through videos and livestreams.
Last year at the Grammys, producer Jack Antonoff spoke out about this issue: “Charge what you think is fair … but if [for] one person $50 is nothing and for one person $50 is more than they can ever spend … you’re creating a situation where a different group of people can come together at one price.”
Along with a hike in price, it has become increasingly difficult to even buy a ticket. After all that saving, most people are not successful in purchasing, which creates hostility to those who succeeded. There becomes a competition on who is a bigger fan and who deserves a ticket when the problem lies with the providers.
There is not one solution to this problem as there are many different factors why concerts have changed. Primally, the problem starts with the new layer of exclusivity created by ticket companies. Their greed results in true, hardworking fans being left out of the fun, which then creates hostility between the fans. It is no surprise that people have become so selfish at concerts as they are no longer accessible to everyone.
If you are lucky to get a ticket, you will do whatever you can to have the best time, even if others don’t. We could all start to be nicer, and that is when we will see a difference when people start helping each other rather than shoving and giving dirty looks. Once this ‘competition’ of best fans or best content stops, that is when true concerts will return.
