Depends on the sport. And the team, I suppose. Here in Cincinnati, we mainly sit during football games. Sometimes with bags on our heads.
I like to stand so I can move around a bit so I try to get up in the front if at all possible. Smaller venues are better because they don’t have seats in floor area right in front of the stage. It’s hard to rock out when you’re sitting down. With larger venues and assigned seats I think it’s rude to stand up for too long because of the issues noted above.
At rock shows, what bugs me the most is people who talk incessantly throughout the entire show. As the master once said, it’s a fucking rock and roll concert, not a fucking tea party.
I don’t know–for rock concerts, yeah. I love live music, but I almost always just go to fairly intimate venues; I don’t get much out of stadiums and large outdoor venues. But part of enjoying the music, to me, is being able to move to the music a little bit, even if it’s just swaying. Plus the energy of the crowd feeds the performers. I used to play in a touring indie rock band about ten years ago and it was far more exciting and inspirational for us as performers, to see the crowd rocking out and having fun than acting like they’re at a symphony, paying close attention, and clapping politely after every song.
I don’t need to stand to have fun, but it’s way more fun that way. Sitting just limits the impact of the music. I like to get into it, feel the energy of the band flowing through me, move with the music. And yeah, I definitely prefer to stand at sporting events as well. I miss my days in the student sections, where everyone was standing all the time. But most of the football games I go to nowadays still involve standing for some/most/all of the game, depending on how exciting and close it is and where I am in the stadium. It’s just more fun. I’m bouncing up and down after a big play, reaching across rows to high-five people, yelling a lot. Much more engaging than just sitting and observing and politely clapping.
I can’t imagine going somewhere where I was supposed to stand the whole time in one spot. I think about 30 minutes (the time for worship at church) is as long as I can go, and, even then, there’s a lot of movement. I can sit still all I want, but, if I stand, I’m moving.
I’m so glad the outdoor concerts I went to had both standing songs and sitting songs.
I have one like that too. It was…let’s see, it must have been around 1985, and it was Huey Lewis and the News in concert at a local fair. All the seats were on the same level. And the guy in front of us insisted on boosting his son (who was about 3) up on his shoulders. We and some other people asked him to take the kid off his shoulders and he got belligerent about it (“he can’t see!”). Somebody (might have been us, don’t remember) told security, who asked him to take the kid down. He did, at least until the guard patrolled away, and then up went the kid again. People continued to grumble but he refused to budge. A couple of people nearly got into fights with him by the end of the concert.
Yes, after all this time I still seethe about that.
As for sitting or standing–in an ideal (for me) world, people would stand/dance for the peppy numbers and sit down for the slow ones. I always feel guilty standing when the people behind me are sitting and the people in the several rows in front of me are standing, but I do it anyway because I want to see. I would never be the only one standing. That’s just rude.
Also, I think it must be a law that every concert must have at least one drunk chick who’s older than she wants you to think she is, writhing around and making a fool of herself up near the front of the seats.
I can no longer stand for more than a few minutes without getting a terrible backache. That’s one reason among many that I rarely go to pop concerts anymore.
It used to be fun for me, too, but now standing just causes me too much pain.
I’ve been to two concerts at Radio City which is a seated venue and both times the audience sat through the opening act, but stood for the main act. When I saw Florence + the Machine people sat through the first song, but she requested that the audience stand- then later she asked that everyone jump up and down!
It depends on the concert, the style of music, and what the band wants. I’ve been to a few shows where the band requested that everyone remain seated. I’ve been to shows where everyone was on their feet the whole time. Last year, I saw Roger Daltrey play Tommy live - the audience stayed seated until the grand finale, when everyone pretty much spontaneously rose to their feet and stayed up for the second half of the show.
At The Monkees show in Santa Barbara, some people in the front rows were up and bopping around early on, much to the displeasure of the folks behind them. The ushers were having a hard time getting people to keep their seats. Finally Micky had to make an announcement that standing was prohibited by the fire marshall. The audience responded by booing and almost everyone in the place stood up, laughing and cheering. After a few moments order was restored and standing was kept to a minimum until the end of the show.
Dancing, baby, dancing. It’s not about standing vs. sitting; it’s about dancing vs. sitting.
Of course, I’m a huge fan of Phish and other jambands, and at those concerts, most of the crowd is up (and dancing!) and seating arrangements are fluid. If I do want to sit and chill, I make my way to the back of the venue, where the atmosphere is much more relaxed.
I have very fond memories of seeing Keller Williams at the Whitaker Center in Harrisburg. The first, what, maybe 10 rows consisted of folding chairs set up where I guess the orchestra pit usually is, between the stage and the rows of plush chairs that are permanently screwed into the floor. At one point, four people in the front row left, so some folks from the second row got up to move into their vacated seats, but then…spontaneously–everyone in the folding chairs rose, stacked our chairs, and started grooving out on our newly created dance floor. Keller improvised his lyrics and warned up to respect our beautiful venue, which I think we did…you should see how neatly and cooperatively we stacked our chairs. It was magical.
I have a very hard time sitting down during live music, like Sugaree I’ve gotta dance. Recently saw Bob Dylan and everyone was much older and sitting, so I asked the usher if I could dance at the end of my aisle, no problem, and was in no one’s way. By the fourth song I had a little dance team as others joined me. I also come from a Phish background where no one really sits in their ticketed seat and it all works out, so I just get in where I fit in and make sure to be respectable to people around me. My husband has a bad back, we always make sure he gets an ADA ticket, so he usually ends up with the best seat in the house, try that if your back is that bad, venues bend over backwards to make sure everyone is happy.
Also, earplugs work fantastically for shutting out audience chatter.
Thank you all for reminding me why I no longer go to concerts. Except those for us old people on the lawn at the winery.
Some venues have a stand-only pit in front of the stage, with the seats behind.
The Mob Rules – that is the proper etiquette, ironic as it is.
It’s venue dependent. I personally prefer sitting, with the option of walking down to a general area in front of the stage for standing/moshing/milling about. My back gets sore after more than a half-hour of uninterrupted standing.
I saw The Ramones in a packed opera/theater house where everyone sat through the whole show. Now that’s punk!
I’m all about standing, hootin and hollarin ‘in the moment’ at concerts. That’s a big part of why people go. It’s an outlet. It’s what we deep down inside like to do. But for gosh sakes, if nobody is standing in front of you obstructing your view to the stage, sit the fu*k down. The standers use the ‘it’s my right’ argument which is fine and dandy but it’s really off point in this discussion. It’s about being courteous and considerate to the people around you who would prefer to not sit in a $100 seat and stare at your ass just because you feel an egocentric need to exercise your right. I realize the standers among feel that this is their planet and they can do whatever they damn well please without any regard for anyone but themselves, aka self-centeredness, discourteous, rude and inconsiderate. Do you stand in a movie theater? Try going over to someone’s house with 15 other people to watch a football game and stand in front of the tv. See what kind of reaction you’d get. Come on standers, time to grow up and realize the sun actually doesn’t rise and set on your needs (rights) and your needs alone.
Welcome to the Dope kaychar
This thread is a year old but December being a very active concert month your revival of this thread will probably spark the conversation.
I agree with you. Standing is a right but simple courtesy lets everyone enjoy the show.
I’d really appreciate a performer who would say, “We love it when you stand up but we hope that you sit and let everyone enjoy the concert.”
It really all depends on the venue and the type of music being played. At a classical or jazz performance, you sit down, except in the case of jazz bands playing at bars, then I stand at the bar in the back. For rock shows standing is the norm.
As for the type of venue, it depends on the layout of the place. Smaller concert venues I’ve been to generally have an open dance floor set up with some limited seating along the sides or in the back. Those seats usually get filled up fast and I have to stand up, which is ok since I like to dance or jump around during a good rockin’ show. If it is an auditorium with rows of permanent seating extending up to the front of the stage that usually means people are going to be sitting. Stadium shows can be a mix of both, depending on the act. Generally I avoid stadium shows as I find them a poor venue for watching a live act.
On a more personal note, the ones that should be dragged into the alley and roughed up by bouncers are the people who sit like a rock in the back during the opening acts, and then try to force their way to the front for the main act. Yeah I know general admission means you can sit or stand where you want, but most of us made a point to find a good spot early on and have been standing in anticipation of seeing the headliners for a good chunk of time.