# the rules of concert t-shirts **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 27, 2010, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-rules-of-concert-t-shirts/551685 "2010-08-27T16:39:08Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2010, 4:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-rules-of-concert-t-shirts/551685/41 "2010-08-28T04:11:28Z")
> [@fusoya](#): > > - NEVER, EVER under ANY CIRCUMSTANCES are you to wear the shirt from that same band and same tour to the show. This especially includes the shirts you just bought. This is the rule that came to mind upon seeing the OP, except my rule is “never wear the shirt of the band you are seeing to their concert, period.” This was back when I wore band shirts to concert. I don’t anymore. A 35-year-old in a concert tee is kind of sad. Although this caveat: > [@](#): > > - You MAY wear an old, out of print concert shirt of the performing band to the show, but you won’t earn any points with the other fans unless it’s an authentic shirt from a really old tour. may be an exception for me. I haven’t really thought about it. My rule has always been absolute. > [@](#): > > - If you didn’t buy the tshirt, you weren’t at the show. End of story. Honestly, I think I may have bought one or two concert tees in my life. I generally don’t like 'em. ---
**Author:** ![multimediac17](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/839c29/32.png) [@multimediac17](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/multimediac17)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2010, 5:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-rules-of-concert-t-shirts/551685/42 "2010-08-28T05:29:18Z")
While it is okay, even expected, for the support act to tell you about their merchandise because it is their main source of tour income, it becomes really tacky when the headlining band starts going on about the T-shirt stand. ---
**Author:** ![heathen\_earthling](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/13edae/32.png) [@heathen\_earthling](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/heathen_earthling)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2010, 11:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-rules-of-concert-t-shirts/551685/43 "2010-08-28T11:06:20Z")
I agree with **LawMonkey** , there are more people breaking the rules now than following them. There must be some rule related to the shirts being black, at least for certain genres. I’d like to get more band shirts, but I’ve kind of stopped buying them because I don’t need dozens of black shirts. ---
**Author:** ![Jonathan\_Chance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jonathan_chance/32/701_2.png) [@Jonathan\_Chance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jonathan_Chance)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2010, 11:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-rules-of-concert-t-shirts/551685/44 "2010-08-28T11:46:10Z")
The rules are crap. Concert goes may do what they please with their money and their dress and I’m happy for them. I’ve seen, literally, thousands of bands at venues all over the country for almost 30 years (first? Queen.) and I’m damned if I want some silly hipster thing telling me or anyone else what to do. Because it’s not that I’m ‘that guy’…it’s because I’m ‘_the MAN_’. ---
**Author:** ![Student\_Driver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3da27b/32.png) [@Student\_Driver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Student_Driver)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2010, 11:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-rules-of-concert-t-shirts/551685/45 "2010-08-28T11:48:04Z")
> [@Enderw24](#): > > > [@elmwood](#): > > > > What about wearing a shirt from the local radio station that plays music in the same genre? > > No. No you may not. The only people at a show that should be in a radio station shirt should be radio station employees or their “street team.” And those people will be verbally abused all night (and probably pelted with drink cups) by the very same folks who will clamor for the bumper stickers and t-shirts advertising the radio station that the employees are tossing into the crowd. ---
**Author:** ![Peremensoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ce7236/32.png) [@Peremensoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peremensoe)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2010, 1:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-rules-of-concert-t-shirts/551685/46 "2010-08-28T13:45:28Z")
> [@Jonathan\_Chance](#): > > Concert goes may do what they please with their money and their dress and I’m happy for them. Of course. And you may legally wear all kinds of silly ensembles in other contexts, too. It’s just a matter of what people will thjnk of you. ---
**Author:** ![Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e47c2d/32.png) [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffy_the_Elephant_Shrew)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2010, 2:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-rules-of-concert-t-shirts/551685/47 "2010-08-28T14:02:24Z")
Rule 10: Anyone who even _knows_ the rules is a hipster douchebag. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2010, 2:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-rules-of-concert-t-shirts/551685/48 "2010-08-28T14:43:43Z")
> [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](#): > > Rule 10: Anyone who even _knows_ the rules is a hipster douchebag. WOOT! I move up a notch! ---
**Author:** ![Peremensoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ce7236/32.png) [@Peremensoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peremensoe)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2010, 2:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-rules-of-concert-t-shirts/551685/49 "2010-08-28T14:49:02Z")
Some people are taking this a little personally. > [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](#): > > Rule 10: Anyone who even _knows_ the rules is a hipster douchebag. Anyone who sincerely thinks they know _“the rules”_ is something, yeah. There aren’t really “the rules,” just as there isn’t one set of rules for any other sartorial judgment. There are just varying opinions on what’s cool/acceptable/dumb-looking. Haven’t you ever seen somebody that you thought dressed funny? That’s all this is. Some of the examples given upthread as being acceptable (like, wearing a Yes shirt under any circumstances ;)) I wouldn’t dig myself, and no doubt some of my choices wouldn’t be appreciated by others. That’s okay, relax. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2010, 3:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-rules-of-concert-t-shirts/551685/50 "2010-08-28T15:02:25Z")
> [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](#): > > Rule 10: Anyone who even _knows_ the rules is a hipster douchebag. Yeah, really. It takes a special degree of self importance to make rules about what T shirts other people can wear when ---
**Author:** ![Hal\_Briston](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a9a28c/32.png) [@Hal\_Briston](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hal_Briston)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2010, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-rules-of-concert-t-shirts/551685/51 "2010-08-28T15:31:14Z")
> [@acsenray](#): > > Yeah, really. It takes a special degree of self importance to make rules about what T shirts other people can wear when Exactly…it’s like setting arbitrary “rules” about what one can and cannot wear, say, to a nice dinner. Who cares what anyone else things of you? You want to wear those cutoff jeans and wife beater to a fancy restaurant? Hey, why not? Who are _they_ to judge? But in all seriousness, these aren’t rules – they’re guidelines in not looking like a bit of a dip. The same kind of rules most everyone follows every day. Hey, you want to wear your new Dave Matthews shirt to a Dave Matthews show? Go for it. As long as you don’t care that 90% of the people walking by you are thinking “Gee, you mean you’re a DMB fan too? At a DMB concert? What’re the odds??” It comes down to this – clothing has the power to make a statement. If the statement you want to make is “I like this thing that I’m currently doing”, cool. You just may be on the receiving end of a couple of “thank you, Captain Obvious” looks. Heh…just realized – I’m down to exactly one band shirt in my dresser, and I’ve never seen them in concert (well, not really – it’s a Flogging Molly shirt, and while I’ve never seen Flogging Molly, I did see their singer in 1983 when he headed up Fastway. A Fastway shirt at a Flogging Molly concert? Badass.) ---
**Author:** ![Superfluous\_Parentheses](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8edcca/32.png) [@Superfluous\_Parentheses](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superfluous_Parentheses)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2010, 4:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-rules-of-concert-t-shirts/551685/52 "2010-08-28T16:05:37Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > I wear my Iron Maiden and Grateful Dead Ts to work. If I actually went to one of the concerts I’d wear a suit and tie. I used to wear some obscure techno/acid act’s shirt to metal concerts and vice versa. Oh, and show up at gothic shows in a 70s style bright shirt, vest and a fedora. ---
**Author:** ![FordTaurusSHO94](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/f07891/32.png) [@FordTaurusSHO94](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FordTaurusSHO94)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2010, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-rules-of-concert-t-shirts/551685/53 "2010-08-28T19:25:12Z")
I see the self conscious people have found the thread. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Red\_Barchetta](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/da6949/32.png) [@Red\_Barchetta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Red_Barchetta)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2010, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-rules-of-concert-t-shirts/551685/54 "2010-08-28T19:38:18Z")
> [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](#): > > Rule 10: Anyone who even _knows_ the rules is a hipster douchebag. Nailed it. ---
**Author:** ![Student\_Driver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3da27b/32.png) [@Student\_Driver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Student_Driver)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2010, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-rules-of-concert-t-shirts/551685/55 "2010-08-28T19:39:33Z")
> [@Superfluous\_Parentheses](#): > > Oh, and show up at gothic shows in a 70s style bright shirt, vest and a fedora. This reminds me of an article written by Sarah Vowell, published (I think) in _Take the Cannoli_, where she is given a goth makeover. She asks what would happen if she wore hot pink instead of black, which her makeover artist proclaimed would made her _more_ goth. The lesson: to look the part, you have to look like you’re not trying to look the part. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2010, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-rules-of-concert-t-shirts/551685/56 "2010-08-28T19:44:44Z")
ETA: goths do wear pink. You just aren’t hanging out with the right goths. > [@spark240](#): > > > [@Jonathan\_Chance](#): > > > > Concert goes may do what they please with their money and their dress and I’m happy for them. > > Of course. And you may legally wear all kinds of silly ensembles in other contexts, too. It’s just a matter of what people will thjnk of you. And then some people don’t give a shit what people think of them. (I don’t think you can compare wearing the “correct” tshirt to wearing ratty jeans and a tshirt to a fancy restaurant, either) And to expand on the sports analogy – like I said, come to Pittsburgh. People don’t just wear the jersey AND the hat. We’re talking the jersey, the hat, Mardi Gras beads, black and gold face paint with the team logo on your cheek, waving the Terrible Towel. (Yeah, I see it even at Pens games. Or at least, they have their own towels) It’s like _expected_. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Red\_Barchetta](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/da6949/32.png) [@Red\_Barchetta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Red_Barchetta)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2010, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-rules-of-concert-t-shirts/551685/57 "2010-08-28T19:46:28Z")
> [@Hal\_Briston](#): > > Exactly…it’s like setting arbitrary “rules” about what one can and cannot wear, say, to a nice dinner. Right, because seeing a band is just like going to a nice dinner…even truer if it’s one of the “anti-establishment” types. ---
**Author:** ![Sir\_T-Cups](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ed655f/32.png) [@Sir\_T-Cups](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sir_T-Cups)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2010, 10:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-rules-of-concert-t-shirts/551685/58 "2010-08-28T22:54:32Z")
I never for a second thought this thread was anything more than a take on the “50 rules for living in a monster movie” type things. People took this THAT seriously? Jeez… ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2010, 11:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-rules-of-concert-t-shirts/551685/59 "2010-08-28T23:18:40Z")
> [@Red\_Barchetta](#): > > > [@Hal\_Briston](#): > > > > Exactly…it’s like setting arbitrary “rules” about what one can and cannot wear, say, to a nice dinner. > > Right, because seeing a band is just like going to a nice dinner…even truer if it’s one of the “anti-establishment” types. It’s like, ordering milk when you go to a bar, I guess. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![kidneyfailure](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9f8e36/32.png) [@kidneyfailure](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kidneyfailure)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2010, 11:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-rules-of-concert-t-shirts/551685/60 "2010-08-28T23:50:11Z")
> [@Student\_Driver](#): > > One winner that seems peculiar to punk rock is the anti-band shirt. Home-made shirts telling the band that you’re there to see that they suck, even if it’s just Sharpie on a white shirt, can earn you points, but only if you’re known in the scene as already being hardcore/crusty/gutter/'77. I came across many of these in my days in the punk scene. I never fucking got it. You spend money to buy a band’s shirt, then you deface it, then you go to their show (again, usually spending money to do so) wearing the defaced shirt to tell them they suck? If they suck so badly then why the hell did you buy their shirt and pay to see their performance? OTOH, the “ironic” shirt, if done correctly, can be classic. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-rules-of-concert-t-shirts/551685.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-rules-of-concert-t-shirts/551685.md?page=4)