Went to see Iron Maiden last weekend. I wore a Slayer shirt, Mr. Rilch wore his Metallica shirt, and Friend wore…a polo shirt. Meanwhile, the arena was rife with Iron Maiden shirts, way more then we saw of shirts for the headliners at other recent shows. I mean, you always see some, but it was especially prevalent at this show.
I first started noticing it when we stopped to eat beforehand (at a place close to the venue). “But you never wear a shirt for the act you’re going to see!” I said. “You wear a shirt for another act in the same genre.” The waiter agreed with me, but Mr. Rilch and Friend did not. That said, the guy in line ahead of us with a shirt from the Seventh Son of a Seventh Son tour gets a mulligan; if he bought it then and can still fit into it, good for him. Still, I’unno. What say you?
I think it’s kinda weird to wear a shirt for a different band than the one you’re going to see. I get that it’s a thing; it’s just always seemed strange. Like wearing a basketball jersey to a baseball game; did you get your plans confused when you got dressed?
I think it’s lame… kind of trying too hard. In a “Oh, Bruce, I’m a huuuuge fan!” way.
But what’s even lamer is trying to make rules for other people to follow. Now, rules for yourself, I’m fine with. F’rinstance, I don’t wear my Wisconsin Weiner shirt (has a bratwurst on it) until I’m far from the Dairy State and want to show my loyalty. I don’t wear my Happydale High (nickname for my college) shirt when I’m at a party at the school.
But wouldn’t you be cooler if nothing anyone else was doing was bothering you?
It’s like buttoning the bottom button on your vest - there’s no actual reason not to do it, except it makes you look like a rube to everyone who knows it’s just not done.
Meh. I’m all for wearing an archived shirt to show the recent converts what’s what. But a current or semi-current shirt? Iffy.
To use Springsteen as an example, if he hit LA tomorrow I’d wear my “Born In the USA” tour shirt if I wanted to look arriviste. For cool points I’d have to wear my “No Nukes” shirt. Or a Disciples of Soul shirt.
I had a white t-shirt with the Stones tongue throughout my whole nineties of concert going, and it served me well from Guns’n’Roses over Townes Van Zandt to Rage Against The Machine. Always found it uncool to wear a shirt of the performing act, and I always like to check out the different shirts of audience members, sometimes listing concert tours which I attended. It makes for a more diverse audience (I’m not a fan of uniformity).
If you’re wearing a T-shirt advertising the current tour, that seems kind of lame. As in “Here is where I am right now – in case I get lost, I can just check my T-shirt!”
A T-shirt advertising an old tour wouldn’t bother me, though.
Hell, yeah. Why not? I’ll wear a shirt for the act I’m seeing and I’ll ignore any sideways looks from the people around me. Who says it’s a rule? I never heard of it.
If you just bought it at the merch table, go ahead and wear it. Otherwise not.
Slightly related, my sister wore a Pope John Paul II shirt to a Metallica show last century. She was was the undisputed winner of that show from the responses she got.
Since I view concert shirts as a way to say “I was at this concert, ain’t I cool?”, I’d say a better place is anywhere but the concert where no one is going to be impressed or surprised that you’re at the concert.
