Not to age myself, but when I was in college about let's say 5-7 years ago, I wrote an aptly named article called I Just Came to Dance for my school newspaper touting the rights that people have to dance at shows. I take it back, I take it all back! Okay, maybe not all of it, but most of it.
I think the internet has changed a lot of things for everyone. It's changed the way we do business, it's changed the way we get our information, and it's changed the way we live. Now when you go to a show, everyone is taking more pictures than actually watching the band.
The great and bad thing about the internet is that so many people have access to awesome music. The bad part is that the people you would've never seen at a concert in the past have access to awesome music. And you have to stand next to them. Then they spill their beer on you. Then you want to react with violence.
There was a recent show I went to where these girls pushed their way to the front of the crowd which is a pretty normal occurrence. However, everyone was pretty chill up until this point and doing their own thing. Some people were dancing and others were not. Then they came along.
Not only did they not have any respect for where people were standing, but they began dancing like they were at a punk show to slow songs. Songs where people were meaningfully singing along and nearly crying is when they were stomping around. This is when I got stepped on and hit in the throat.
I advocate dancing the way you want, but when someone hits me in the throat with their bag is where I draw the line. Jumping around when there's maybe a foot of space between us isn't really proper concert etiquette if there is such a thing. Especially when you're the only one doing it.
So the proposition? Do whatever you want at a show, just watch out for others and say sorry if you hurt someone! I rest my case.
