Boston, one of the most prominent cities in America, has a rich history in the celebration of visual and performing arts. It is full of young people with many interests and passions, as well as plenty of venues to perform in and hotels for tourists. Boston seems to be the perfect place for all artists to perform.
Recently, however, it seems like more and more artists, such as Paramore, a rock band, are opting to skip Boston while on tour, leaving disappointed fans in confusion.
Incidents of attendees acting rude toward openers and fellow concert-goers are not new. As long as live performances have existed, so have rowdy or disrespectful attendees. What has changed?
Katie Hurley (III), who attended the boygenius concert in September, remarks, “This concert started at 7:00 P.M. with an opener, and I noticed that there weren’t many people present for the opener. But later on in the show, nearly every seat was filled.”
Perhaps impolite behavior was easier to ignore in the past, or at least infrequent enough to not ruin the experience for all involved. Unfortunately, behavior like ignoring openers and disrespecting other attendees has recently become incredibly common at concerts. It would seem that the negativity of the experience keeps artists from wanting to come back and perform again in Boston.
Even at Boston Latin School, some students have noticed the recent disregard for basic concert etiquette. “Someone had their flashlight on one time. I could see it out of the corner of my eye, [and] it was kind of blinding me,” says Elio Kohn (IV), when describing his experience at a BLS concert.
If bad performance experiences, fueled by rude concert attendees, are the reason that artists are skipping Boston while on their tours, it begs the question of why has etiquette among concert-goers dissolved out of nowhere.
Some believe it is due to a lack of awareness. Many fans who have followed artists through the pandemic are attending their first-ever concerts, and it is possible that these fans are unaware of good etiquette, unintentionally preventing others from having a good time.
“I feel like people go to concerts without thinking about other people’s experiences,” says Mary Flaherty (III), when talking about the behavior she witnessed at the Faye Webster concert last October.
Another factor that could be causing fans to be disruptive is the recent spike in concert pricing due to inflation, which is causing fans to forgo etiquette and put their personal fun first. For some tours, seats in the nosebleeds may reach thousands of dollars. This introduces a new issue: people are spending more on tickets so they are able to go to fewer concerts. As a result, concert-goers want to ensure a good time at the concerts that they attend instead of prioritizing respecting their peers.
Whatever the reason may be, it is incredibly unfortunate that basic etiquette among concert-goers has decreased in Boston, driving artists away. Fortunately, many exceptional artists have continued to include Boston on their tour roster.
Hopefully, fans will adjust their concert etiquette to continue having fun at live shows while remaining respectful as well. Although personal enjoyment is important, creating an environment to support musicians and welcome them back to Boston is the only way to ensure that our city’s long history of performance enjoyment is preserved.