Amidst BRAT tour controversy, Jess Cooper looks at the post-pandemic concert etiquette crisis.

Brittany Broski is the wine aunt of the chronically online. Having cemented herself with an audience of ‘girls, gays and theys’, it was no surprise when she appeared on screens at the SWEAT tour this autumn, taking part in the viral Apple dance. Every show of the concert headlined by electro-pop superstars Charli XCX and Troye Sivan, the cameras normally panned to the audience, where either a celebrity or a very lucky fan would be given their chance to dance the TikTok routine to Charli’s hit song from her BRAT album. So to see one of our own get ready to take on what had become the ‘it’ moment of the show, it felt like the stars had aligned in musical heaven. But we were blissfully unaware of the carnage that would unfold.

Out of the shadows, donning a black mesh top and a sadistic grin, appears an attention-hungry fan. He shoves our beloved Brittany out of view and swaggers to the front of the group, desperate to catch the camera’s eye. The internet exploded. Countless social media users were quick to call the concert goer out on his blatant disrespect and rudeness. For many, the issue was not that he wanted to be on camera; it was that he seemingly had no care for his fellow fans. In the grand scheme of fan behaviours, it truly could be worse, but this viral moment has highlighted a wider problem in live music: nobody knows how to behave anymore.

To play devil’s advocate, fans did head to the SWEAT tour with the expectation of the show being an ever-expanding, theatrical nightclub where your favourite dance-fuelled artists come to life. Therefore, behaviours like this (whilst unpleasant) are somewhat more acceptable at a concert which is mimicking drunken nights out and stumbling into the smoking area. The problem is this has not just been happening at the SWEAT tour. Instead, this interaction highlights an underlying attitude problem that has been plaguing live music for a while now. Last June, Bebe Rexha was left with stitches after a concert goer threw a phone at her face mid-show and was charged with assault. He claimed he thought ‘it would be funny’. Ava Max in that same month was slapped onstage by a fan so hard that the inside of her eye was scratched. That is not even mentioning the countless videos circulating social media of supposed ‘fans’ rushing the stage at Travis Scott, Taylor Swift, Nicki Minaj and so many others’ shows. When did it become so acceptable to be so unruly at our favourite artist’s shows?

One reason explains our friend over at the Los Angeles’ BRAT behaviour, which is the desire to go viral on TikTok, Twitter, Instagram or whatever poison you pick nowadays. Perhaps he was unaware he was pushing an internet sensation who got her start as the meme ‘Kombucha Girl’, or maybe he knew exactly that he would be disrupting an entire fanbase through a simple shove. Regardless of whether he knew, it is undeniably true that the rise in antisocial attitudes in such public spaces, especially where so many people are capturing the moment through photos and videos, is to draw attention away from whatever is happening onstage by behaving so outlandishly. It clearly worked for this poor man, though it might have been for the worse.

Another explanation could be the impacts of the pandemic and lockdown, which robbed a generation of music fans of that inaugural first concert or festival experience. Instead, they’ve now grown up and are muddling through concert etiquette for the first time, often getting it wrong in the process. It isn’t just young people either; looking at the wider entertainment industry, patrons were notoriously removed from performances of The Bodyguard on the West End last April for singing ‘loudly and badly’ over the actors. Industry professionals are still, even three years after performance venues opened fully post coronavirus, pinning this poor behaviour on the lockdown. People simply forgot what it was to be in a theatre or in a stadium and have to respect others around them.

Unfortunately for music lovers and concert chasers, it doesn’t seem like these attitudes are coming to an end anytime soon. Swifties have been dubbed chaotic and narcissistic at Eras Tour performance across the States and Europe, screaming and sobbing profusely over the music. At performances for indie rock singer Mitski this year, fans were blurting out inappropriate sayings in the middle of quite an emotional set of songs (at one show, she allegedly stopped the entire performance). Maybe we should just take note from the metal heads, who seem to be the most respectful of all. Brittany Broski might have been safer at a Judas Priest show.

Words by Jess Cooper