The Great Concert Debate: The Right to Party Versus the Right to Sit and Enjoy

I recently paid over 2 hundred dollars a pop for tickets to see Fleetwood Mac. I deliberately purchased seats in the grandstand so I could sit and watch the show, knowing full well fans on the floor would be partying, and would likely stand all the way through the concert .

I ain't as young as I once was.

I love the band, and didn't mind shelling out the money. But at those prices, I wanted to actually see and hear the band - not just the crowd.

But such was not the case.

I ended up spending a good portion of the concert toweling myself off, listening to a bunch of loud chatter, and having my sightline constantly blocked by the parade of drunks, pushing through the aisles to make beer runs, immediately following by pee runs, and then followed by more beer runs - ad infinitum.

To add insult to injury , the beer guzzlers were so schwacked, they slopped beer on us - not once - but twice.

When I wasn't dodging spilt beer, towelling off, or getting my feet stepped on, I got to enjoy the "hey look at me" people standing on their chairs, taking pictures of themselves, waving at their friends while talking non-stop on their cellphones.

Want ever happened to enjoying the music?

You wanna party - no problem - that's why they have festival seating on the floor. People have a right to have fun. But freedom cuts two way. Paying an admission fee does not mean that anything goes. It does not make the world your ashtray.

Maybe it's high time ticket retailers asked customers what their seating needs when they purchase a ticket just like they do in some restaurants - "smoking or non smoking?" They could ask," "dancing or sitting?" or "partier or non-partier" and delegate seats accordingly.

But of course, that will never happen.

The venues make far too money much peddling brew. Plus, Ticketmaster and Live Nation are worried about profits, not customer satisfaction.

It seems everything about the concert experience these days is on the down turn except the music itself. Asides from rude people, you have overpriced ticket prices; service fee gouging by Ticketmaster and Live Nation, overpriced merchandise, inadequate overpriced parking, poor washroom facilities, lousy customer service (just try to get your money back if a band postpones or cancels), overpriced concessions, and outrageous ticket scalping.

If I want to have a lousy time, I can stay home and watch a reality show on TV. At least I'll avoid beer baths, parking jams, obnoxious drunks, preening ego manics, save myself a few hundred bucks and won't under any delusion that I might actually enjoy myself.

Ticket sales have been so slow for the the upcoming scheduled appearance of ZZ Top and Aerosmith, Ticketmaster have been forced to slash prices, and are almost giving tickets away in the upper tiers.

Two fine bands - and I think it's sad. But it's hardly a surprise.

I think the graffitti is on the wall folks!

Rob Rheubottom