Concert Etiquette 101

Concerts can be extremely exciting and fun, you get to see your favourite artists and bands live, listen to the songs you love and care about in a place with people who share the same love, but with every concert comes those people with extremely poor manners and self-entitlement that shakes you to the core. Here are some manners you need to adopt so you don't get glared at by fellow concert-goers.

1. Don't be that person we have to wait for.

At a lot of concerts fans will spend hours lining up outside in the hope to get in quickly and grab a good view and when queues start moving they just want to get inside, especially if it is cold. Have your tickets and ID before you get to the ticket booth to be scanned, don't be that one person we all sigh at for asking the staff to 'Bare with me' because your stuff is at the bottom of the bag. Also, hang up the phone and stub out your cigarette before you have to get your tickets scanned, no one wants to wait for you to finish your conversation or smoke.

2. Let shorter people in front.

While this is a controversial debate, it is impolite to stand in front of someone shorter than you and block a view. The general rule is that if you were there first, you can stand where you want, because those behind you made a choice to do so. If you're late to the show, then do shorter people a kind gesture and stay behind then, they paid just like you and didn't spend 200 pounds to stare at your back for a few hours.

3. If your late, It's your problem.

If you're late to the show, that's on you. Honestly, fans may be kind to you, but that's to avoid letting their night getting ruined by you, fans don't care if your train was late, you had an emergency dental appointment or your friends are at the front. It's beyond rude to show up late and elbow, barge your way to the front because you feel entitled to, it's disrespectful to those who waited long hours to get there early so they could get a place closer to the stage. If you were a big enough fan of the band or artist, you would have arrived early or respectfully entered quietly and modestly.

4. Dancing is cool, but don't invade my space.

When the whole audience is dancing, it creates an amazing atmosphere where you can let go and let your inner dancer out, but that doesn't mean it's acceptable to invade other people's space. However, if you're bumping into other people and forcing them to move out the way, spilling drinks and stepping on toes it can cause an accident. No one wants to limp home because of their smashed up toes or painful backs.

5. It's not an audition.

We can't ignore the fact more artists love when the crowd sings along with them but there are completely different perspectives on how the crowd hears it to what the artist hears it. If everyone in the crowd is singing at the top of their lungs, then by all means, but if you the only one singing so loudly, then think about the ones around you. They paid to see the artist, not hear you drowning it out. You came to see the band, let them do their job and save your Celine Dion high notes at home.

6. Don't shove, push or scream at me to move.

Our parents always told us pushing and shoving people is wrong and how we 'weren't born in a barn.' If you need to get by, then lightly touch or tap someone's shoulder to let them know you're wanting to get past them and most decent people will move aside for you. You're not in a war where you need to ram and scream your way through the barricades of moving human bodies to get to where you need to be, some people don't appreciate this and won't move at all because of the way you acted. If you do have to make them move, simply apologise and carry on, don't make a scene out of it.

7. No one likes a drunk .

Period. It's fun to let loose and have a few drinks whilst your singing and dancing with your friends, but it isn't fun for everyone else having a drunk standing next to them causing a distraction and sometimes a drunk fight which kills the mood and ruin peoples evening. I have had many experiences of watching drunk people being denied entry because they were drunk and people being escorted out for being too intoxicated and it really isn't fun.

8. Keep that drink steady as I don't want it.

Speaking of drunk people, if you have a full drink in your hand then please hold it steady. No one wants to stand in cold, sticky, wet shoes for the rest of the show and I am definitely not paying for a drink you spilled.

9. Stop talking.

If you're at a rock or pop concert then talk if you want, chances are I can't hear you unless your screaming right next to me. If it's a classical or musical then a quick small comment is acceptable, but I don't want to hear about your mum's new car or how you fell out with your best friend because you accidentally ate her strawberries. It's not a mother's meeting and we defiantly don't need your running commentary on what's happening. Yes, you may have paid a lot of money to see the event but so did everyone else, the artists spent months preparing for you and your money rights to ruin everyone's event because you decided it was a perfect place to talk about your personal life.

10. Put the phone away for a minute.

I get it, you want to capture memories and share them on social media, but you are not going to get the full experience if your tweeting and staring at your phone screen, take pictures and some videos, but put down your phone for a few minutes to just enjoy it. I can guarantee most of your Facebook friends don't care about what next song is as it's being performed.

11. You still got a ticket even if it wasn't the best seat.

The most annoying is those who complain they got a really horrible seat or they didn't like the view as it was too close or too far away, boo hoo. I'm sorry you managed to snap up a ticket to a highly anticipated concert that sold out in minutes but you weren't satisfied where many people would have been grateful to get the ticket even if it is the worst seats in the venue.