I love my music as I believe you may know if you follow my
column regularly.
I’m quite content to listen to it through my headphones on
the move or in the comfort of my own home but nothing quite beats the thrill of
seeing your favourite acts live.
However there is many an irritation guaranteed to spoil your
jollity whilst indulging in stimulation of the ears and eyes so with the
festival season and castle concerts fast approaching, let me advise you on a
couple of the most annoying so that you can be prepared and help prevent the
spoiling of everybody else’s viewing and auditory experience with a little gig
going etiquette guide.
So let’s kick things off with a personal bugbear and
something that those classed as 5ft 3 and under will probably also identify
with as being the bane of their life.
If you are lucky enough to be able to see no matter where
you stand in the venue please do spare a thought for those who can’t as there’s
nothing quite as gutting than having to spend the entire evening staring at the
back of someone’s head or contorting yourself to catch a glimpse of the
performance through the crook of an elbow.
Ditto anyone who puts up a large umbrella at open air
concerts or thinks it’s ok to climb up onto the shoulders of a friend.
The latter is only
acceptable if you are a small child, if you are old enough to know better i
would recommend purchasing a suit of armour from the merchandise stall if you plan
on maintaining this position for the duration of the performance as by now not
only will your ears be burning from the angry mutterings of those directly
behind you but you are also now the prime target for any missiles and debris
being thrown.
One for those blessed with beautiful long tresses now, if
you feel the need to dance wildly, please be my guest, do your thing, go with
the flow however do watch what you’re doing with your hair if the venue is
packed tightly like a world record attempt at the biggest game of sardines as
whipping someone repeatedly in the face with a follicular cat o nine tails isn’t
the best way to create an amazing friendship bond.
And so to conclude we come upon the most recent annoyance to
join us and perhaps the ultimate irritation for many.
If music be the food of love, play on said the bard, so it’s
no surprise that many artist’s not just Adele get a bit miffed with and refuse
to carry on playing to an audience that are so engrossed in trying to capture a
tiny grainy often incoherent image that they don’t seem to be exhibiting any kind of respect to what’s going on in
front of them at all.
So do your favourite
artists and fellow audience members a favour, put down the iPads , tablets ,cameras
and phones and use the amazing gadgets like your brain ,ears and eyes to create
memories of the show.
