Standing up at seated concerts

I'm pretty sure what people here will say but I'd like a discussion.

Last night was the second time at these Newark shows that my husband and I were asked (told?) to sit down during the concert. People behind us wanted to be able to sit rather than stand to see around us. I have to say that this was the first time in years and years of concert going that I was asked to sit down.

For the record I didn't. I'm with the Bruce song that says - When they said sit down I stood up However in retrospect should we have simply sat? I can't imagine enjoying the concert that way and yet perhaps they felt the same. Last night we had cheap seats behind the stage which I actually enjoyed but there were certainly irritated people behind us. The other instance we were just off the side of the stage a few nights ago.

Is there a protocol to this - the floor can stand all night but nobody else can? Maybe I am out of the loop but this hit me as really odd. Or is it just the casual audience that they have attracted by doing 10 nights in Newark.

That sucks Kathleen i'm glad you didnt back down. As far as im aware stewards can't make you sit down during a ROCK concert. And you're right it will be the part time casual Bon Jovi fans

ive been asked to sit before at a concert, so i did for one song and then got back up. but when i saw aerosmith in ottaw a year or 2 ago, i was in row A of the balcony and when the show started, i jumped up and then realizing i was the only one in my section standing, so i sat down....
i was wondering, i have row A seats and i will be in the same situation for wednesday's show, and i was wondering whatwhere the chances of people siting behind me.
the few times i saw them in montreal, i was closer and no one would sit, but its a whole other world in the 200's
anyways, in your situation, i probably would have sad during a ballad or something and then i would have gotten back up

OMG ... Never been asked to sit down ...

Although have been to gigs where no one has stood until near the end !! The last one was Rush but I guess that says more about the general age of those around us.

EVERY time I have seen the boys everyone has been standing , where ever we have been in the stadium.

Chatting to mates here seems that it is up to the venue and artist if for people to sit.... He was saying that the O2 was sitting only .... But not that I noticed when it opened !!!

Aloha !

I think it really is sort of protocol to sit down in the seating area, yes. There's no one who stands up in arena's here in Holland when they're sitting in the ring, unless they want to applaud for a rousing rendition of a specific song or the encore is that spectacular that everyone stands up for it.

Here in Holland, and I think in the rest of Europe, it's sort of known that if you have seats, you sit down, and do not block the view of the people behind you. Even if you're at a rock show. However, we don't have seats in front of the stage, which is probably why the protocol works like that in Europe after all. Us Europeans never understood why there's seats in the middle of a venue. They tried it once with Bruce Springsteen in Ahoy Rotterdam (a venue that holds 8.000 people) and many, many people complained about it.

Salaam Aleikum,
Sebastiaan

I went to see a Lostprophets concert in the seating area of the Manchester Evening News Arena. Almost everyone was standing, however, the seats there are set up quite steeply so it is not the end of the world if someone would prefer to sit.

The way I see it, if the person behind you wants to sit, it is courtesy for you to sit, after all you've bought tickets for the seating area, and some people may be unable to stand for a length of time.

What annoys me though is that at concerts it is not strictly enforced, however down at Elland Road the Leeds United stewards are that paranoid you can't stand up for more than two minutes without being told to sit. I have my other grievances in that department too

I have to apply the Golden Rule here and in my favour.

There's just no way I could be so misanthropic as to deny someone the fun of standing or dancing at a rock show, however much I wanted to sit down myself. From that I would extend myself the right to stand up if I wanted.

I would also note that its printed on all the tickets for our arenas in Birmingham that "people around you may stand".

Hell, in order to create an atmosphere, someone has to be the first. Oftentimes a crowd is just waiting for that tension to be lifted. It was very much the case that at Paul Simon last year within a song or two of the first people standing up (for Cecilia) the audience was by and large on its feet.

At something more sedate, I could accept i'd be wrong to stand, but not at anything with a beat. I've seen people at Brian Wilson shows complain when people got out of their seats when Dance Dance Dance was played. Miserable sods.

Ultimately, the vast majority of people have legs that work. I don't see how you would be ruining their night if they had to stand to see over your head.

Get a "seat" in the Kop, no-one sits down and the stewards dare not say anything

I am with you Kathleen. You are at a Bon Jovi concert, not a Broadway show. It is a rock concert and no one should expect you to sit down. Tell those lazy Americans to get their fat asses off their chairs and enjoy the show!! Standing for a little over two hours isn't that much to ask for.

Totally agree with you Kathleen. How can anyone enjoy the show sitting down? When the band came on at the o2, certainly for me at least, there was a massive urge to stand up and cheer, it's what you do at a rock concert!

Raise your hands and stand your ground!

Dave