Post #102742 by Geeky Tiki on Tue, Jul 20, 2004 7:54 AM

I like going to concerts with the wife, we've finally started using a hierarchy for determining the likelihood of lousy crowd behavior.

We have started selecting shows based on the likely predominant drug of the crowd.

Ecstacy crowds are polite and friendly. People help make way for each other to walk past and don't litter the floor.

Alcohol crowds are the classic screaming, fighting, barfing, debris jettisoning folks we have grown accustomed to over the last few decades.

Pot crowds like the sway-dance kind of motion and make accomodating gestures and winks at everybody.

Sober crowds - like many punk acts - tend to be sober (as in not innebriated), as I mentioned, and also very energetic. You can pick your energy and physicality level by where you go in the room.

Old sophisticated drunk crowds - Shows like Simon and Garfunkel, Bruce Cockburn, Cowboy Junkies, They Might Be Giants, Jackson Browne, Bonnie Raitt....still get drunks, but the concertgoers are usually concerned about bashing up the Volvo on the way home if they get too loaded. They also seem to act as though they think their bosses are one row back so they behave like they are being supervised. Lotsa jackets with leather elbow pads. How do you act up in a jacket with leather elbow pads?

Anyway, it seems every crowd except the basic alcohol crowd is low on the annoyance scale. Alcohol must be the hardest drug for people to titrate.

Wow, that wandered off topic, apologies!

[ Edited by: Geeky Tiki on 2004-07-20 07:55 ]