Clean up your act for HPX
An open letter to the people around me at the concert last night:
I have been going to shows and concerts for over 10 years, and one thing I have consistently noticed is that no matter the size of the band or the venue, the price of tickets or the genre of music, I always encounter the same types of people. With HPX starting this week, I decided that it is time to address these people.
To the guy behind me who literally watched the entire show through the lens of his camera: Dude, I get it. You want to prove to people that you were at the show. I do too. That’s why I took one photo during the first song. But you, you never put down the camera. How many photos do you really need? You must have been taking photos non-stop for an hour and a half. Assuming you took a photo every ten seconds during the show, that’s 540 photos. The stage didn’t change. The musicians barely moved. What was so important that you couldn’t put down the camera for even one song? I know that you weren’t the only one; I’d say that a third of the people there watched some of the show through a tiny camera screen, not including the actual crew filming the show.
Additionally, to the people trying to film the show on your iPhone: Are you so concerned with recording the show that you’d rather watch a terribly lit, terrible sounding video on your phone later than actually watch the real thing while it is happening? Cell phone microphones are not designed to record very loud, complex sounds like concert music. If you don’t believe me, check it out on YouTube. It’s full of horrible quality concert videos just like yours.
To the girl with the giant purse standing next to me: Do you really need a bag that huge to go to a show? Your bag took up as much room as a person. Not only did you bring your giant bag with you, but you had the nerve to then look incredibly annoyed every time I bumped into it, which was often (and sometimes on purpose). It’s a rock concert, not the opera. People are going to be moving around. Just because you want to take up the space of two people in the middle of the floor in front of the stage does not give you the right to give everyone else the stink eye for enjoying themselves.
And another thing, girl with the giant bag: who were you texting during the entire show? If you can’t go longer than five minutes without communicating with your friends, why are you even at the show? How can you watch and enjoy something when you are typing away? What are you telling them? That you are at the show? That you are still at the show? That 10 minutes later, you are still at the show?
To the people smoking: We are inside a concrete room. What makes you think that everyone around you wants to smell your stinking smoke? There is no situation where it is appropriate to smoke in a crowded room. And that’s just to the people smoking cigarettes. Everyone else smoking the green, you’re no better. Do that outside. As annoying as it is for me to be forced to inhale your secondhand smoke, I’m sure the people with children nearby at all-ages shows certainly don’t appreciate the drug smoke billowing past them.
And finally, to all the people shouting out requests every time there’s a break in the music. The band is not listening to you. Have you ever noticed how bands know what song they will play next without discussing it each time? That’s because they decide what they will play before the show. It’s called a set list. Never in all my years of concert going have I witnessed a band say “We were going to play our big hit single that everyone wants to hear but someone keeps shouting the name of an obscure B-side that we have not rehearsed so we will play that instead.” It just won’t happen, so stop doing it.
Concert goers of Halifax, have some respect for the people around you, and the band. If you’re going to a show, actually watch the show. It takes many people a lot of work to make it happen, so enjoy it, and let everyone else enjoy it too.
Love, Mat
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