Last week, I attended a Nessa Barrett concert at Roadrunner. As I walked to the end of the line, I saw a gallery of young girls in high heeled boots, baby tees and a notable lack of winter coats. The group laughed to themselves and passed flasks back and forth, asking each other if anyone knew how to sneak them into the venue.
Once the concert began, someone in the crowd fainted.
Barrett stopped her set, asked the audience member if she was okay and got her a water bottle. A song and a half later, another person fainted. Barrett repeated what she had done the first time, telling us all to look after ourselves and those around us.
Two songs later, someone else fainted.
By the conclusion of the concert, several people had fainted. Barrett had stopped the concert every single time.
The number of people who fainted at the concert was shocking, even for a smaller venue like Roadrunner. With the amount of people in the pit, the urgency to be at the front and the intoxicated state of many concert goers, it became no surprise that these events occurred.
Fainting incidents aren’t all that uncommon anymore. But were concerts always such high-tension events?
In recent years, concert etiquette has declined. There has been a noticeable increase in the amount of attendees fainting and falling ill during concerts following the COVID-19 pandemic.
In 2023, singer Maggie Rogers posted a TikTok video urging fans to “take breaks and just do everything you can to keep everyone safe and healthy around you.”
The post-pandemic ecstasy of returning to live music seems to have yet to rub off.
Concerts have become a night of partying and theatrics, rather than a meaningful and intimate experience. This new mindset towards concerts has not only gotten fans sick, but has also gotten artists and spectators hurt.
In 2021, rapper Travis Scott headlined his music festival, Astroworld. During his set at the sold-out NRG Park in Houston, a crowd surge towards the stage killed eight attendees and injured dozens of others. There were many factors as to why the surge occurred, including an overflowing venue and excited fans who were oblivious to the stampede.
Harry Styles was injured by an object thrown on stage by a fan at one of his concerts in Vienna in 2022.
An audience member threw their mother’s ashes at Pink while she was performing in London.
Cardi B threw a microphone at a spectator who tossed their drink on her during a Las Vegas performance.
These incidents are not normal, and are disrespectful to the artists who are providing us with entertainment.
Many of them can be explained by social media, which often fuels brash behavior.
“Main character syndrome” — when someone views themselves as the protagonist of the movie of their lives — is rampant at concerts. This is clearly a selfish mindset to have while entering a venue where thousands of other people are trying to enjoy themselves.
I’m absolutely not blaming a bad concert experience on people getting sick and fainting — many of these cases are due to overheating in the crowd.
However, if you go to a concert without eating beforehand, drinking at the venue and are pushing to get to the front of the pit, illness and fainting is bound to happen.
In the simplest terms, it’s crucial to stay hydrated and self-aware at concerts. Concerts are fun and exciting — it’s not every day you get to be in the same room with your favorite artist singing all your favorite songs.
But during these moments of bliss — even when it feels like we are the only ones in the concert venue — we need to remember that we are not the main character.
