Here’s a dilemma most concert-goers have experienced at some point in their life. You get to the venue for a show you’re really excited to see and you’re confronted with a baffling sight. A chair.
chair [chair]
noun
a seat, especially for one person, usually having four legs for support and a rest for the back and often having rests for the arms.
These things are encountered in certain specific concert-going situations. While many venues and bars are mostly just a floor with maybe some casual high-tops scattered around the space, sometimes concerts are held in a more traditional “theater” style setting. When they haven’t been modified and still have the general theater set up, you’re confronted with it. The chair.
Which leads to the dilemma: Should you be sitting at a concert or standing? Related question, what’s the dancing etiquette? Or the moving around etiquette? Where does one send a “Dear Miss Manners” letter?
The easiest answer would, of course, be to take your social cues from the people around you. But you didn’t become the beautiful, unique butterfly you are today by following what other people want from you. Which is why, today, I’m here to tell you.
Stand up.
Really! It doesn’t matter if nobody else is standing (yet). You get up and you move your butt, if that’s what you’re heart desires. Music is all about feeling and there’s nothing like feeling the groove to get you up and moving (or at least standing and swaying).
That’s the blanket judgement I am giving you right now on the question of standing vs. sitting at a concert. Unfortunately, here come some caveats:
- There are allowances for context, particularly as it pertains to genre. If you’re at a classical show, an orchestral symphony, an opera, or something like that, sit your ass down. Unless, for some reason, it seems like everyone else is standing and grooving.
- It’s fine to dance and it to be out of context and you’re the only one doing it, but if you are being the solo life of the party and somebody actually tells you to “sit you ass down,” then sit your ass down. Being the life of the party is great, but don’t actively make things worse for other people. If there are other people grooving and it’s just the one miserable bunghole who wants you to sit, feel free to tell that Scrooge to shove it.
- If the person behind you asking you to sit physically cannot stand, do your best to accommodate them. Be a good person. Come on.
Other than those three reasons though, it’s perfectly okay to get up and enjoy the heck out of a concert, chair or no chair. There you go, no need to feel self-conscious about it anymore.
And a note for the pro-sitters: If you’re the kind of person who’s wont to prefer sitting at a concert when given the opportunity though, that’s totally fine. Use that chair. Stand if you want to, but sit if you want to too.
Go out tonight, and any night. Jukely is a concert subscription that gives members guestlist access to hundreds of music events – for one price. Whenever you want to go out, you’ll always have something to do. Learn more and sign up at jukely.com.
