This past summer, I tried supplementing my income by getting a job at a local concert pavilion, Merriweather Post Pavilion. If you've never been there before, it's a pretty rockin place to see a concert. Located in the middle of the largest grove of birch-woods on the east coast, this outdoor pavilion is owned by the production company IMP (who also owns the 9:30 club in DC), and gets a pretty awesome concert lineup every summer. Just to give you an idea of the artist draw potential this place has (despite it's suburban locale), some of the shows I've seen there in the past include Broken Social Scene, Ted Leo & the Pharmacists, Belle & Sebastian, Weezer and Radiohead during their Hail to the Thief tour.
Anyway, to get back to the point, working some of the shows this summer have given me a very different perspective on the entire concert-going experience; specifically that of a venue employee. This summer, I've worked the shows of Capital City Jazz Fest, Deathcab For Cutie, R.E.M./Modest Mouse/The National, Iron Maiden, Thievery Corporation/TV on the Radio/Seu Jorge, the Warped Tour, OAR, A Tribe Called Quest/Mos Def/Redman & Method Man/Nas/De La Soul, and most recently Return to Forever feat. Chick Corea. I'll save you the play-by-play observations, as well as my own personal judgment of how the bands performed, but instead offer these general observations about the nature showgoers:
First off, as particularly-well demonstrated at the Warped Tour, young kids try to get away with all sorts of stuff that you'd never expect to see older crowds try. The biggest example of that is fence jumping. During the Warped Tour, I literally got offered a whoppin' $5 from a kid on the outside of the fence to hold his bag while he jumped. The redeeming factor of young crowds, though, is that once you call them out on something they know they shouldn't be doing (like asking to see their tickets for reserved seats they don't belong in), they [generally] back off and respectfully walk away without raising a fuss. With older crowds, however, the rule is reversed. While the majority of the crowd won't try to get away with as much as the younger crowds do, the ones who do will fight you tooth and nail for their right to do whatever the fuck they want. During the Capital City Jazz Fest and Return to Forever, several audience members tried to scream at me until I let them sit in seats they definitely didn't pay for. They even tried to use the "how old are you anyway?" argument, making the case that if they're old enough to be my parents then they shouldn't have to listen to me. (Most of these people thought I was 16, though, so they stormed off without a word when I told them I was actually 22).
The second generality I've observed is that you can never use the music to be a predictor of how respectful crowds will be. Though the mass public generally associates rap music with aggressiveness and disrespect, the most fun and respectful crowd I saw all season was without a
doubt during Rock the Bells, a hip-hop festival featuring A Tribe Called Quest, De La Soul, Nas, Mos Def, Redman & Method Man, and the Pharcyde among others. Conversely, the OAR show which happened the day before - which most of the management thought would be a calmer crowd - was the biggest group of drunken, over-priveledged jackasses I've ever seen. I personally witnessed at least 4 people getting kicked out for being to drunk and starting fights, as well as having to argue with god-knows-how-many people about how their lawn tickets did not entitle them to get front row seats.
Other than those two observations, I don't really have anything specific to comment on about working a venue. It was a great ride, complete with free shows, and I'm looking forward to it's culmination this weekend when I head out to work the Virgin Mobile Festival over at Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore, MD. As a few final words though, just remember: most venue staffers don't want to have to be a narc and kick people out, so don't be a jackass and leave them no choice.
