Music festivals are a wonderful time for people to come together and share their passion for music with friends and family in one venue.
Ottawa is lucky to host of many music festivals over the summer season, including RBC Bluesfest, the largest music festival in the nation’s capital.
Bluesfest draws in thousands of people each year (about 300,000 in 2015). On Sunday night, I was lucky enough to pull together $60 and see country pop artist Thomas Rhett at the festival.
This was the first time that Rhett was performing in Ottawa, and boy was the city ever excited. While walking towards the festival, my friends and I pointed out how much the city loved to dress up in plaid and jeans every time an artist as big as Rhett decides to come to town. Men and women flocked to the venue all decked out in whatever country summer gear they could find.
The sun finally came out after a weekend full of rain, but this didn’t stop the evening from taking a miserable turn.
Before Rhett even took to the stage, it dawned on me that there was a lack of festival etiquette in the crowd. With many sweaty bodies crowded together in a venue, there should be an increased awareness for common decency and how your actions affect others – but this was not the case.
If Ottawa festival-goers abided by the simple rules of the unspoken festival code of conduct, concerts would ideally be more enjoyable for everyone in the crowd.
Capture the moment through your eyes and not your phone
With Bluesfest headliners like the Lumineers, Red Hot Chili Peppers and Brad Paisley, it’s expected that people will be using their phones to take videos and pictures to help remember and share the experience. That’s fair, but it doesn’t give you an excuse to record the entire show. If you are holding your phone up for each show, you’re obstructing the view from those behind you (and annoying everyone who has to watch your 12 minute Snapchat story).
Do not climb your friend like a tree
Pushing everyone within a two person radius aside so that you can safely mount your friend’s shoulders is not fun – it’s annoying. Not only is being 10 feet in the air dangerous, it’s inconvenient and inconsiderate for the 10 people who can’t see behind you.
On that note, there is no reason to be part of a three-person shoulder ride. You do not need to be stacked like a smoked meat sandwich or a game of Jenga. Although it might make a cool Instagram photo, it is a distraction from what is happening on the stage, and you are just asking to fall over and hurt others around you (not to mention yourself).
Keep it PG
Although a passionate kiss might be appropriate during the artist’s new romantic ballad, the other 40 minutes of the concert is not the ideal time for a heavy make out session. If your actions would be more appropriate in a bedroom than a crowd of 20,000 people; take it down a notch.
The Congo line
If you are polite and want to cut through the crowd to meet up with some friends, most people will understand and make room for you. But if you are holding hands with a chain of 15 friends, chances are the crowd will not appreciate an unexpected game of Red Rover.
Trash, trash everywhere
A sudden blow to the back of the head from an aluminum can is not the definition of a good time. When you are done your beer, please do not send it airborne 20-feet into the air. It would be safer to litter on the ground, but would Mother Nature approve? If you can’t control where your garbage ends up, should you really be drinking at all?
People look forward to Bluesfest concerts all year. Please do not be that obnoxious concert neighbour and let everybody enjoy the show!
