This past Saturday night, New York City let me down. I’ll explain.
My fiancée and I scored great tickets–Row A of the Loge section–for my favorite band, Death Cab For Cutie, at the Beacon Theatre on Manhattan’s Upper West Side. We’ve seen Death Cab once before, last summer at the Williamsburg Waterfront in Brooklyn. It was one of the best concerts either of us had ever been to. At that show, an outdoor concert, there were no seats; everyone stood and faced the stage, free to move about the giant lawn to dance, sway, or buy another beer, as the Manhattan skyline loomed at our backs. No one was fighting or jockeying for position; when people bumped into you, they apologized.
Fast forward to Saturday night at the Beacon. The venue is beautiful inside–it reminded me of an opera house–and seemed fitting for Death Cab’s three performances over the weekend, which included an eight-piece orchestra accompanying their four usual band members.
The crowd seemed a little subdued. From our seats in Loge, one level above the Orchestra section, we could see a few heads bobbing but no one was standing up or dancing in their seats. But by the middle of the set, a few brave souls decided to stand, swaying and singing along. And by the time the set was over, everyone in the Orchestra was on their feet. (There had been tickets available in Orchestra, but I thought the first row of Loge would be a better value than the back of the Orchestra. I was incorrect.)
Meanwhile in our section no one was standing, save for a couple of energetic people next to us. When Death Cab came out for their encore, which is usually five or six more songs, my fiancée and I decided to stand up in our seats as the Orchestra fans were doing below us. That’s when we heard the people behind us. “Sit down please. Sit down please!”
We turned to address the angry couple behind us. “Are you kidding me?” I said. “This is a concert. It’s the encore! You could stand, too.” The male half of the couple said, “If we stand then the people behind us are going to hassle us.” Still incredulous, I implored them. “But it’s a concert!”
Then I got a response from the guy’s girlfriend that floored me: “This is the Beacon. If you want to stand, go to Brooklyn.”
Furious and frustrated (and a little confused by what the hell that even meant), we took to the aisle to stand, staying out of everyone’s way and hoping to enjoy the rest of the show. Within seconds, security ushered us right back to our seats, which meant we had two options: 1) stand and deal with the lames behind us for five more songs, or 2) give in and sit, and try to enjoy the rest of the concert on our butts. We opted for #2; as much as I enjoy arguing with strangers, I paid good money for Death Cab and they were my priority.
When Death Cab left the stage, my fiancée immediately turned back to our buddies behind us for a parting shot–but they were gone. While we were staying seated for their benefit (and to avoid the headache they were giving us) they had snuck out before the last note in an effort to avoid a confrontation. We couldn’t help feel a little disappointed–we were hoping to get further explanation on the Brooklyn comment…
As I write this now, a day later, I’m still stunned. I don’t even know where to begin. Much has been made the last few days about fan etiquette after an incident at a Rangers-Yankees baseball game. And I’ve written before about fan behavior and etiquette at the U.S Open. Part of going out to live sports or music event means dealing with people, many of whom have different opinions and habits than your own. But I’ve been to enough concerts to know that unless you’re at the opera (or possibly seeing the Beach Boys at Jones Beach), people are going to stand up to engage with the performance on stage. To look behind me and see 20 rows of people not standing–and yelling at us when we did–was and still is mind-boggling.
I don’t often ask for reader feedback on this blog, but I’m dying to know what you think. To sit or stand, that is the question!
UPDATE (11/7/12): I posed the question–sit or stand?–to the New York Times’ new The Ethicist columnist Chuck Klosterman. He settled the debate, kind of.
The 250 Square Foot View 
What is this, Stadium Insider?! Anyway, I get where people are coming from telling you to sit, I but if I were them, I would have let it slide for the encore. Let me explain – if you’re going to a snoozefest like DCFC at a venue like the Beacon, you should expect to be seated the entire time. I don’t know where the fun in that is (but I also don’t know where the fun lies in seeing DCFC live, so I digress.
Anyway, to summarize. Couple behind you should have let it slide for the encore, you shouldn’t have expected anything more than a half-dead crowd.
To summarize your summary: I should have swallowed my pride, choked on the rind, and the lack thereof would have left me empty inside?
1) When you decided to give in and sit back down, did you sigh and say, “this place is dead anyway”?
2) Death Cab is so lame. They make me want to put my tender heart in a blender.
I went to their Boston show at the Wang Theater the Saturday before. The crowd sat most of the show but pretty much everyone was on their feet by the encore. As far as I could see no one complained as others started to stand, although I did make fun of a few people that really got into the music. I am a short person and am always shifting to get a view not completely obstructed by the giant in front of me but I would never ask that person to sit down, especially in a rude way like that. I just let Skee-Lo’s “I wish I was a little bit taller” play in my head as I try to enjoy the show.
That was awesome.
I wouldn’t stand. I’m too old to stand.
I went to a concert a few years ago and encountered something very similar. Several middle-aged women behind me were complaining to my brothers and I to sit down while we were standing. They weren’t polite, and we would turn around and reply with “It’s a concert! What do you expect?” The fans in the rows in front of us and behind them were predominantly standing. Finally, one of the women woman tapped me on the shoulder and came at me with “If you don’t sit down, I am going to get security.” So I challenged her and told her to get them. I called her bluff, as security didn’t come over to us (or perhaps they did and the security guard put her in her place. I didn’t turn around again to find out). The moral of the story is, it’s a concert, it’s customary that people stand, sing, dance, etc., and I don’t think you were breaking any sort of concert code of conduct. And the Brooklyn comment? That woman sounds like a pretentious douche, plain and simple. But maybe I don’t know any better… I’m from Jersey, and that’s what we do at the Meadowlands.
Maybe it was the venue, maybe the band, or maybe the neighborhood, but the idea of making that Brooklyn comment to another human being with a straight face…well…I felt like I was being Punk’d.
Geez man, it’s Death Cab, not Frank Sinatra. How could people like that even like DCFC? As for the Brooklyn comment, it was a classless move…
[…] including a review of the first time I saw them live (which was awesome) and the second time (which got awkward). Nikki recently saw Death Cab’s frontman, Ben Gibbard, perform a solo show in Boston. This […]