Going to concerts is a privilege, not a right; so stop throwing items at Bebe Rexha and Drake

Maybe it was also an item that was thrown at Drake's head during the first night of his tour that led to some weird beef he has going on currently with Childish Gambino aka Donald Glover, though sadly the time frames don't match up. Instead, maybe it was a Childish Gambino fan instead?

Either way, it was Download Festival in Donington where in 2004 where a young Benjamin was eagerly awaiting the arrival of his favourite band on the main stage - Soulfly. However, unbeknownst to myself and many other fans of Max Cavalera’s post-Sepultura project, the set times were changed at the last moment. We were instead treated to Norwegian glam rock band Turbonegro instead. 

Plastic bottle fights were incredibly popular during this iteration of the festival; I recall being with a friend and his two little brothers watching plastic bottles fly across the crowds in front of the main stage, each throw getting a little bit more sinister with each fill of dirt and rocks in the bottles. A huge three-litre bottle, once holding double concentrate orange squash, ended up being propelled across the demilitarised zone that was the footpath leading away from the stage - however said friend’s eldest of the two brothers took a full blown hit to the chest. 

So you had an idea how rowdy the bottle fights had become; cue bottles being lobbed onto the stage, as the Norwegian group soldiered through their opening song, yet left the stage (taking care to flip us off while leaving) after the deluge of boos and plastic bottles being thrown became too much. We had won - but at what cost?

Bebe Rexha’s incident is sadly not an isolated one, where it feels more like crowds think it’s a right to attend a concert and act how they want rather than how to act accordingly. While “concert etiquette” is a concept I’ve scoffed at before - being a taller person, why is it my issue someone pushing their way up front can’t see the stage - there might need to be more of a discussion to have with current audiences who think their paying for a ticket gives them carte blanche to act how they want to. Including ruining a concert for everyone else.

The assault, and let’s be honest for a moment - it was an assault, led me to recall both my stupid, angsty young man behaviour at Download Festival, but also an incident at Leeds Festival in 2006 involving the emo band du jour at that stage Panic! At The Disco. In a widely shared video before the advent of TikTok and Instagram, many saw on their phones Bluetooth share MP4 videos showing the band taking to the main stage and cracking on with their opening number.

Cracking on might not be the best choice of words; not two minutes after lead single Brendon Urie started singing, he took a plastic bottle at full speed to his head. The bottle itself was loaded enough to cause Urie to be knocked out for a few minutes, bringing their performance to a standstill. The bottle fights paused as the lead singer tended to - and a heap of fans who came to Leeds solely to see the band were left upset and angry over the complete lack of respect for the band.

But who is really going to regulate bottle fights in the crowd at music festivals; it’s part of the ramshackle charm and for the most part innocent enough for no one to get hurt. But in the ever-increasing envelope-pushing of social media and becoming viral, perhaps that was the point of Bebe Rexha’s attack.

It wasn’t so much the mob mentality that led to the Rexha assault, not like the case involving Turbonegro. Given the admission of the phone thrower thinking it would be funny, this feeds into the idea of pranksters on TikTok and social media gaining clout by crossing the line. Habitually, in the case of one Mizzy.

But with attitudes like that, along with complaints about who didn’t perform on stage with Sir Elton John at Glastonbury 2023, come across more as if festival and gig goers have a sense of entitlement once they have bought their ticket, rather than appreciate the privilege of being able to see these live performances. 

Given that we had no touring artists during the pandemic, I’d have thought that privilege would be evident but instead, it almost feels like fans are going to concerts and festivals living some form of “main character” syndrome; but we’re not there for you or your attempt to take over a gig. We’re still there to see the band - we are not here to see you.