Concert Problems All Tall People Face

I’m a big fan of music and thus a frequent concert goer.

As any tall person would know, height at a concert is a huge advantage and brings with it a whole host of benefits:

• You have an unobstructed view of the band;
• The air is fresher at the top, especially if you are in a mosh pit; and
• Your friends can easily find you.

Unfortunately, being taller than the majority of people around you also brings with it some inherent problems.

At every concert I’ve attended where I bought ‘General Admin’ tickets (i.e. standing tickets) I’ve heard some variant of the following:

• “You’re way too tall to be this far forward!”
• “Can I sit on your shoulders?”
• “You’re blocking my view! Can I go in front of you?”

Every. Single. Time!

Here are 5 reasons why this annoys me and why I believe it’s unnecessary:

1. My height is completely out of my control.

Why should I be discriminated about something that I have no control over!? This seems to be yet another double standard tall people have to deal with. I covered double standards in a previous post which you can read here. If I’m standing towards the front of the stage then realistically, to see, the few shorter people around me have to simply step slightly to either side of me. That’s honestly all it takes. It’s not like I’m 3 people wide!

2. I pay the same price for a concert ticket as everyone else.

General admin tickets cost the same for everyone, regardless of height. No one is owed any special treatment. If you want comfort and complete unobstructed views then either arrive to the venue early or buy sitting tickets.

3. I get to the venue early.

For bands that I really like I make the effort to go to the venue early, line up before the doors open and get into a good spot near the front. Why should I have to give this up to someone who comes to the concert last minute!? Hardly seems fair does it.

4. If you let one person in front then everyone expects to go in front.

There have been times where a much shorter person has asked me nicely if they could go in front. In the instances where I agreed the shorter person, within seconds, usually signaled over a group of friends and essentially my spot in the crowd ended up being a few people back. The people around me then wanted to go in front too and if I were to let them I would eventually end up at the very back.

5. People ask to sit on my shoulders.

People get annoyed by my height and want me to move to the back, yet they don’t see the irony in wanting to sit on my shoulders. If a shorter person sits on my shoulders they are in effect becoming the tallest person in crowd, blocking the viewing of even more people. For some reason they don’t think about that part.

I should mention that if I arrive late to a concert then I stay towards the back and don’t push my way through the crowd to the front. That would be plain rude and then I would understand why people would get annoyed and make comments about my height.

Most times when I get to a concert early I just ignore the comments, politely decline people asking to sit on my shoulders or go in front and generally have a great time. At the end of the day we have to become comfortable with our height and accept both the associated benefits and challenges that it brings.

Can you relate to any of these concert problems and if so, how do you normally react?

Stand tall and be proud.

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• Image credit for concert silhouette (cover image): here
• Image credit for tall person in crowd: here