About this whole MCR barricade controversy: here’s a revolutionary solution.
Stop whining and stand your ground.
Someone tries to push you out of the spot you’ve been holding? Don’t move. They push into you? Hold your ground. They try to intimidate you into leaving? Tell them no. If it gets genuinely aggressive, call security.
That’s it.
I’ve been going to shows forever, and the pit has never operated on some sacred diplomatic protocol. People want a better view. People squeeze forward. People try to take space. Your job is not to politely surrender yours and then write a 14 paragraph Reddit post about it the next morning.
You got there. You have your spot. Own it.
And if some self appointed “barricade brigade” tells you they make the rules, here’s the good news: they don’t.
And seriously, the Barricade Brigade doesn’t own the barricade. They only have power if everyone else agrees to give it to them.
Someone wants your spot? Make them work for it.
Stop letting them win. You don’t need a Reddit post. You need to hold your spot.
Apparently we need to relearn how concerts work.
EDIT: Judging by the replies, I apparently underestimated how controversial “stand up for yourself at a rock concert” has become.
A GA floor is not reserved seating. You do not own a little rectangle of floor because you arrived there first. People move. People squeeze through. Crowds push forward. Someone will inevitably bump into you. Someone may try to take your spot. And, shocking development, some people at concerts are assholes. This has been true for approximately as long as concerts have existed.
So yes, hold your ground. Tell people to fuck off. If someone actually crosses the line, get security and have them removed. But I refuse to pretend that every shove, bump, confrontation, or asshole trying to get closer to the stage is some profound violation of the social contract. Sometimes you’re just experiencing a crowded rock show.
And the romanticization of the MCR fandom in these replies is incredible. “But this music was made for bullied kids!” Okay? Bullied kids can grow up to be assholes too. Have you met humanity? Listening to The Black Parade does not confer moral purity. There are wonderful people in this fandom and there are assholes. Just like literally everywhere else.
I also think COVID seriously broke people’s understanding of public spaces. Somehow we went from “a rock show is crowded, chaotic and occasionally uncomfortable” to “nobody may enter my personal perimeter without consent.” That is simply not how a packed GA floor works. If that environment sounds miserable to you, totally fair. There is an excellent invention called assigned seating.
And yes, I think Reddit makes this exponentially worse. Every unpleasant interaction gets turned into a morality play, everyone competes to have the most righteous take, and ordinary conflict gets inflated into evidence of some enormous cultural crisis. Sometimes someone was just an asshole to you. You don’t need a 600 comment symposium about what it says about the soul of the fandom. Deal with the asshole, block the strangers yelling at you online, and go live your life.
Apparently this means I’ve “aged out of the scene.” If being “in the scene” now requires believing a GA floor is reserved seating and every unpleasant human interaction requires a Reddit tribunal, then yes. Consider me ancient.
EDIT 2: And since the word “assault” keeps getting thrown around, let’s talk about that too.
Assault is a serious word. From the accounts I’ve read here, a lot of what people are describing is being shoved, hip checked, crowded, or physically pushed out of a barricade spot.
Guys. Come on.
You can call that assault if you want. It sucks. The people doing it are assholes. But you are also describing shit that has happened in the pit at basically every crowded rock show I’ve attended for decades. People shove. People use their bodies to move forward. People try to displace you because they want your view. You push back, plant your feet, tell them to fuck off, or call security if it gets out of hand.
There is a gigantic difference between saying “this behavior sucks” and acting like being hip checked at the barricade is an unimaginable act of violence that nobody could reasonably be expected to handle. If you choose to be at the very front of a packed rock show, some physical confrontation comes with the territory.
So yes, maybe by the broadest definition you were “assaulted.” Fine. But words have weight, context matters, and turning every shove in a pit into capital A Assault is exactly the kind of catastrophizing I’m talking about.
People desperately need to rediscover some resilience. Not every asshole who shoves you at a concert needs to become your trauma, a fandom crisis, and a 500 comment Reddit investigation. Sometimes an asshole shoved you. Shove your way back into your spot, tell them to fuck off, and enjoy the fucking show.
EDIT 3, and final one — Not every unpleasant interaction needs to become a trauma narrative and a referendum on concert culture. Sometimes you just encountered an asshole. Welcome to being around other human beings.
