[GardenStateGirlie]

Originally Posted by thea

I hope you guys don't mind me asking a question that has a lot to do with the original topic. (I re-registered under a new name, by the way, so this is not really my first post, although I'm not exactly a regular Ledgie...)

I've been reading reviews for a year now, and half of every story is about the seats. 'I have crappy seats', 'I got to cimb over chairs', on and on and on. People get pissed off at each other because they stand while others want to sit but others block the view... I could go on forever. I was in London for the first Earl's Court show, and the hassle about seats was very annoying. (I had second row seats.)

I have no opinion on who has is entitled to have what (especially if I have the feeling that one of my friends is being judged very unfairly) but to me, the answer is very obvious. I live in Holland, and nobody here, in their right mind, would ever organize a rock concert where people are expected to take a seat somewhere and stay there, seated or -gasp!- standing up! There are no seats unless you're at the balcony. The people who arrived at the venue first, get to stand at the front. The only disadvantage is that you have to be there early, and you usually can't go for beer or potty break, because you'll never get to the front again, unless the crowd is really laid back.

So my point is: I don't get why in some countries it is the rule to have seating. Does anybody have any idea how that became the rule? Have there been accidents with large crowds? I'm just really interested to find out, because it seems to me, after reading all these stories for so long, a system that creates a lot of stress, and I don't think it was the habit in the early days. I'm not sure though, hence the question, I guess.

Thea

Thea, to answer your question, a concert in which you can sit wherever you'd like is called general admission. It is done on a first come, first serve basis. Not many large bands do this anymore because it causes many problems. Fleetwood Mac has three price levels as far as tickets are concerned..not including the fanclub. Do you think it's fair that people with seats in the orchestra rows move down to the front and share ticket stubs or butt in front of other people that actually paid to sit there? I don't. No offense to your friend but it's not cool and the behavior in Atlanta was absolutely deplorable.