A fight broke out at a Drake concert after one woman grabbed another’s sign, sparking debate on concert etiquette.
In a video posted by TikTok user Alexis Nicole (@alexisnicoleofficial), she begins with the question, “If you paid $700 to go see Drake, would you be p*ssed if someone had a sign right in front of you?”
The original video (now deleted), shared by user @niyiajahne, shows an altercation between two women in the audience at a Drake concert at Rogers Arena in Vancouver. One is holding up a large neon yellow sign, blocking the view of several members of the audience standing behind her. Another woman reaches over and grabs the sign out of her hands, throwing it to the floor.
“POV: You paid $700 to stare at the back of a sign at the Drake concert,” @niyiajahne wrote in the video’s text overlay.
The woman holding the sign turns around, angrily confronting the woman who tad taken it away from her, attempting to grab her sign back. Several other concert goers keep the sign away from her, passing it to other members of the audience. A conflict breaks out, the two women shoving and yelling at each other, until the first manages to snatch her sign.
@alexisnicoleofficial Whos right here? With or without tickets being the price they are…. This shit is rude af. #drake #ticketmaster ♬ original sound – Alexis Nicole
Alexis Nicole’s repost of the video has gone viral, amassing 1.3 million views and over 2,000 comments by Monday afternoon.
Many commenters agreed that the other guests were right to be angry about the sign blocking their view, with several expressing that they would have done the same thing.
“I would do the same damn thing,” one user wrote. “Be considerate for everyone else!”
While many agreed that the sign was a nuisance, they disapproved of the decision to grab the sign out of the woman’s hands, suggesting to ask politely for her to lower her sign instead.
“I’d ask them to put it down before ripping it from them,” one commenter wrote. “Give people a chance to be considerate, after all signs at a concert is not a new thing.”
Incidents of bad concert etiquette have been increasing, sparking concerns for artists’ and crowds’ safety. One of the most notable incidents involved a fan throwing a cellphone at singer Bebe Rexha, hitting her in the face and forcing her to end the performance early to seek medical attention. The man responsible for throwing the cellphone was arrested and charged with assault.
In an article for The Guardian, Sam Allison, head of events and partnerships for the independent music store Rough Trade, says that “This kind of disrespectful behaviour has become the new norm at live performances, but it must stop for the sake of an artist’s and crowd’s safety.”
Several other incidents of bad concert etiquette have gone viral on TikTok, including multiple incidents of fans rushing the stage to attempt to grab Taylor Swift during performances. At a Paramore concert at Madison Square Garden, singer Hayley Williams was forced to pause during their set to address a fight happening in the crowd, and insist that the people who started it were removed.
Many videos have highlighted the problem of signs blocking others’ view of the show. In a video from a BTS concert in Las Vegas, a woman is seen holding up a sign, blocking the view of several members of the audience behind her. Similarly to the situation in @niyiajahne’s video, the woman’s sign is taken away by another member of the audience, although without a fight.
According to the rules of Rogers Arena, where the fight broke out, signs are allowed as long as they do not “hinder, interfere or impair other guests’ view.” Many feel that the venue should have handled the matter, rather than allowing it to become a nuisance.
“They shouldn’t be allowed to bring them in,” one user wrote. “It’s the stadiums faults at this point rn.”
The Daily Dot reached out to Alexis Nicole via Instagram direct message and @niyiajahne via TikTok comment.
