How To Survive A General Admission Concert

I spent $100 to stand outside in the blazing heat for four hours. This ticket included no personal space (not even enough space to move my arms), being touched by sweaty strangers and being extremely angry at a lot of people who think it’s okay to push and try to get to the front of the crowd. Ahem.

Let me give you some backstory: My friend and I got general admission floor tickets to see ED SHEERAN (aka King of Everything Musical) just this past week. It was in Forest Hills stadium in Queens. “General admission won’t be bad,” we said. “It’ll be fine.” Nope.

We did not know the stadium was outdoors, first of all, nor did we realize how hot it would be outside. Ed was amazing but, as usual, concertgoers are ruthless humans and you too must be ruthless in the dog eat dog world that is general admission concerts. This is it, folks. Here is how to survive a general admission concert.

1. DRINK WATER. We did not drink much that day because if you leave your spot in general admission, you are in no way getting back to that spot (at least not without pushing and a lot of pissed off concert-goers). We were so not leaving to go to the bathroom. This was a mistake. No, we did not have to leave to go to the bathroom but we did leave before the last song because I literally thought I was going to pass out. Dehydration is not cute. Drink some freaking water.

2. STAND YOUR GROUND. The excuse “My friend is up there!” “I’m trying to find my mom!” while someone tries to get ahead of you is 9.9 times out of 10 total bullshit. If it’s more than one person looking for someone in the front of the line, it’s definitely bullshit. Even if it is true, that’s tough luck that your friend is in the front of the line and you’re not. I waited here for an hour and if you want to be with your friend, she can come back here and meet you. The chick in front of me kept complaining but letting people get in front of her. So then she was like on top of me because she kept letting people in front of her. STAND YOUR GROUND, SERIOUSLY. There is no space for anyone, keep your spot.

We got so close!

3. YOU HAVE TO BE RUTHLESS. When people are pushing in front of you, don’t let them pass. These two tweens kept trying to get to the front of the crowd (they started from the back and pushed through a million people) and then when they tried to cut me and the girl next to me we said “Nope.” and she kept trying. She was like on top of me but I did not budge. Eventually she moved away from me. Good. Perhaps I did “accidentally” lightly push backwards when she was pressing against me and trying to get past me but I was not letting this rude chick get to the front. You probably shouldn’t push people, but if they push you…Plus I was grumpy from wearing my platform boots (good and bad decision).

4. DON’T EXPECT A TON OF SPACE. I could barely raise my phone to take a video and if I moved I was going to be touching someone’s butt or someone’s butt would be touching me. Plus, once the act gets on stage everyone rushes forward. It’s terrible. Don’t expect to have space, but if you need a bit more just kind of spread arms and legs out and maybe the people around you will find some more room. Maybe.

5. DON’T BE THAT PERSON. Don’t try to get to the front row if you got here ten minutes before the show started. You’re not going to get there and if you do, so many people are going to elbow you, push you, curse at you (someone’s mom actually cursed out the afore mentioned tween that kept trying to cut everyone) and who knows what else. Don’t try to cut the line either. If you want to be in the front, GET THERE EARLY.

Ultimately, concerts are great. You do constantly have to pay attention to your surroundings (also beware of the drunks, vomit is not a cute accessory) but you can usually be pretty close to your favorite artists.

Don’t forget to check out my related post on What NOT to Bring To A Concert!

What’s your worst concert experience?