If you had concert seats in the first row, why would you need to stand up?

I'm going to preface this diatribe with these four words....GET OFF MY LAWN!

Tuesday night, I'm at a Sara Bareilles concert at Chicago's United Center. Our tickets are in the second deck, third row and fairly close to the stage. They're pretty good seats. No problem seeing the concert. Sara and her band comes out. It's showtime! On the first note, two people with seats two rows in front of us decide to stand up.

One question....WHY?

I do understand standing up at concerts. I do understand that sometimes the music moves you enough to get off your feet. But on the first note? Really?

If you aren't familiar with Sara, she describes her sound as "piano-based pop soul." That's not a bad description. If this was the 1970's, she'd be part of the singer-songwriter genre. Think Carole King with a much better voice; and add in some Broadway show tunes. Did hearing Carole getting down to "It's Too Late" make you rise? How about "Surrey with a Fringe on Top", from Oklahoma? This was sort of the same thing.

Here's what makes it worse....these folks were in the front row. No one was in front of them. No one was blocking their view. It's not like they needed to stand up so they could see. The only ones affected by their standing up were the folks directly behind them....which would include me. So yeah, this essay just got personal!

I try to be somewhat patient. Although I considered yelling at them to sit their asses down, I resisted. The good news is after two songs, the woman sitting in front of me went over to them. She nicely asked them to please sit down so the rest of us could see....and they did. Hmmm...sometimes it pays to be nice. I should remember and work on that.

By the way, it's not only at concerts where this occurs. Standing at sporting events is prevalent, too...and also rude. Two years ago, at the Rose Bowl game, someone a few rows ahead of me decided he needed to stand for the entire game. Yep....EVERY. SINGLE. PLAY!!!! Annoying AF!!!

Apparently I now have two issues at concerts: a. I don't like the audience singing. I paid to hear the performer, not you! b. I don't like you standing in front of me and blocking my view. I paid to see the performer, not your back.

I don't like to think of myself as being a buzzkill, but after writing this, I guess I may be that "Get off my lawn" kind of guy. Damn....now that's really annoying AF!!

Related Post: Is singing along at a Tom Petty concert really annoying of have I become a keep off the lawn guy?