Concert Behavior 101 - Clear the Air

Consistency is the key.

There's been a lot of talk about the BPD's behavior regarding pot smoking at the Snoop Dogg concert last week.

Why didn't the officer bust the dozens of people *lighting* up during the concert?!

Talk of a potential riot, racial profiling, etc, etc. have been tossed around, turning the incident into a full blown blogging controversy.

I've been attending concerts for the better part of 30 years, taking in my first show (Fleetwood Mac, 1978 Chicago Amphitheatre) when I was 14.

From the rock chapter there was the Stones, Aerosmith, RUSH, AC/DC, Journey and The Who (Farewell Tour '83) just to name a few.

John Michael Montgomery to Frank Sinatra, a young Little Richard, KORN, George Clinton and The Grateful Dead, I've attended a large number of shows, from stadium gigs to intimate gatherings and just about ALL of them contained some form of stimulant or sedative that was floating around the venue in people's hands or in the air.

Sure, not everyone was doing it, but there were groups here and there.

Every now and again, I cover a concert for ABC23. It consists of getting escorted down to the sound board, where you plug in and record the first :30 seconds of the first two or three songs. Then, you're escorted out.

It's amazing what you can witness in that short time.
Like the time I shot the Brad Paisley concert, and while I was wading through a sea of people towards the front of the stage with my camera, I'm offered a joint.

C'mon, I'm working!!!

My message though is be consistent. If you're not going to bust someone in a large crowd of people at a concert for lighting up in plain sight, then you've got to leave the little guy alone.

I'm not going to try and differentiate between the people getting stoned at the Snoop Dogg concert and those who were spinning around in the grass, on grass, during a Jimmy Buffet show I attended in San Diego.

Stoners are stoners, only some now pack heat.

It's the consistency I'm after.

At a ZZ Top concert at Rabobank a couple years ago, I'm standing on a chair waiting for the show to start. A young man (when he started attending these shows) was very excited to be at Rabobank for the bearded brothers. He was screaming at me to put him on camera. I mentioned I didn't have night vision on the camera, but it didn't mean anything to him.

He had that "I've been smoking pot all day" stink about him. As soon the curtains parted and the band launched into the first song of the night, this gentlemen sparked up right below me, inhaled, and walked off with the joint in his hand, while screaming in his exhale.

He didn't make it 10 feet before security had him in a headlock and was escorting him to the door.

Are you kidding me??

The last few times a rap or hip/hop artist played at Rabobank, I clearly remember the smell of marijuana hovering over the crowd. Maybe I just missed the part where they were escorting people out. There was no riot and the people taking part weren't making any effort to hide it.

There have been calls for the BPD to shutdown concerts for this kind of illegal activity.

Maybe, just be consistent from now on.

It might free up some more tickets.