Music fans from all walks and genres are witnessing an epidemic that seems to be contagious: concert goers hurling items at artists during their performances.
Concerts are often a highlight of the summer months for music fans, but performers might not be as excited to step onto the stage if this horrible trend continues. Just this year alone, we’ve seen Bebe Rexha get hit in the face with a phone, Morgan Wallen get hit with a boot, someone throw a bag of their mother’s ashes at pop artist Pink, and Cardi B retaliate by throwing a microphone back at a fan who threw their drink on her.
At this point, it’s getting ridiculous, and though it’s one of those situations where you likely just have a couple of “bad apples” and it isn’t all music fans, it’s still shaping up to be a problem. It wouldn’t surprise me if at one point, because of all these idiots, they have to put “hockey rink protective glass” around the stage just so performers can stay safe.
Musicians certainly don’t want to have to do that, though they are definitely getting fed up with fans for the hostile acts. Country music artist Tim McGraw actually addressed the issue in a recent interview with CNN, saying:
“I think it’s terrible. I mean, you could really injure somebody and you could miss and hit somebody in the audience and injure somebody.
What happens if somebody gets hurt? Then it ruins the show for everybody. If somebody can’t continue performing.”
And that exact thing has actually happened. Bebe Rexha had to stop her show when she was hit in the face with a phone, and there have been many other artists in the past who have had to either pause their show or even call it off once they were injured by a fan throwing something at them.
McGraw continued in the quote, conceding that some things are okay, but a line must be drawn somewhere for the safety of the artists:
“I’m used to soft goods being thrown at me. And that’s fine, but don’t throw anything that’s got any heft to it that’s gonna hurt somebody. I just think that it’s just not appropriate to do.”
Soft goods? Are talking about women’s undergarments Mr. McGraw?
“Everybody’s there to have fun and there’s just no need in any of that.”
I have to agree with McGraw on this one.
As an avid concert goer myself, there’s nothing like seeing live music with a group of people who are all there for the exact same thing: to enjoy the concert. And with ticket prices nowadays (thanks a lot Ticketmaster), if my favorite artist had to postpone their show because some idiot threw something at them, I’d be pretty upset to say the least.
Proposed rule: if a concert gets called off because someone launches something at the performer and hurts them, the object-chucking-dumbass has to either a) pay for all the refunds or b) get up on stage and see how they like it.
Of course, Tim McGraw has proven over the years that he ain’t afraid to hit back:
