How Rude

I knew that there were a lot of people that have no respect for anyone, I just didn't know how many there actually were.

A few days ago, Mark Chesnutt was performing a concert in town.
It was a benefit for the Kansas State Troopers and there were quite a few people there, about 1,600 or so, I'd guess.
Nice turnout for our town, as people seem reluctant to see shows here, prefering to go to Kansas City, Lawrence and sometimes Wichita instead.

I work in the entertainment industry as a stagehand, generally as a lighting tech, meaning I set up, focus, take down, and repair lights used in concerts and theatrical productions.
I was working at the venue that day, as a light tech, and was to be running the lights and calling the spot cues for the show.

The show started off a bit late, as is typical with concerts in a proper theatre, because people don't show up until a few moments before the time listed on the tickets.
I guess they all think it only takes 3 minutes to get your ticket taken, wait in line for beer, and find your seat.

I'm a firm believer in "start it on time, everytime".
Sure it makes people mad that they missed the first 8 minutes of the show because no one is allowed in during the first scene (as sometimes happens with plays/musicals), but they don't show up late next time, either.

The community dinner theatre has this problem too.
They used to be near railroad tracks and people made the effort to arrive early so they didn't miss any of the show.
When they moved to a new building, everyone was so happy to not have to arrive 20 minutes early, they didn't.
Now, almost every performance starts 10 minutes late, and intermission usually lasts an extra 5-10 minutes too.

Arrive early, sit down, shut up.

Sorry for the slight diversion, back to the main subject.

Once the show started, it went OK for about the first 15 minutes.
I don't listen to country music and don't know Chesnutt's tunes, but I had a set list with info about tempo, solos, and such, so I was following along nicely.

Typically guitar picks are used for several songs then tossed to the crowd because they lose their stiffness, and also as a bonus for the crowd.
Being a theatre, everyone was sitting, and the first 2 rows were full of wheelchairs and someone decided to walk down to the front of the stage, wait for Mark to acknowledge them, and asked Mark for a pick.

While I didn't meet Mark, I'm sure he's a nice guy and would try to help you out if you needed it, but where do people get the balls to interrupt the entire concert just so they can have a guitar pick?

It wouldn't have been so bad, but another person went up and asked for a pick.
Then another.
Then another.
After about 5 people had gone to the stage, he made a comment that he only had 6 left, and 3 people immediately stood up and debated whether to head up to the stage.
Don't want to be left out.
Eventually the bass player walked off stage and grabbed a handfull of picks, came back and Mark tossed them to a crowd of about 15 people.

The rest of us were still waiting for the next song.
After 10 minutes, he was finally able to move on to the next song.
10 minutes.

After playing a couple more songs, and skipping a couple (which is really not good for me, since I don't know the songs), a couple of boys who were maybe 16 walked down to the stage and at the end of the song, Mark made a comment about being a few minutes late (for a pick), then they asked Mark to give them his hat.

You've got to be fucking kidding me!!!

Mark is a fine artist, and though he is not the biggest name in country music, I'm sure he does quite well financially speaking.
I'm sure he paid several hundred dollars for that hat, yet he gave it to them.
He supports several charities, and I'm sure he's generous, but this man was robbed.
I'm sure he felt that he had to give them the hat to not seem like a bad guy.

After a few more songs, and skipping another one or two, a couple of girls wandered to the stage.
Amazingly they didn't ask for anything.
Mark made some comment that I didn't quite catch about sitting down or somesuch, and they sat down on the floor in the aisle, right in front of him.
By the end of the show (about 20-30 minutes) about 40 people had wandered down to the aisle and sat on the floor. Mostly kids in the 12-16 year old range.

This is illegal, and the venue can be fined by the Fire Marshal for allowing this to occur.
What I found amazing was that the Housemanagers and Ushers did absolutely nothing.

The Housemanager and Ushers job is to make sure things like that don't happen, as well as help people find their seats, not allow people to make recordings or take pictures, and generally make sure people have a good experience at performances.

Mark was originally to perform 21 songs and 2 songs for an encore, with the entire show taking approximately 90 minutes.
He skipped about 4 songs, and cut one song from the encore to make his 90 minute set.

What makes you 40-50 people so important that you can stop the show and 'steal' those 5 songs from the other 1,550 people that paid to see the show?

This is by far the worst case of concertus interruptus I have ever seen.
Usually it's just a person or two shouting to the performers, "I love you" or "play xxx song".
Sometimes a performers' friend is in the audience and they talk for a moment.
That's it.

Most of the people asking for picks, or hats, and sitting in the aisle were teens.
Parents are supposed to be teaching their kids how to act in society, but apparently they aren't.
It's not that hard to teach them acceptable behavior.
I'm certainly no Mr. Manners, and I don't know all the rules of etiquette, but I do know that this crap is not acceptable.

I guess my expectations of society are too high.