Have People Forgotten How to Behave at Concerts?

On September 19, when Diljit Dosanjh was performing in Zenith Paris-La Villette in Paris, as part of his Dil-Luminati Tour, a mobile phone came flying at him from the audience. In a now-viral clip on social media, the singer is seen halting the show to pick up the phone that seemed to have hit him on the leg. "Take care of your phone, paaji," the Punjabi popstar is seen saying to the fan in question. He was the picture of grace as he returned the phone, adding, "Don’t do this. Don’t ruin the moment…I love you too, but why would you break your phone?" before resuming the show. While this particular situation was handled with ease and resulted in no injuries, it’s simply the latest example in an ever-expanding list of instances of concert misdemeanours.

This comes only days after September 6, when Karan Aujla — the voice behind the viral ‘Tauba Tauba’ song from Bad Newz — while performing at the O2 Area in London, had a shoe hurled at him. Other artists who've had objects thrown at them in 2023 and 2024 include Cardi B, Taylor Swift, T-Pain, Bebe Rexha (who needed stitches above her eye after being hit with a phone) and Drake. Indian artistes who have experienced similar incidents are Sonu Nigam, Sunidhi Chauhan, and Kailash Kher.

But why is there an apparent increase in instances of such behaviour? "It's difficult to pinpoint exact reasons," says Nikhil Chinapa, founder of some of India's biggest music festivals, including Vh1 Supersonic and Submerge. He's seen various incidents while working in the entertainment industry and admits that a part of the process as an organiser is accepting that you can’t predict everything. "Attention, inebriation, a momentary burst of emotion, trying to impress a member of the opposite sex or just simply allowing your intrusive thoughts to take over, and a complete lack of awareness of the consequences of your actions (are possible reasons behind such audience behaviour in most cases)," he says. "Hate isn't usually the case, as the audience member would've bought a ticket, driven to a venue, spent time, money and energy to attend — and they wouldn't normally do so much for someone they dislike."

Chinapa’s theory has merit. Regarding the incident with Dosanjh, it did seem like a bid to gain the singer’s attention rather than an attempt to injure him — a successful endeavour, as Dosanjh ended up taking off his jacket and gifting it to the fan. Aujla’s case seems to be the same — the audience member had allegedly thrown the shoe because he wanted it to be signed. Sunidhi Chauhan, during a performance in Dehradun on May 3, was hit by a water bottle. She, however, defended her fans, telling Hindustan Times, "It's the first time something like this has happened to me, and I don't think it was done intentionally. I was performing my second-last song and the crowd was having a blast. They were hurling bottles in the air and one fell on the stage as it had water in it.” She did, however, condemn the act of throwing objects at performers deliberately.

Amarjeet Singha, Chief Strategy Officer and President at Skillbox Events — a Bengaluru-based event organiser and ticketing platform — adds that the possibility of violent incidents revolves around who your audience is. "It also depends on the general demographic and profile of the artiste and their fans," he explains. SkillBox Events specialises in slightly smaller-scale events than Vh1 Supersonic, Lollapalooza India or the Sunburn Festival. They organise multi-city tours for independent Indian artistes and a few international artistes with a select number of attendees, which means they haven’t really seen any unsavoury incidents. "We have been lucky to have a very niche music listening crowd profile for the kind of acts we promote — our fans are very open-minded, sensitive and are [far] from trouble in general."

Audience disruptions during a show proved to be a complex subject that artistes hesitate to comment on. The Hollywood Reporter India reached out to several musicians for their insights, and all requests for comments on the subject were declined or ignored until the time of this article’s publication. No one can predict how artistes react to a situation at the moment of the incident — not their teams, the showrunners or even the artistes themselves. They might say something in one moment and react differently later. For instance, in 2023, Cardi B fought fire with fire when a fan tossed a drink at her during a Las Vegas performance; the American rapper retaliated by throwing her mic at the offender. This became a global controversy, spawning conversations about how an artist is supposed to behave on stage. Some criticised Cardi B for her reaction, while others felt it was justified. It also escalated to the point where the supposed fan threatened legal action, but eventually dropped all charges. Dosanjh’s reaction of gifting the fan his jacket is being viewed by some as gracious, while others have labelled it a mistake ‘rewarding’ bad behaviour.

"We cannot control people’s emotions and reactions — be it the fans or artistes," says Singha. "Organisers cannot take responsibility for something an individual does — I mean, it’s just not in our hands." Chinapa agrees and adds that while event organisers do brief artistes and their teams on safety protocols, once the show begins, there's no telling what can happen. "Artistes generally operate under standard festival guidelines. If the artiste intends to engage in close proximity with the audience as a part of their show, we are briefed by the artiste's tour management, and we deal with the situation accordingly. If their engagement is deemed risky, we advise the artiste against it. That said, once the artiste is on stage, they operate under their own free will."

At times, like with Dosanjh, artistes can handle an unruly crowd by themselves. But most concert organisers believe that when dealing with a large volume of people, a major artiste and an adrenaline-fuelled performance, the answer isn’t control — it’s safety. “The immediate reaction is to deal with safety concerns for the artiste and audience members,” Chinapa explains. “We assess the nature of the incident and the threat level to artistes, attendees and crew. Appropriate action (removal from the show or legal action) is then initiated.”

Pre-show measures include security checks, and ensuring the venue allows for swift action. “We have strict security protocols, like metal detectors, scanning and frisking, which is pretty standard,” Singha shares. “We try our best to keep our events a safe space.”