To sit or not to sit? That appears to be the big question when going to a concert in Australia these days.
Sammy attended Lady Gaga’s first Melbourne show last week and was yelled at by the people behind her because she stood up during parts of the two-and-a-half hour performance. She told Yahoo Lifestyle it was a really “scary” moment while she was trying to have fun.
“They just kept hurling abuse at us,” she said.
“It really put us off. We were quite shocked and shaken up by the fact that these two men were screaming at us and threatening us.”
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It’s the first time Lady Gaga has done a string of shows in Australia in more than a decade.
In that time, the pop star has dropped half a dozen albums and fans were understandably excited when she revealed she would be coming down under as part of her Mayhem world tour.
Sammy and her friend paid $700 each for their prime seats at Marvel Stadium and they leapt to their feet early into the concert.
The hitmaker’s show is full of energetic and uplifting songs, and the Aussie wanted to enjoy herself.
She also insisted that she wasn’t stood for the entire show, but just for the songs she liked.
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But two different men, believed to be in their 40s or 50s, who were sat separately, quickly told Sammy and her friend off for blocking their view.
“He was saying things like, ‘Shut the f**k up and sit down or we’re gonna make you shut the f**k up and sit down,” she recalled.
Bewildered by what was happening, Sammy even went to venue security and the police to see whether they would weigh in. She claimed they fully supported her.
Sadly, this only escalated the verbal abuse from the men sitting behind her.
“For the rest of the concert, they just screamed at us, ‘You guys are f**king dumb b***hes because you went to the cops,'” Sammy said.
But she was worried the abuse would continue after the concert ended and wanted authorities to be aware of what was happening.
Yahoo Lifestyle has reached out to Marvel Stadium for comment.
Aussies are divided on what concert etiquette is
People appeared to have very strong feelings about what to do if you’re in a seated section at a concert.
“Seems pretty straightforward to me. If you want to dance, pay the extra for floor tickets,” wrote one person.
“I cannot stand people who have an issue with others standing AT A CONCERT!! Seated section does not mean you NEED to be seated the whole time,” added another.
“I have arthritis in both my knees. Standing is literally painful. [I] don’t mind if people stand up occasionally to clap at the end, [or] for a small dance in the middle. But I also paid to like, see the show? To stand the whole time is rude in my opinion,” replied a third.
A fourth said: “Lady Gaga is not the type of concert you SIT at. This is a dancing concert.”
If it was an Andre Rieu or Adele concert, it would likely be a very different conversation.
Sammy said her TikTok was filled with direct messages from other people who attended the Friday and Saturday night Gaga shows and were also told to sit down.
She added that it’s not as simple as “just pay for general admission if you wanted to dance”, which is what a lot of people told her on social media.
General admission (GA) can sell out incredibly quickly, especially for a concert like Lady Gaga, and you might want to have the option to sit.
She added that she wouldn’t have been able to see anything if she was in GA.
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This exact issue happened to another woman in Melbourne in October.
At Jelly Roll’s show at Melbourne’s Rod Laver Arena, a woman could be seen standing up in the seated section being berated by people behind her to sit down.
One person was even seen throwing an item at the woman.
The discourse sparked by that video was the same, with many believing that a seated ticket meant you were supposed to sit.
One woman attracted the wrong type of attention at a recent Melbourne concert. Picture: wisdominthewild/TikTok
Admittedly, Jelly Roll’s country music is very different to Lady Gaga’s and is much slower, and being seated would have likely been more the norm.
Sammy told Yahoo Lifestyle that while she totally appreciated that everyone has their opinion on the issue, no one deserves to endure what she did last week.
“That’s just completely disrespectful,” she said.
“There could have been an open conversation about it that would have been absolutely fine.
“But unfortunately, that didn’t happen.”
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