Front row. For some, those words mean the best seats in the house. But for the true music fan, there’s far more to being ‘front row’ than just ‘good seats’. For the diehard music fan, ‘front rowing’ is a state of mind – an attitude, a way of life. It’s a feeling, a connection – a bond that only other likeminded rock ‘n roll souls can understand.
‘Take a journey to the bright midnight’, Jim Morrison said.
Alright, alright.
Let’s break on through…
Come on, I’ll show you.
The Magic
True music fans will tell you that there is a deep exhilaration to experiencing a live concert from the very front edge of the stage. You are part of the action, you get to see everything in glorious detail – up close and firsthand. The drummer counting in each song, the way the lead guitarist’s fingers maneuvere and skid across the guitar strings, the set list that’s taped to the stage floor in front of you. You touch hands with the lead singer as they run their way along the front of the stage – and you actually make eye contact with the people who are up there making the music. Being up front is as real as it gets – it’s a tangible connection with everything that matters.
Front row is a revelation. It’s feeling the bass reverberate through the floor, up, into, and directly through your being. It’s you, packed in close with your friends – it’s the subconscious electric thrill that has the audience jumping and screaming in unison, with smiles ten feet wide. It’s a comradeship with the crowd. It’s that magical feeling when the song ends and the lights go down and you can see the band setting up the next song and it’s hearing that beautiful insane roar of the crowd rising behind you and turning to see them in their thousands.
Front row is the past and present meshed into one – it’s your musical history come to life. It’s fantasy made reality – all your favourite songs handed to you up close and in person. It’s the music, the music, THE MUSIC, being created in all it’s splendour and madness and glory right there in front of you. It’s the sounds you know and the people you love, and now, you’re part of the story too – you’re their muse made flesh. Now, in the same way that you’re receiving the music and the energy, you’re also inspiring them to play. And you can see them and they can see you and it’s an amazing energy flow, out to the audience and back onstage again and out and back – a magical, inspirational energy circle that’s nothing short of absolutely fucking glorious. And it’s the most alive you’ve ever been – and you never want it to end.
The Long Wait
Getting front row, particularly to a stadium event, is a skill that has morphed over the years into somewhat of a legendary art form. How do you make barrier? How do you get a seat in that very first row? What does it take…to make…the grade??
In the old days (and we’re generally talking pre-2000’s here), it was first in best dressed. Tickets were pretty much all the same price (or maybe just slightly more expensive a little closer in), but if you turned up early and bought your tickets first, you got closest to the front. Back in the 80’s fans would line up for hours (and sometimes overnight) outside ticket agencies like Mitchells Bass or Ticketek in order to be one of the first few through the doors when tickets went on sale. Or maybe you’d try your luck getting through on the phone as soon as it hit 9am. Regardless, tickets generally cost the same, and it was the early birds who scored the front seats. But over the last decade, how you access those front seats has changed significantly. Now? Everything’s online. So no more lining up overnight to be first in at the ticket agency. Now you need great research skills, good contacts, and lightening quick speed on the keyboard (as well as lots of good luck!) to be able to break through exactly as the ticket sales open up on the website. But even more significant is the change in how tickets are priced. No longer are all seats the same price. Now, depending on whereabouts you want to sit, or which area of the theatre, arena or stadium you want to access, you’ll pay accordingly. Now, in many cases, instead of first in best dressed? The best seats can literally go for thousands. Which means that they don’t always go to the most diehard fans the way they used to. Sometimes they go to the people with access to the most money. Which is not cool. But hey, that’s a story for another time.
In the old days, lining up to get tickets closest to the front was, in many ways, almost as much fun as hanging out in the front row. Because what happened in those long hours waiting in lines, sprawled out on blankets or wrapped up in sleeping bags, radios blaring, was that lifelong friendships were forged. We were all there for the same bands, the same songs. The same music was in our souls. And we would talk about this album or that record or the tour from last year and it was instant bonding. Yes, we’d echo, ‘I loved that too!’ Or, ‘did you see him do that on the first tour!’ Or, ‘God I’ve played that song so many times’ – and everyone understood. On overnighters, we’d talk late into the evening, we’d sing, music up loud, we’d turn up in homemade fan gear, outrageous, beautiful, heartfelt. And there’d be superfans – always there’d be superfans – covered head to toe in merch – tshirts, badges, tourjackets – screaming love. And oh the ecstasy at 9.05am, standing in the foyer of the Sydney Entertainment Centre, jumping up and down and screaming and hugging one another, front row tickets in hand, knowing we’d get to relive the magic with our friends just a few months down the track – from the barrier.
The Golden Rules
Let’s be real. Where a show is general admission (ie no reserved seating), to get to the front of the mosh pit? It’s every man for themselves. For the most part, common courtesy goes out the window and people will do whatever they gotta do to get as close to the front of the stage as they can. But there is an unwritten etiquette amongst music fans that once spots are established, fellow front-rowers – even if they are strangers – will stand up for one another. And they’ll do it en-masse if need be. The Golden Rule, is you don’t push in! Or you’ll live to regret it. Many times I’ve seen people try to force they way through the crowd and edge their way into the front row only to find themselves being called out by dozens of fellow music fans and ending up being forced back to where they came from. Because fellow front-rowers know the struggle. They’ve put in the work and waited endless hours to be there. Each spot is earned. Valued. And fiercely defended.
There is one other Golden Rule if you’re in the front row, that would be foolish to ignore. And it’s pretty simple – don’t drink too much. And we’re not talking alcohol here – we’re simply talking liquid. Of any kind. Because if you score a spot on the barrier there’s usually an hour or two wait for the support act to come on, then they’ll play for around forty-five minutes, then there’s another forty-five minutes or so before the main act comes on, and then they’re on for a couple of hours. And if you drink too much beforehand, you’re gonna have to pee. And if you gotta pee? You gotta leave. And trust me if you leave you’ll lose your hard-earned spot, because once you’re out of that crowd you ain’t getting back in.
But it is a balancing act. Because if you go to the other extreme, you may end up dehydrated, and lose your spot anyway. Imagine getting yourself pulled out of the front row and carted off to the St John’s Ambulance tent, and then completely missing the last few songs of the show you’d fought so hard to be barrier for. And yes, I am speaking from experience. U2’s 2019 Joshua Tree tour at Marvel Stadium, to be exact. Stay hydrated peeps! Lesson learnt.
The Benefits
Aside from the best view and the best feels in the entire place, front row holds some pretty damn fine practical benefits as well. And that’s a dealbreaker if you’re in the pit at massive stadium shows, trust me. Front row means you have access to three things that, an hour into the show, pretty much everyone else behind you would kill for. One, the barrier – somewhere to lean on when you get tired (and at a stadium show you’ll be standing for hours so yes, you’re gonna get very, very tired). Two, water – security will generally hand out water to those at the front of the crowd at regular intervals, and this will be a blessing because you will become insanely thirsty, and if it’s an outdoor concert, a splash of water on your face will prove the most glorious refresh you could imagine. And three. Air. If you’re front row and on the barrier – there won’t be anyone in front of you – which means, an open, easy supply of air. Get a few people back and once everyone is crushed in together and sweating like crazy, the air will be stale and hot, and after a while you’ll struggle. Those girls you see being pulled by their arms out of the crowd? They’re not collapsing because they fainted in excitement at seeing their favourite performer onstage – they’re being pulled out because they can’t breathe. It can get ugly fast, trust me. Duran Duran at the Hordern Pavillion, Sydney, 1982 – and I was one of those girls who got pulled out of the crowd from about 4 rows back. Horrible experience and one that made me decide that never again would I be in the mosh pit in the middle of a crowd. That from thereonin I was going to be on the barrier where things were way safer. Because four. If you’re on the front barrier and someone tries anything dodgy or you need help in any way, it’s very easy to get the attention of a security guy. If you’re stuck ten deep in the middle of the crowd? Not so much.
The Crazy Ones
For every upside there’s a downside, and sure enough, sh!t can get crazy in the front row too. Like the Guns and Roses gig in Sydney on their debut 1988 tour when a girl threw up right behind us and we had no place to go except to literally hang ourselves across the front barrier until security sent in a guy with a bucket and mop to clean up the mess (I kid you not). Or the time at Selinas in Sydney at a Cult gig when we were plastered to the barrier by a metal slash punk slash over-energised-twenty-something-testosteroned-to-the-max male crowd who were slam dancing so hard we kept getting smashed into the front of the stage. Enter two very tall well build dudes who decided they were going to save us by literally standing behind us, arms outstretched and holding onto the front rail as a human shield. Saved us from the slamdancers for sure, but I still went home with bruises from that gig. And then sometimes? It’s the person you’d least expect to cause sh!t who will cause the greatest sh!t of all. Cut to front row at a Damned gig at Billboards in Melbourne in 2019 and my brother and I were on the front barrier next to a rather intimidating-looking (but actually very lovely) six foot something mohair punk and his girlfriend, when, completely out of the blue, this very average looking girl standing behind him apparently decided she didn’t like the fact that she had a tall guy blocking the view in front of her. And decided to take him down. Literally. This was mid-show, mind you, and Dave Vanian watched from the stage in utter disbelief as this girl literally launched herself at said six foot punk, from behind, and viced her arm around his neck to try and pull him backwards. Never have I seen so many security guards appear from so many places all at once than I did on that night. She was duly escorted out of the venue and, the band played on. Smash it up indeed!
The Unforgettables
No matter how many times you do front row at a show, no two nights will ever be the same. Even when it’s the same band you’re seeing. As a diehard fan, I followed INXS around the country, seeing them no less than twenty times from front row. Everything from an intimate warm up gig at The Tivoli on George St in Sydney, to the first show of their Kick Off Tour in Queensland, to the massive Australian Made show at Sydney’s Endeavour Field (you can see my friends and I on the barrier with our red and white INXS banner in the movie). Every show was a different crowd, a different spot, a different vibe. No two shows were the same. Even on the same tour at the same venue, sometimes there’d be different songs, or the band would have a different look, or interaction with the crowd would be different. It was never the same. But what was the same was that being in the front row meant there was always opportunity for extraordinary things to happen – because there are certain experiences that can only be had if you are standing next to the stage. Like the time my friend launched himself across the barrier and onto hollowed ground at a U2 show…and managed to walk off stage arm in arm with Bono. Or the time Michael Hutchence recognised my friend and I on the barrier at a show in Toowomba, Queensland and literally stopped singing mid-song with a huge “Hiiiii!!!” to say hello. Or the time that Axl Rose stage dived into the crowd behind us. And then there’s the fact that odds are definitely in your favour to catch anything that might be thrown from onstage if you’re right at the front. I had the incredible good luck on Robbie Williams 2018 Aussie tour of scoring a drumstick thrown into the crowd simply by putting up my arm – and it literally flew into my hand. Guitar pics, placards, you name it, if it’s up for grabs, chances are, your odds are better of catching that special something if you’re up front.
The End
Front row is not for everyone. Some people enjoy sitting back and appreciating the world as it goes by without having to do very much else, and that’s fine. Others like to just dip their toes into the pool, and some enjoy going for a swim, but they’re not ones for diving headfirst into the ocean, and that’s cool too. Jack Kerouac however, said, “the only people for me are the mad ones, the ones who are mad to live, mad to talk, mad to be saved, desirous of everything at the same time, the ones who never yawn or say a commonplace thing, but burn, burn, burn like fabulous yellow roman candles exploding like spiders across the stars and in the middle you see the blue centerlight pop and everybody goes ‘Awww!’.
Those people – the Kerouac ones – they’re the ones you’ll find in the front row.
And we wouldn’t have it any other way.
“Hail hail rock ‘n roll
Chuck Berry
Deliver me from the days of old
Long live rock and roll
The beat of the drums, loud and bold
Rock, rock, rock and roll
The feelin is there, body and soul…”
[Linda Memphis, May 2021]
© 2021 Linda Memphis
