Concert Horror Stories
An 8123 Community blog by Julia Swanson.
Have you ever gone to a concert or meet and greet and just embarrassed the absolute shit out of yourself? Let’s face it; we’ve all been there. But if you haven’t… good for you. I still suggest reading on to get a good laugh!
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In the Halloween spirit, I reached out to people on Twitter and Facebook and asked them to share their most horrific concert experiences with me. So brace yourself – it’s about to get pretty horrible (and embarrassing)…
I’ll start off with one of the most embarrassing things I’ve ever done, let alone at a concert. This nightmare of a story took place this summer, at the final run of the Vans Warped Tour in Holmdel, NJ (my hometown date). It was my second out of four dates I was going to, and I was determined to meet State Champs at this one, because again – it was my hometown show. So doors open, and I start leading my friends in desperate search of the Hope For a Day tent.
While walking around, some kid tripped and completely wiped out and crashed into my friend’s legs. After this, we took a minute, and my friend Maggie said, “Yikes, that sucks that it happened this early in the morning.” Well, looking back, I should’ve taken this as a warning, but I laughed it off and continued my avid search.
Ah, the sweet sigh of relief when I finally saw the tent in the distance. I began to walk a bit faster towards the tent and intentionally stepped over one of those yellow things that cover wires on the ground at Warped. Literally 3 seconds later I tripped on my shoelace and was facedown on the pavement… smooth one, I know. But the worst part? I was in a tube top with no bra on, so only my left boob fell out of my shirt for everyone setting up the Monster stage to see.
I then went to the medical tent for them to clean my horribly deep cut and give me a band-aid (which I bled through in about 30 minutes). After returning for more band-aids, they sent me to the actual medical tent with real doctors because they said I might need stitches. Luckily, I didn’t end up needing stitches. But, 3 months later, I have a NASTY scar. On the bright side… I got the State Champs wristband!
HUNTER -
My story was sort of an in-person meet & greet, but also not really, if that makes sense? It was back when Black & White by The Maine came out, and they were playing at Six Flags in New Jersey for one of those Star Burst concert series events. I was in line at Six Flags to be up front at barricade. So, I got there super early while my friend Ally and her mother went to Hot Topic in Freehold Mall to go to their signing.
Back then, I was kind of known as ‘Hunter O,’ obviously, and Ally had my name in her phone as ‘Hunter O’Callaghan.’ So I told her, when you get to the meet & greet table, see if you can call me and put me on speaker so I can talk to the guys. So that’s what she did, and they pass the phone down the line and they all say ‘hello’ or whatever. So it finally gets to John, and he’s now looking at the phone, and says to me without me realizing, ‘Oh, wow, we have the same last name!’
So now, I’m sitting there on the other line like, ‘What?’ kind of loud and rudely. And he goes, ‘Oh, your last name’s O’Callaghan, right?’ And I paused and said, ‘…Oh yeah… definitely!’ So at that point, I can hear Ally and her mother completely dying at the fact. But, yeah, I think that’s my most embarrassing meet & greet story ever. Surprisingly.
PAIGE -
I've been a fan of the Jonas Brothers for a looooong time. I had posters of them all over my bedroom, I lined up to get their album on release day, the whole thing. Years passed and they returned for one final album (which we now know... never happened). But this time, I worked for them.
They came to Toronto for a listening party and I had to take everyone's cell phones away at the door. I was just SO PUMPED to be part of this in any capacity. I was told that the whole staff would be meeting them except for me because I had to return everyone's phones, but the other interns conspired with me to get ourselves into the meet & greet. We just kind of... showed up and loudly said "DO YOU NEED US TO DO ANYTHING ELSE?" until a coworker asked if we wanted to meet the band.
So this was it. My moment. So I walked up to the band after all these years... and my big dumb idiot mouth literally yelled, "Wow, you're all grown up!!" The entire room of my coworkers audibly groaned and I still get a little lightheaded when I think about it. The band was super nice and laughed about it, and as far as I know there aren't any restraining orders against me. Remembering this moment keeps me humble. But now they're all getting married and it's not to me, so I'll have to carry the shame of ruining my shot for the rest of my life.
SHAYLYN -
I went to a concert at PNC in New Jersey a couple years ago for Wiz Khalifa. It rained the night before, and everyone who’s ever sat in their lawn seats knows that their lawn gets really muddy and wet. Not to mention, it’s on a hill. As I was walking with my friends, I slipped in the mud in front of the whole crowd and slid down on my knees. Then, I got up again but kept falling, and falling. My knee got super scraped up. Plus, every time I fell, the whole crowd was like, “Ohhhhh!” When I finally got up – and stayed up – the crowd cheered. Not my crowning moment, and I still have a scar on my knee from falling!
FRANCESCA -
My friend Ally and I went to a concert at an outdoor, amphitheater venue in 2015. During the show, some middle-aged woman was waving her lighter back and forth for a song. During the chorus of the song, she got a bit out of hand with her lighter, and my friend’s hair caught fire for a second. It was honestly terrifying but hilarious in retrospect. I guess this is why we use cell phone flashlights now…
SOPHIA –
When attending a Mayday Parade concert in May of 2017, I was beyond excited. Being one of my favorite bands, I wanted to have the time of my life and go crazy. For me and my friend, that was crowd surfing…over…and over.
Even after being told many times by others that crowd surfing was dangerous and even witnessing crowd surfing accidents, I didn’t want to listen. After crowd surfing for almost every song of the set, sometimes multiple times during a song, it finally caught up with me during the last song “Oh Well, Oh Well”. All was going smooth until I was thrown through the air into an open gap of people. It was almost as if they opened the hard, concrete floor just for me to fall on to.
I fell, my elbow breaking my fall. I thought immediately I had broken my elbow. Until things got worse…
Before being able to get myself off the ground, another girl was dropped…on top of my elbow.
Filled with pure panic and adrenaline, I rushed out of the crowd, holding my elbow close to me, even passing my friend who was trying to get my attention, but I didn’t even notice.
I was okay. My elbow wasn’t broken (surprisingly), but was severely bruised and sore, turning the color green for weeks after. However, even after the physical trauma of this night, I still look back at it as being a humorous, fond memory. I’m very thankful I was okay, as some people are not as lucky and get severely injured from situations like mine. I don’t think I’ll be crowd surfing at a Mayday Parade concert again any time soon, but at least it gave me something to look back on.