Why Noah Kahan lost a fan - Sophie Clarke

I remember the sheer delight I felt when, many months ago, I snagged two tickets to see Noah Kahan at Belfast Vital last Saturday. I was looking forward to belting out Stick Season and looking on teary eyed as he played the chorus of Call Your Mom but alas, it was not to be.

As you get older you start to realise that some nights out are less about the thrill and more about the will. As I pictured the night ahead, I was consumed by the logistics and what I could possibly wear which would cover all eventualities.

This, coupled with the fact it was both a standing and outdoor concert boasting a crowd of some 40,000 (almost four times the maximum capacity of the SSE arena), was enough to convince me that staying at home with a pre-mixed cocktail catching up on episodes of The Supervet might be a more appealing way to spend my Saturday night.

Even if you’re not a rampant raver who revels in a mosh pit it’s very difficult to leave a concert unscathed. The lingering sound of ringing in your ears coupled with a hoarse throat are usual takeaways. As are inflated prices for both drinks and merchandise, a noticeable lack of attendee and staff etiquette, endless waiting, limited access to essential facilities like the bar and toilets and disappointing views of the artist(s) on stage.

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I had initially expected to feel the fomo (fear of missing out) when the selfies, videos and TikToks from Kahan’s concert began to flood my social media but what struck me was that a lot of fans weren’t actually filming him, they were capturing the large projected images from the screens on either side of the stage. This, of course, is the pay-off when attending such large-scale events where the artist in question is likely to be a small spectre in the distance.

However, I fully appreciate the frisson of excitement knowing you are in the same vicinity as a well-known artist or band, I get the camaraderie and shared devotion which usually exists among fans and, of course, the bragging rights of being able to say you saw a certain artist/on a certain tour/on a certain date. I am aware that some artists, given their level of global success, simply can’t be confined to smaller venues (see Bruce Springsteen and Ed Sheeran) and for many fans seeing them live can be a treasured, emotive and defining experience. For me, though, sometimes it’s just not worth the faff…

A major source of my apathy, I’m afraid to admit, is other concert goers. I was disappointed to view a TikTok by a woman who had travelled from Australia to Belfast to see Kahan claim she wouldn’t attend another concert in Belfast because of the overall behaviour of the crowd.

I agree that outdoor concert etiquette has declined in recent years. Perhaps the hiatus of Covid has caused some people to forget how to act at gigs. There’s a definite lack of consideration when it comes to larger crowds which is often fuelled by alcohol. Clearly having a few bevvies whilst listening to some bangers shouldn’t be banned but there are those who seem to lose all inhibitions and become infuriatingly annoying or just plain rude.

Aside from this, I no longer relish standing for four-plus hours, I don’t want to queue for drinks or the loos and neither do I want to stress about how I’m getting home (because, let’s face it, we don’t have the public transport infrastructure or suitable parking for such mega gigs - as demonstrated by reports of motorists parking on the hard shoulder of the M1 Motorway last weekend).

Maybe it’s time to admit that my hesitancy is just a sign of getting older – though whoever snapped up my resold tickets in record time clearly had no such inhibitions.

So, Noah Kahan – another time – preferably in a more intimate, seated and heated environment…