Dance like none of the 10,000 people around you is watching

April 16, 2010 8:44 AM

Something you might want to see before summer concert season starts. People Dancing at Concerts. Drink responsibly, the internet is watching.
posted by donajo (41 comments total)

The Britney guy was frickin' awesome! And probably had a good laugh himself.
posted by Mister_A at 8:47 AM on April 16, 2010 [1 favorite]

Needs more content.
posted by hanoixan at 8:50 AM on April 16, 2010 [1 favorite]

One of my favorite things about the whole "jamband" scene is the dancing. I dance like a fool for hours upon hours like I just got St. Anthony's Fire, and so does everybody else. Nobody cares at Phish/Dead/McGee/Crow/Whatever that you dance like a complete fool...just as long as you're boogieing!
posted by deacon_blues at 8:51 AM on April 16, 2010 [2 favorites]

I have a video of Wolfsheim performing a live concert. There are lights and smoke and all that fun stuff. The singer is motionless on stage. The keyboardist is motionless on stage. The lights sweep over the crowd. They are motionless. You could've pulled up a photo and played the MP3 for all that video was worth.

Then again, I frequent shows where "dancing" is scowling while swaying from side to side with your arms crossed in front of you while trying desperately to not come into physical contact with anyone.
posted by griphus at 8:56 AM on April 16, 2010

They're at a concert, drunk and having a hell of a good time. I am not at a concert, not drunk, nor am I having a particularly good time, it being a typical morning of preparing to get to work.

Pointing and laughing at them seems a little backward to me.
posted by five fresh fish at 8:57 AM on April 16, 2010 [8 favorites]

PEOPLE ENJOYING THEMSELVES!!!!!!!!!

HOW DARE THEY!!!!!!!!!!
posted by cmonkey at 9:01 AM on April 16, 2010 [2 favorites]

cmonkey the tone of this site seems more celebratory than snarky. which is well deserved of course: DANCING IS WHAT YOU DO AT CONCERTS

i dance whenever i like a band even if theyre some fey twee shit that everyone is supposed consider instead of enjoy.

if youve never tried pop-locking to the Field Mice i heartily encourage you to enjoy it
posted by Potomac Avenue at 9:05 AM on April 16, 2010 [1 favorite]

I want to know who this guy is, and if he's a plant. A basketball-arena dancer plant.
posted by donajo at 9:05 AM on April 16, 2010

FUCK YEAH CELTIC GLEE

Stair railing air-guitar kick jumping? We should all be so happy some day.
posted by EatTheWeak at 9:06 AM on April 16, 2010

cmonkey the tone of this site seems more celebratory than snarky. which is well deserved of course: DANCING IS WHAT YOU DO AT CONCERTS

Celebratory, yes, you're totally right about that.
posted by cmonkey at 9:09 AM on April 16, 2010

As a dancing-impaired person, I find this post offensive.
posted by brundlefly at 9:16 AM on April 16, 2010

I liked when the dancer fell on her face. And now I have Wanna Be Startin' Somethin' in my head, which is an added bonus.
posted by Alvy Ampersand at 9:16 AM on April 16, 2010

I think I love that site a bit too much. Awesome way to start off the weekend.
posted by FlamingBore at 9:17 AM on April 16, 2010 [1 favorite]

Satchel Paige does not approve of this website.
posted by drezdn at 9:24 AM on April 16, 2010

Celtic Glee is the best thing I've ever seen on the Internet this week.
posted by stbalbach at 9:32 AM on April 16, 2010 [1 favorite]

Good for them!
posted by carter at 9:33 AM on April 16, 2010

We may have attended a recent Elton John concert (don’t judge!) and we may have witnessed a dance very similar to this one. Except, the way we remember it, it was being done by someone 20 or 30 years older and they were doing the Crocodile Rock arm-snap extensions.
emphasis mine

Oh yeah. Don't judge. Wouldn't want to judge here. No no. That sort of thing is frowned upon 'round here.
posted by spikeleemajortomdickandharryconnickjrmints at 9:35 AM on April 16, 2010 [1 favorite]

I didn't know people took ecstasy at sporting events
posted by oraknabo at 9:38 AM on April 16, 2010

Will the Internet ever run out of things to mock or bitch about?

(Perhaps only after it runs out of rhetorical questions)
posted by Dr-Baa at 9:47 AM on April 16, 2010

Here in Rochester, we have one reliable guy for this. We call him Festival Guy. Sometimes he dances near others, sometimes alone. He's not necessarily even inside the concert area .

Yeah, I've already submitted a half dozen links of him to the PDaC crew.
posted by knile at 9:51 AM on April 16, 2010

In my town, we have "The Spinner." I'm happy to report that despite a long winter and a couple of venue changes he was in attendance, spinning, at the last show I attended.

Plus que ca change, plus que c’est la meme chose.
posted by brand-gnu at 10:09 AM on April 16, 2010

Celebratory? This is celebratory. (Make sure you watch all of it, it's good for the soul.)
posted by The Mouthchew at 10:16 AM on April 16, 2010 [1 favorite]

Remember, if you see a guy or gal dancing by themselves, joining in the dancing might start a cascade of awesome!
posted by Kattullus at 10:40 AM on April 16, 2010 [1 favorite]

If you're only going to steer by one rule in life, a good one is to never mock anybody's dancing or singing.
posted by Cantdosleepy at 10:44 AM on April 16, 2010 [2 favorites]

My wife went to a David Gray concert the other night and tells me the woman next to her danced like this for two solid hours.
posted by EarBucket at 11:03 AM on April 16, 2010

cmonkey: i didnt see that. i still appreciate the site for the fantastic videos, but someone needs to drop them a line that the people doin the damn thing are 10,000x cooler than all the dorks siting around passively with their thumbs in their butts waiting to die.

It is agreed. FUCK THAT NOISE. SHIT/ GODDAMN / GET OFF YOUR ASS / AND JAM

So say we all.
posted by Potomac Avenue at 11:08 AM on April 16, 2010 [3 favorites]

Amen to that.
posted by Dr-Baa at 11:11 AM on April 16, 2010

man i wish there was some footage of me extant from sxsw where there was a low fence right next to a stage where Yacht was playing and i jumped up and danced around on a crumbling wall covered in ivy so my head was just poking over the fence and the band kept lolling at me cuz i was like 5 feet from them and the rest of the audience was doing the sxsw iphone stare-dance.

i could be getting mock-famous even as we speak. shoot.
posted by Potomac Avenue at 11:13 AM on April 16, 2010 [1 favorite]

Between the Britney guy and the Celtics guy, my morning is pretty much awesome now. I think the awesome might even carry over into the waiting in line at the DMV I have scheduled for this afternoon.
posted by mollymayhem at 11:13 AM on April 16, 2010

Celtic guy is my hero. He just keeps going. I expected him to lead the entire stadium out into the streets, where fireworks would explode, stripper poles would rise from the ground, and then spaceships would appear in the skies to provide an impromptu light show.
posted by Astro Zombie at 11:16 AM on April 16, 2010 [3 favorites]

In the future present, everyone will be famous humiliated for 15 minutes.
posted by The Card Cheat at 11:22 AM on April 16, 2010 [2 favorites]

It pains me to be from a culture that doesn't know how to express itself in movement, and yet burns with desire to do so.

Man, the kids in Africa can /move/ from the youngest age, and I've seen the same thing with kids from all backgrounds in when raised in Canada, but in a Caribbean milieu.
posted by clvrmnky at 11:27 AM on April 16, 2010

dorks siting around passively with their thumbs in their butts

Cool is in the eye of the beholder, there, buddy.

Plus it's totes consensual.
posted by everichon at 11:31 AM on April 16, 2010

Here's an interview with Celtics fan who did the mind-blowing dance routine.
posted by Astro Zombie at 11:34 AM on April 16, 2010 [1 favorite]

Yeah, the Celtics dance was awesome.

i still appreciate the site for the fantastic videos, but someone needs to drop them a line that the people doin the damn thing are 10,000x cooler than all the dorks siting around passively with their thumbs in their butts waiting to die.

About Us page aside, there's nothing inherently mocking about the site.

You could make fun, sure, but then these two dudes would be like, “Well, what do YOU do for fun?” and you’d say, “I surf around the Web all day looking for funny videos to keep myself entertained.” And they’d look at each other and then give you a very sad look and then go back to having the best fucking time anyone in the world has ever had doing something fun for as long as people have lived on Earth.

Seems to sum it up well (although those two guys are having the best time ever because they are on lots of drugs).
posted by mrgrimm at 11:52 AM on April 16, 2010

Here's an interview with Celtics fan who did the mind-blowing dance routine.

He's single, ladies!
posted by donajo at 12:25 PM on April 16, 2010

I know I post this video every few months but I dont care: BEST VIDEO EVER
posted by Potomac Avenue at 1:05 PM on April 16, 2010 [3 favorites]

That made my day, it really did. Because that guy is the physical manifestation of how I feel when I hear that song, well done sir.
posted by Ruby Stevens at 7:26 PM on April 16, 2010

I dance like this at concerts. I'm embarrassing and entertaining. I'm going to be paranoid about ending up on this site from now on, but that won't stop me from rocking my fucking socks off when the mood strikes!
posted by h00py at 8:53 PM on April 16, 2010

the rest of the audience was doing the sxsw iphone stare-dance.

One of my friends videos people doing the hipster dance at Austin concerts on her iPhone and is threatening to upload a compilation to youtube. I was afraid that was what this was going to be and am pleased that it wasn't.

There's a Texas Celtic band by the name of Clandestine that gets people up doing a pinky dance at most shows and now I have a desire to record that on my iPhone and submit it to these guys. I've seen a line of 20 people line dancing around a crowded bar connected by their pinkies, and I don't care if they all look dorky, it's AWESOME. I am only sad that I don't know the dance or I'd be doing it myself!
posted by immlass at 9:42 PM on April 16, 2010

I love the idea that you can attend a Brittany Spears concert, feel superior to some other loser attendee for their dancing.
posted by pompomtom at 2:42 AM on April 18, 2010