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Dickhead security guards at concerts, have you ever had to deal with them?


fraroc
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Me personally, due to the fact that I like a lot of older music, bands from the 70s and 80s, their fans are much older than me and are pretty much well behaved at concerts in this year, 2014 and I never dealt with dickhead security guards. They were either friendly and cordial or just plain nonchalant.

 

Have you ever had to experience or witnessed a security guard at a concert you've went to, whether it's Rush or something else, use excessive force? Like I said, I haven't witnessed it in person, rather I've seen PLENTY of videos of them. I understand that security guards job is to keep everybody at the venue (band included) safe from harm. When a fan climbs on stage, they have the responsibility to get them off stage, but that does NOT mean that security guards have the right to choke them, punch them, threaten them, or f***ing try and re-create a pro-wrestling move using the fan. Yeah, the fan may have climbed on stage, you have the right to be able to escort them out of the venue, BUT that doesn't mean you have to beat them down with nine other security guards as your backup.

 

And it's not just people who climb on stage, sometimes it's people who just get too excited during the show that get assaulted by dickhead security guards. Remember the Nikki Sixx incident when he got in trouble for calling a security guard the N-word? Yeah, the N-Word is a vile disgusting word, but keep in mind, the security guard punched a teenage girl right square in the face for NO REASON. Nikki had every right to be angry.

 

So anyway, I'm just curious if you've ever witnessed a security guard abuse his power at a concert...

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and one time I was at a show with a crowd of like, maybe 40 people. no use naming the groups, because they're all fairly obscure on a site like this. since all the morons showed up for the opening act, everyone was pretty clearly bored by the headliner besides me and 6 or 7 other people. one guy started going a little crazy at the end. he wasn't touching anybody, but he was definitely moving around weird. your typical security guy shows up and escorts the dude out. after the show's over, the band's guitarist gave a speech on what a shitty venue it was, and how there was one guy having fun in the whole crowd and the security guys threw him out, and he said next time they came to atlanta they'd been playing somewhere else.

 

the guitarist and vocalist thanked me and my friend after the show for our "energy," which was cool.

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I've never witnessed security getting too abusive with anyone who wasn't asking for it. I've seen them throw people out who are too drunk and causing trouble for themselves and the people around them but not much else. If any fan jumps on the stage without the bands permission then f**k them. Security then has the right to tackle, punch, kick or put a choke hold on anyone who does that. Let's not forget that metal guitarist "Dimebag" Darrell Abbot was shot and killed ten years ago by a fan who hopped up on stage at the start of a show. Security can't take chances like that anymore. The moment someone gets up on stage who isn't supposed to be there, they need to take that person down immediately and i'm completely fine with that.
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I've never witnessed security getting too abusive with anyone who wasn't asking for it. I've seen them throw people out who are too drunk and causing trouble for themselves and the people around them but not much else. If any fan jumps on the stage without the bands permission then f**k them. Security then has the right to tackle, punch, kick or put a choke hold on anyone who does that. Let's not forget that metal guitarist "Dimebag" Darrell Abbot was shot and killed ten years ago by a fan who hopped up on stage at the start of a show. Security can't take chances like that anymore. The moment someone gets up on stage who isn't supposed to be there, they need to take that person down immediately and i'm completely fine with that.

 

And that's why I understand why security guards are so quick to respond when that happens, but my point is, all they have to do is kick the fan out of the venue, THAT'S IT. They don't need to get ten other HUGE security guards to basically tag-team the poor f*cker on stage for ten minutes before dragging him out.

 

I feel like it's more common with punk and metalcore music where the fans are much younger and rowdier. You see TEN guys who obviously look like they're 260-280lbs of pure muscle tackle and beat the living shit out of a skinny little twig who looks like he's just 110lbs for shit like crowd-surfing, moshing, etc...Hardly seems fair, right? As I said before, the security guard's job is to keep everybody in the building safe, not physically abuse the audience.

 

Security guards are just like everybody else, you get some really friendly, chill, and nice guys, and you also get some MISERABLE bastards.

Edited by fraroc
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Never seen any dickhead security at any concerts I've attended. In my younger days I went to a lot of heavy metal concerts and it never got out of hand. There was a sense of joined responsibility and respect so that if someone went down in a mosh pit you'd be up again in 2 seconds. I think that carried over to the security. Don't know how it is today since I prefer to stay around the FOH or sit down (my back hurts if I stand still).

 

Maybe the whole scene is different from the states and Europe? In a lot of concert clips of metal concerts on youtube you can see these shirtless knuckleheads playing macho. You wouldn't see that in Denmark for sure.

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I don't think I've ever seen security beat the shit out of someone with 5 others. But if someone is trying to jump on the stage, I believe the security guard should do whatever is necessary to stop them. I don't care if the fan gets hurt as long as it isn't excessive.
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Seen plenty of dickhead security at concerts. Last rush show, I held up phone to take a snippet of video-don't remember song- and security came and threatened to throw me out. I pointed at the HUNDREDS of others doing it with no interference and he just insisted I put my phone away. Hilarious to enforce a rule like that IMO.
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I will say as a musician that the thought of someone entering the stage sends my anxiety levels through the roof. I'd be one of those who wants that kind of security strictly upheld, but not to the point of broken bones or crushed skulls. Just escort the fella off the stage :)
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At a Rush concert in St. Paul, some smallish security geek got on my case for using the "wrong" men's room. I was two rows off the main floor and the (not very busy) men's room was just two steps down and around the corner. The security geek told me that I was to use the other men's room - 25 rows up and down that other aisle. :facepalm:

 

I stared at him for a few seconds, gave the classic "Oh, Jesus Christ...." expletive, and walked away from him......oh how I wanted to just SLAP him silly......

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There was a thread on here that I found once from a few years back. Apparently there was a woman in the audience that got on Al's nerves bad. I think she was drunk. The stage police finally escorted her out of the concert after many warnings to knock off whatever it was she was doing. There's a video on the thread showing what happened for those of you who can view them. If I remember, it was from either the R30 or S&A tour. Edited by Lorraine
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This thread reminds me of Randy Blythe who got arrested and almost charged with manslaughter for pushing a fan off the stage. If security would of grabbed this guy and escorted him from the venue all problems would of been avoided. Let the security do what they can.
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No,but this is a true story.A friend of mine,and I went to see ARS at the Georgia Tech Colisium about 1979,and we smoked a doobie right in front of a uniformed police officer.He just stared at us.I thought he was gonna ask for a hit actually.
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Growing up in Glasgow, the answer is YES....

 

Fortunatley for me, I was only a victim of these guys once. I was trying foolishly to scale the stage at the Glasgow Apollo.

 

Unfortunatley for me, it's probably the highest in the buisness. I was easily spotted and took the traditional "Head first"

exit onto Renfield street (Ouch).... And it was only Uriah Heep I was watching.

 

http://www.glasgowapollo.com/index.asp?s_id=1&m_id=6&board_id=2&subject=1096

 

Check out this lump in what has become a pretty iconic picture

 

http://news.stv.tv/west-central/22778-apollo-memories-when-the-stranglers-met-the-bouncers/

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Rolling Stones at Fenway Park, Boston... Opening night for the 2005-07 tour. Drove up from NJ and I forgot my camera so I bought a shitty disposable camera... the security guard tool my shitty disposable camera that was tucked in my pants. Like I could sell these pictures to someone and make money... DICK
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No but I had to avoid one for half a Rush concert in Vancouver because he spotted me receiving a ticket stub from a guy I met a few nights earlier at the Regina show.. I noticed him staring at me when I took the stub so I took off in the other direction, took the concourse to the opposite of the venue where I entered the floor area, and to my seat.. In the second row!! Buddy gave me his stub partly because the seat beside him was empty for the first half of the show. Sure enough I had the seat for the rest of the show!

 

Edit: I guess my story seems a little tame after actually reading the thread :P

Edited by MMCXII
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I've had to deal with dickhead fans more often. Last time I saw Van Halen I got in a (literal) fist fight with some drunk asshole behind us. I reached over (after a litany of incidents and threats) and pulled this dude from his row into my row and the shit was on. The people around us told the cops it was their fault (which it was) and they were thrown out.

 

Frankly I'm sick to death of going to concerts in Greensboro, NC. You lose IQ points right and left just entering the town. I've had the worst concert luck there in terms of shitty, drunk, ignorant rednecks.

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I don't have any bad stories of security guards, but I have a story of no security guards. Anyone been to a show like that. I went to see Panda Bear in Minneapolis (With Yacht and Blues Control). There was no security, we could go right to the front of the stage, and the stage only went up to my waist. If I wanted to interrupt a show, I could have in one second, not that I would do that. This was a bad thing when Yacht came on as the female singer of the group (of which I knew nothing of at the time) had NO idea of peoples personal space, any one who did not know the band (about half of the front group) continually took one big step back every time she came by (until she figured out where to focus her attention). But being that close to Panda Bear was amazing. He is very trusting to not hire security considering how badly needed they are when he plays with Animal Collective
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