Earlier this week, a clip of Bad Bunny launching a fan’s phone right into a body of water went viral. The fan was attempting to take a selfie of herself with the Puerto Rican artist, when he abruptly snatched the phone out of her hand and tossed it away. Explaining his actions on Twitter, the singer wrote (originally in Spanish): “The one that comes as much as me to say hello, to inform me something, or simply to fulfill me, will at all times receive my attention and respect. Those that come to place a phone bastard in my face I’ll consider it for what it’s, a scarcity of respect and I’ll treat it likewise.”

Bad Bunny isn’t the one artist who’s recently come nose to nose with badly-behaved fans. Azealia Banks recently announced that she would not perform in Australia after a bottle was thrown at her onstage during a concert in Brisbane. Back in October, Steve Lacy smashed a fan’s camera out of frustration. Most disturbingly, Kehlani was sexually assaulted by a fan at a show in Manchester earlier this yr too – in a since-deleted Instagram post, they described the incident as making them “sick to [their] stomach”.

Admittedly, most diehard fans have been susceptible to lapsing into unhinged behaviour for a long time: famously a lollipop lodged itself in David Bowie’s eye after it was thrown at him at a concert in 2004. “Prior to now, we’ve had fans of The Beatles screaming, during punk there was spitting, Tom Jones fans would commonly throw their underwear at him,” explains Dr Lucy Bennett, a lecturer at Cardiff University with expertise in fan culture. “These are sometimes communal types of behaviour that foster feelings of belonging within the fan community and permit people to perform and express their fan identity.”

But post-pandemic, something seems to have shifted within the behaviour of music fans. Crowds are noisier, rowdier, more boorish – it seems as if every few weeks one other artist makes a press release a few particularly loutish crowd, or one other TikTok video capturing chaos at a concert goes viral. John Drury, a professor of social psychology on the University of Sussex with expertise in crowd psychology, agrees that it’s possible “the dimensions of [bad behaviour] is perhaps greater than in previous years”. But this begs the query – why? What’s behind this uptick in bad behaviour at concert events and gigs?

The pandemic likely has something to do with it. “I actually have heard quite a few reports that crowds at live events have been more boisterous and even disorderly since COVID restrictions have relaxed – so all across 2022, mainly,” Professor Drury tells Dazed. “A lot of these reports are anecdotal, but all of them point in the identical direction. While only a minority in each crowd are said to be responsible – so we are able to’t necessarily say that is collective behaviour – it appears to be enough to be disruptive.”

Evaluation from Billboard in 2021 found that the post-lockdown live music boom was largely driven by first-time concert attendees, and – without sounding patronising – perhaps it’s possible that… younger people perhaps don’t know the best way to behave ‘properly’ at gigs? “Live music gigs are something physical to take part in, in an increasingly digital world, and one which is emerging from a pandemic and lockdowns,” Dr Bennett says. “Evidently – for some individuals – the notion of being there at a gig equates with physical participation, whether that’s throwing something, or screaming, or engaging in a ‘stampede’ in a crowd, as seen in a recent Phoebe Bridgers concert. There may be a powerful re-centering here of a live, physical event – an almost frantic grasping of a live moment by a crowd that has not been capable of attend live gigs as a consequence of lockdown.”

“Nonetheless, there are also complications inside this,” she continues. “The act of throwing an object is crossing and invading the physical divide between the audience and the artist and may physically harm the performer. Previously, a stage would supposedly be a sacred performance space, where the audience wouldn’t cross into unless specifically invited. Now, we’re seeing more breaches into the artist’s performance space,” she says. “Perhaps this even taps into the 2022 Oscars, where we had an unusual and striking physical moment that took place on stage between Will Smith and Chris Rock.”

“Previously, a stage would supposedly be a sacred performance space, where the audience wouldn’t cross into unless specifically invited. Now, we’re seeing more breaches into the artist’s performance space” – Dr Lucy Bennett

It’s possible, too, that the rise of social media has had an element to play. Important character syndrome and the urge to show our lives into content is arguably stronger than ever – a lot in order that it appears we’ve got to some extent where going to a gig is more about getting the right shot or video (or, when you’re lucky, BeReal), and fewer about having fun with the experience and music. “Some fans experience a parasocial relationship – a way of knowing their favourite musicians – even after they are one among potentially tens of millions that follow the artist,” Dr Bennett explains. “That is then where a live concert can play a powerful role – the artist is physically there in front of the audience, and there may be a visual likelihood for a fan to be noticed, to try and make themselves more distinct in a sea of other fans, if just for a moment – yet a moment that could be immortalised on social media and shared with many fans online.”

Naturally, that is frustrating for artists. Together with Steve Lacy and Bad Bunny, Mitski has also voiced her thoughts on the omnipresence of phones at her gigs: “After I see people filming entire songs or whole sets, it makes me feel as if we will not be here together,” she tweeted back in February. Even this inoffensive request was shot down by droves of fans, with one Twitter user replying: “Bestie that’s great and all, but a few of us have mental health issues that cause dissociation & i film to recollect the moment i’m not taking a look at my phone your complete time simply to press record on.” (The concept Mitski wasn’t talking about this one, incredibly specific set of circumstances when she asked people to place their phones away was apparently not a possibility).

“I believe plenty of this behaviour involves many elements coming together,” Dr Bennett surmises. “A world that has been deprived of physical live music gigs as a consequence of a pandemic that’s now re-emerging (and consequently crowds being physically together again), widespread practices of an increasingly digital culture that attempts to capture live distinct and participatory moments, and the emotional tie to an artist that’s at the guts of fandom.”

Obviously, we are able to’t go on treating artists this manner – so what needs to alter? Professor Drury has three foremost suggestions. “In the primary place, support for those norms and values that are antithetical to bad behaviour: respect for others, specifically,” he says. “Second, on the night itself, staff have to have the talents and training to discover trouble and intervene effectively. Third, the opposite development needed is larger collective self-regulation in the group itself, in fact,” he continues. “People don’t feel confident enough to call out or intervene when someone is behaving badly.”

Because at the top of the day, after we missed concert events within the depths of lockdown, it wasn’t because we were itching to ‘post a sick Instagram story!!’ – as a substitute, we were craving for the euphoria of hearing the opening chords of your favourite song, having the possibility to interact along with your favourite artist, and the unique sense of community that may only be found in the midst of a crowd of devout fans. Perhaps we’d do well to do not forget that.