Dr John Drury Senior Lecturer in Social Psychology at the University of Sussex, Brighton talks about crowd psychology and crowd behaviour at music events and festivals.

To understand what happens to crowds at festivals and live music events, we need to understand why people go to them. Why don't we just stay at home and listen to CDs? In many ways the events are inconvenient, they're a hassle to get to and the tickets can be expensive. Why do we do it? We do it to be with other people, to be with other people that feel the same as us.

You might be quite a restrained person at home but in the crowd you're shouting, dancing and letting yourself go, because being part of a crowd of like-minded people validates your view of the world.  Being in a crowd therefore also empowers you to express those feelings of excitement.

Music message boards are full of discussions about what makes a good and bad event. Bad events include those you expect to be good which for some reason turn out to be disappointing, right up to those that turn in to tragedy.

There are issues such as organisational and ticketing problems, and promoters who over hype. But the crowd itself is crucial.  If there are not enough people to create an atmosphere, or if there are too many and it means that there isn't enough space to dance. 

Sympathetic stewarding and door policies are really important. Stewards who understand the promotion, who know the event, the crowd and the type of people they're meant to attract. They also need to be able to identify people who are there to get drunk and fight and not for the music or the crowd.
 
Very occasionally there are tragedies and disasters. One example is the Who concert in 1979 in Cincinnati which had a very big crowd in a stadium.  There was a crush, there were deaths and the crowd got a very bad press. With a very big crowd those at the back pushing forward have got no idea what's happening at the front. The people that should have the overview are the event organisers who have the responsibility to communicate what is happening.

One of the most important things in making an event a success is to keep the crowd informed. It's quite simple. Sometimes you just have to put up a poster around the venue, informing people when and where DJs or bands are going to play, which can help to facilitate a good atmosphere. 

With festivals and live music the event is the crowd, not so much the bunch of people on the stage, and in a way a promoter can't create  control  that. You'll have been to a lot of gigs and sometimes it seems to be a bit flat and sometimes it seems to go off, and as a punter rather than an expert I'm not sure why that is.  The interaction between the music and the crowd, crowd expectations, and promoters organisational skills all seem to play a part.  


Dr John Drury was speaking to Amanda White

Photo by Shane Kelly courtesy of Flickr

To read Dr John Drurys account of crowd behaviour at the 2002 Brighton Beach Party click here

MORE FROM LIVE MUSIC MONTH >>

Check out this classic clip from Monty Pythons the Life of Brian (Dir. Terry Jones, 1979) where Brian tries to convince the crowd that they are all individuals.

)