Went to Tom Petty this weekend (Are all Concerts like this)

[Rondo2287]

So i went to see Petty this weekend, I am 23, huge fan of his but never been to one of his shows.  The only Memory of the Pats Giants Superbowl i haven't erased from my brain is Petty at halftime.  Let me start off by saying, Petty was amazing and hasnt lost a beat.  Every song sounded crisp and energetic.  Loved his performance (What i saw of it)

Went with my girlfriend and my two brothers and their wives.  We were out in the parking lot tailgating beforehand.  Cooked up some dogs, burgers, played cornhole and drank some beers.  Went inside as the opening act was finishing up, pumped for Petty. 

Before Petty went on i realized i was in trouble, apparently their are no rules against smoking at the comcast center because everywhere you turned their were people lighting up and blowing smoke in your face.  It was absolutely brutal..  (I got nothing against smokers, just don't blow it in my face!)  My girlfriend and I got ashed on twice, my Penn State Whiteout shirt got ruined because of it.  You couldn't take a breath in without it containing traces of weed smoked by everybody else in the crowd.  Security was standing right behind us when a girl 4 feet in front of us pulled out a weed pipe and started smoking it right there, they did nothing. 

During the middle of the set, it got to the point where i could hardly breathe and my brother who has a respiratory condition had to leave the concert. The night really reached its high point when on our way out we saw a 50 year old woman hike up her skirt and pee right in the middle of the crowd.  Now I ask you, is this normal for a A)Petty Concert  B) Comcast Center concert (Which apparently has less rules than the wild west) or all concerts now-adays. 

Last year I went to see Ludacris and there wasn't as much trouble as this concert, so i kinda doubt that its C

[StartOrien]

So i went to see Petty this weekend, I am 23, huge fan of his but never been to one of his shows.  The only Memory of the Pats Giants Superbowl i haven't erased from my brain is Petty at halftime.  Let me start off by saying, Petty was amazing and hasnt lost a beat.  Every song sounded crisp and energetic.  Loved his performance (What i saw of it)

Went with my girlfriend and my two brothers and their wives.  We were out in the parking lot tailgating beforehand.  Cooked up some dogs, burgers, played cornhole and drank some beers.  Went inside as the opening act was finishing up, pumped for Petty. 

Before Petty went on i realized i was in trouble, apparently their are no rules against smoking at the comcast center because everywhere you turned their were people lighting up and blowing smoke in your face.  It was absolutely brutal..  (I got nothing against smokers, just don't blow it in my face!)  My girlfriend and I got ashed on twice, my Penn State Whiteout shirt got ruined because of it.  You couldn't take a breath in without it containing traces of weed smoked by everybody else in the crowd.  Security was standing right behind us when a girl 4 feet in front of us pulled out a weed pipe and started smoking it right there, they did nothing. 

During the middle of the set, it got to the point where i could hardly breathe and my brother who has a respiratory condition had to leave the concert. The night really reached its high point when on our way out we saw a 50 year old woman hike up her skirt and pee right in the middle of the crowd.  Now I ask you, is this normal for a A)Petty Concert  B) Comcast Center concert (Which apparently has less rules than the wild west) or all concerts now-adays. 

Last year I went to see Ludacris and there wasn't as much trouble as this concert, so i kinda doubt that its C

I was at the concert and didn't think it was all that bad. As far as big concert venues go, I think Comcast Center is by far the most loose as far as big venues go in New England, and it seems to be somewhat dependent on the act. They certainly seem to have varying levels of security. I'd probably go 60% Comcast Center, 40% petty

I actually traveled down to Maryland to see My Morning Jacket in their equivalent of the Comcast Center and the smoking was probably twice as bad.

[Potapenko Boxout]

i thought petty was awful on Saturday. he played all of his hits on Thursday so he could play new stuff on Saturday. seems like at this point he is just going through the motions.

the crowd was tame as hell IMO.

i hate to say it, but if you can handle second hand pot or second hand cigarettes, outdoor concerts are not the place to be. indoor venues you will have a better shot.

i think you might be over-sensitive with regard to being around smoke, because i barely even noticed. then again ive been to a number of concerts and am somewhat desensitized.

[Quinn]

I've been to multiple shows at the comcast center, and security does seem to be pretty lenient about marijuana there. However, most shows I've been to always reeks of weed, and no one ever seems to do anything about it, so its probably just part of the live show culture.

[Rondo2287]

i thought petty was awful on Saturday. he played all of his hits on Thursday so he could play new stuff on Saturday. seems like at this point he is just going through the motions.

the crowd was tame as hell IMO.

i hate to say it, but if you can handle second hand pot or second hand cigarettes, outdoor concerts are not the place to be. indoor venues you will have a better shot.

i think you might be over-sensitive with regard to being around smoke, because i barely even noticed. then again ive been to a number of concerts and am somewhat desensitized.

I guess I was just surprised that the Luda concert was so much tamer than Tom Petty I guess

[jasail]

Comcast is one of the more strict venues around. Perhaps not around Boston, where concert security is tighter in general, but regionally speaking.  Most sheds I have been to are  remarkably worse in terms of behavior, Hartford and Camden are free for alls.

Outdoor smoking is permitted in the Commonwealth, so I guess it depends on the crowd.  The lawn area is cheaper, and I take it was where you were sitting. This area has a younger, trashier crowd for most 'rock' concerts. So as a result there will be smoking and general disregard for normal social rules.

And most outdoor venues in state's where marijuana laws are relaxed will not enforce it unless it is excessive because there is a) no profit in it for them and b) not a point of interest for local police. 

What makes it worse is that they've cut back the size of the lawn. When I started seeing concerts there (10-15 years ago) the lawn encompassed what is now the outdoor pavilion section. There was considerable room back there were groups could stretch out on blankets and not feel like you were in the midst of a crowd. The new lawn does not have that type of charm, you are pretty much shoulder to shoulder with your neighbor.  

I am a music lover of all types who loves the concert atmosphere, so I frequent a number of venues throughout the year.  I have come to lower my expectations for behavior so I wear things I won't mind getting ashed on or having beer spilled on.

However, at the Comcast center I do not attend without having a pavilion ticket. There is a big difference of being aware that you may be the recipient of some beer or ash, and constantly being the recipient for a number of hours.  There is a greater sense of personal space in the open air seats and even more so in the Pavilion.  There is also increased security presence there because there are aisles, as opposed to a sea of people.    
  

[Snakehead]

This is how concerts are these days.  You might of been in a rowdier one if all that really happend as you describe, but I don't know what you were expecting from a Tom Petty concert.  This seems about right.

i thought petty was awful on Saturday. he played all of his hits on Thursday so he could play new stuff on Saturday. seems like at this point he is just going through the motions.

the crowd was tame as hell IMO.

i hate to say it, but if you can handle second hand pot or second hand cigarettes, outdoor concerts are not the place to be. indoor venues you will have a better shot.

i think you might be over-sensitive with regard to being around smoke, because i barely even noticed. then again ive been to a number of concerts and am somewhat desensitized.

I guess I was just surprised that the Luda concert was so much tamer than Tom Petty I guess

At this point in his career, that's not surprisng to me.  Ludacris' audience was probably plenty of 12 year old girls in comparison to a wide age spectrum of people who like to smoke weed and drink for Tom Petty (if not roll on E or do god knows what other drugs).  Ludacris did a song with Justin Beiber... he's not exactly the guy he used to be.  Sold out for that pop crowd.

Again, not suprising to me but idk about everyone else.  This is coming from a Umass student.  Anything like Dave Matthews, OAR, Tom Petty is going to have a lot of messed up kids at it, just how it works these days.  My older sister (a little over 30) and her friends of the same age went to an OAR concert and were similarly surprised by what they saw.  I guess that's not really how it used to work but in a relaxed venue with the right act, you're going to have this sort of experience.

If you don't want it, I'd say avoid lawn type seats.

[Evantime34]

I think it really depends on the band. There is usually a lot of smoking at concerts, especially at the comcast center. Tom Petty concerts are notorious for everyone smoking, second to only jam bands in my opinion.

[moiso]

I went to thursdays show and thought it was amazing, though I would have preferred Saterdays if they played more of the new stuff(the new disc is awesome).
It was outdoors and breezy so the smoke didn't bother me.  Weed was being smoked all around, but I didn't mind- the guy next to me even gave me a couple puffs.  The weed is just part of the concert experience.  I've been to probably 30 shows at comcast and people smoke at all of them.

[StartOrien]

i thought petty was awful on Saturday. he played all of his hits on Thursday so he could play new stuff on Saturday. seems like at this point he is just going through the motions.

the crowd was tame as hell IMO.

i hate to say it, but if you can handle second hand pot or second hand cigarettes, outdoor concerts are not the place to be. indoor venues you will have a better shot.

i think you might be over-sensitive with regard to being around smoke, because i barely even noticed. then again ive been to a number of concerts and am somewhat desensitized.

I guess I was just surprised that the Luda concert was so much tamer than Tom Petty I guess

My Morning Jacket was the opener also.

[action781]

I think its just how concerts at the Comcast Center go.  Whenever my friends go to a concert there, it's usually summed up by "we just got high as (bleep)."  I used to go to Toby Keith every summer there and the lawn was packed with everybody (including myself) falling all over one another.  They actually tightened restrictions since like 3 yeas ago, but I think loosened them a little since then.

[Neurotic Guy]

I haven't been to a concert in more than 20 years, but I can rule out the 'nowadays' factor.  Rock/folk concerts since the 60's have always been pot-smoking (drug using), cig-smoking, alcohol-drinking (at least used to be), eardrum-busting events with a sea of sweaty humanity falling over one another -- especially in general seating venues.  Good times.
 

[jv2764]

Are you kidding me?  I went to Thursday's show and he played 4 tunes off of MOJO.  MOJO is going to get strong Grammy attention.  If you don't like "I should have known" off of MOJO then you just dont like balls to the wall rock n roll.  It had a vintage Led Zep touch to it and it just rocked.  He also did "Good Enough" which is another fantastic tune off of MOJO.  Great covers of Fleetwood Mac and Chuck Berry as well during Thursday's show.  I wish he had played more of MOJO instead of some the classics.  Mike Campbell may be one of the most underated guitarists of all time!

THATS'S THE LAST TIME YOU"RE GOING TO HURT ME....!

i thought petty was awful on Saturday. he played all of his hits on Thursday so he could play new stuff on Saturday. seems like at this point he is just going through the motions.

the crowd was tame as hell IMO.

i hate to say it, but if you can handle second hand pot or second hand cigarettes, outdoor concerts are not the place to be. indoor venues you will have a better shot.

i think you might be over-sensitive with regard to being around smoke, because i barely even noticed. then again ive been to a number of concerts and am somewhat desensitized.

[Donoghus]

I'm guessing you wouldn't have liked the atmosphere at the free Passion Pit show I went to in Grant Park on the 4th of July.  Tom Petty sounds subdued compared to the atmosphere at that show.

Tweeter Center in the late 90s/early 00s was a real free for all.  Lots of insanity in the amplitheatre and even more in the parking lot.  I seem to remember things getting much more stricter lately and a little more tame.  I don't think I've been there in 3 years, though. 

[Chris]

So i went to see Petty this weekend, I am 23, huge fan of his but never been to one of his shows.  The only Memory of the Pats Giants Superbowl i haven't erased from my brain is Petty at halftime.  Let me start off by saying, Petty was amazing and hasnt lost a beat.  Every song sounded crisp and energetic.  Loved his performance (What i saw of it)

Went with my girlfriend and my two brothers and their wives.  We were out in the parking lot tailgating beforehand.  Cooked up some dogs, burgers, played cornhole and drank some beers.  Went inside as the opening act was finishing up, pumped for Petty. 

Before Petty went on i realized i was in trouble, apparently their are no rules against smoking at the comcast center because everywhere you turned their were people lighting up and blowing smoke in your face.  It was absolutely brutal..  (I got nothing against smokers, just don't blow it in my face!)  My girlfriend and I got ashed on twice, my Penn State Whiteout shirt got ruined because of it.  You couldn't take a breath in without it containing traces of weed smoked by everybody else in the crowd.  Security was standing right behind us when a girl 4 feet in front of us pulled out a weed pipe and started smoking it right there, they did nothing. 

During the middle of the set, it got to the point where i could hardly breathe and my brother who has a respiratory condition had to leave the concert. The night really reached its high point when on our way out we saw a 50 year old woman hike up her skirt and pee right in the middle of the crowd.  Now I ask you, is this normal for a A)Petty Concert  B) Comcast Center concert (Which apparently has less rules than the wild west) or all concerts now-adays. 

Last year I went to see Ludacris and there wasn't as much trouble as this concert, so i kinda doubt that its C

Well, if it makes you feel any better, it sounds like you were breaking the rules too, since I am 90% sure drinking in the parking lot is not allowed (it was clearly posted last time I went there a couple of years ago).

But yeah, that sounds like my experience at Comcast Center.  Their security sucks, unless you are trying to get into the VIP areas, or costing them money in some ways.  Underage (like, WAY underage) drinking is not enforced in the least, and they don't even try to stop anyone from smoking anything they want. 

I am just glad that I am more of a fan of smaller bands that play club shows, because I just can't stand going to places like the Comcast Center, or Foxboro.  Its never as enjoyable, because the place is so big, and you have to deal with a lot more jerks, who don't understand that they are ruining other peoples times by the way they act.