I was lucky enough to be at the Swell Season set
, and the original marshmallow event, it was fun and memorable. I missed this year so I didn't witness this event, it sounds like it had a completely different vibe to it.
It seems to me the biggest issue I've heard is "anything" being thrown towards the stage, or on the stage.
Crowd fun is one thing, when it crosses onto the stage and towards the performers and instruments you've crossed my line and I hope everyone else's. This should not be allowed, and isn't fun.
The artist shouldn't have to be watching for any income of any sort, soft or not.
Keep it in the crowd and I can live with it, however there is a lot to be said about cleanup.
A beach ball doesn't leave your tarp sticky, so anyone bringing marshmellows should make an effort to help with a little cleanup if this is your kind of fun. Just the boy scout in me, leave your area better than when you arrive.
We'd all do good to live up to that one.
Planet Bluegrass has enough to do without having to come up with more rules, for us adults.
My two cents.....Most rules are made by well meaning individuals who sense that someone's behavior is becoming more than just a simple annoyance to someone else. It appears from the posts herein, that the marshmallow war has become just that...more than just an annoyance. I personally don't go for much of anything that distracts from the music which is what I pay for and travel to see. But I try to be tolerant of others (which has become more difficult, I must admit). But, we really don't need more rules...we need more people who take responsibility for their actions and try to understand and adjust their behavior based on how they impact those who share their space.
The bottom line for me is that good festivarians should respect their fellow festivarians and when a festivarian asks you to behave differently than the way you are behaving, it is precisely because they are annoyed, feel threatened, feel cheated, or in some other way, feel your behavior is taking more from their experience than it is adding to the sum of the rest of the festivarians' experience. It takes some courage to stand up and ask someone to change their behavior, especially when more than one person is behaving that way. While I don't suggest that we always submit to the various whims of others, it is probably good practice to stop and ask yourself if your behavior is so self satisfying that it is worth disturbing disturbing someone else. I have read enough here to be convinced that more than a handful of people had their festival experience ruined, at least for the moment, by the marshmallow war. I, for one, did not participate in the marshmallow war and though I might have decided to toss a marshmallow, had I been given the opportunity to do so, after realizing how this might impact others experience, I will not partake of that self gratifying behavior at any future musical event.
I go to festivals knowing that there will be many times that other people's behavior will annoy me and sometimes it will more than annoy me. I accept that as the price of admission. What really bothers me about all this is that I politely asked three people to take their behavior elsewhere at this 2009 festival and on all three occasions, I received essentially, the same answer; that I need to learn to tolerate their behavior because they were having too much fun to move or adjust their behavior in any way. I gotta tell you folks, this is not a good trend. For if people consistently disregard the way their behavior affects others, we are nothing more than children in adult bodies and children will not save the planet we live on. Please strive to keep your status as an adult in mind, even when having fun, and the world will be better for it.
Listening to:
Imagine - John Lennon
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