Pick etiquette curiosities

TFlyer

Ok so just to get this out of the way I want to make it clear I'm not trying to make anyone feel bad for me or anything like that...I just had two experiences at Philly 2 that left me wondering about some 10club etiquette.

Jeff threw out two picks and the guy next to me got one of them fair and square but when he threw the second one it landed right next to my foot and I had bent down to grab it and the same guy basically grabbed it out of my hands.

The second thing was when Mike threw out those signed stickers at the end of the show one hit me right in the face and again someone grabbed it out of my hands and the person they were with also had gotten one. They then gave one to the person next to them which is what actually annoyed me.

I said something polite to both of them only because they both had received more than one thing off the stage and snatched it from me....


My question here is what if anything do you consider to be improper etiquette for going after picks etc? Obviously people grab at them but what about taking them out of peoples hands? I don't know I guess I just didn't expect someone from the 10club to grab something from me as I wouldn't do that to them?

on2legs

That sucks. You definitely have to hold on to those things for dear life but people shouldn't be literally grabbing stuff from your hands. At that point I consider it yours.

Quick story. When me and my buddy saw Ed solo in 2008 we got to our seats early and had 10th row. At the time I was aware that Ed sometimes walked the concert halls early and would leave guitar picks in random spots. So my eyes were peeled and I noticed there was an EV pick on floor next to foot of the guy sitting to the left of my buddy. So I politely leaned over and picked it up. I wanted to make sure the guy sitting next to us didn't drop it so I asked if it was his. He told me no and then said 'and if I ever found a pic on the floor I wouldn't be dumb enough to ask anyone else if it belonged to them'. I guess he was annoyed that he never noticed the pic next to his foot and that's why he was an ass. But I was so stoked to find the pic that I didn't care.

Sorry you had a bad experience. Some people are just jerks.

mcgruff10

have you ever been to a mlb game? a foul ball line drive might hit me squarely in the face but unless i catch it anyone can ultimately have it. same with a pic. practice quick hands !

TFlyer

mcgruff10 said:

have you ever been to a mlb game? a foul ball line drive might hit me squarely in the face but unless i catch it anyone can ultimately have it. same with a pic. practice quick hands !

Okay well....Mike throws his stuff out in bunches you don't actually see them coming right at you and the stickers didn't have a direct path I didn't think they were coming at me. Also when I am in a cramped space I do everything I can to avoid smacking others in the face. That's just me . Doesn't mean I didn't try or someone should take something out of my hands does it?

on2legs said:

That sucks. You definitely have to hold on to those things for dear life but people shouldn't be literally grabbing stuff from your hands. At that point I consider it yours.

Quick story. When me and my buddy saw Ed solo in 2008 we got to our seats early and had 10th row. At the time I was aware that Ed sometimes walked the concert halls early and would leave guitar picks in random spots. So my eyes were peeled and I noticed there was an EV pick on floor next to foot of the guy sitting to the left of my buddy. So I politely leaned over and picked it up. I wanted to make sure the guy sitting next to us didn't drop it so I asked if it was his. He told me no and then said 'and if I ever found a pic on the floor I wouldn't be dumb enough to ask anyone else if it belonged to them'. I guess he was annoyed that he never noticed the pic next to his foot and that's why he was an ass. But I was so stoked to find the pic that I didn't care.

Sorry you had a bad experience. Some people are just jerks.

Yeah I was assuming the same things...I mean like I said I expect people to scramble for them but I just think it's a tad cruddy to take something out of another fans hands.

That guy from the EV show sounds like a jerk though.

100 Pacer

on2legs said:

That sucks. You definitely have to hold on to those things for dear life but people shouldn't be literally grabbing stuff from your hands. At that point I consider it yours.

Quick story. When me and my buddy saw Ed solo in 2008 we got to our seats early and had 10th row. At the time I was aware that Ed sometimes walked the concert halls early and would leave guitar picks in random spots. So my eyes were peeled and I noticed there was an EV pick on floor next to foot of the guy sitting to the left of my buddy. So I politely leaned over and picked it up. I wanted to make sure the guy sitting next to us didn't drop it so I asked if it was his. He told me no and then said 'and if I ever found a pic on the floor I wouldn't be dumb enough to ask anyone else if it belonged to them'. I guess he was annoyed that he never noticed the pic next to his foot and that's why he was an ass. But I was so stoked to find the pic that I didn't care.

Sorry you had a bad experience. Some people are just jerks.

I believe these picks get tossed out during soundcheck for lucky fans to find. I recall at the '06 Albany show my 10C pair were somewhere in the 1st 10 rows on the floor and we were right on the inside aisle. At some point during the show my brother somehow noticed a pick on the floor one row ahead of us. He waited until the end of the main set and the politely asked the couple ahead of us if he could pick something off the floor and they gladly gave him room. Once he had it in his hand and showed it to me I congratulated him on what turned out to be an Ed pick. It was clear the couple in front of us felt robbed, the woman actually turning to her husband visibly frustrated and angry. He was level-headed enough to know there was nothing wrong done and tried to calm her down.

on2legs

100 Pacer said:

on2legs said:

That sucks. You definitely have to hold on to those things for dear life but people shouldn't be literally grabbing stuff from your hands. At that point I consider it yours.

Quick story. When me and my buddy saw Ed solo in 2008 we got to our seats early and had 10th row. At the time I was aware that Ed sometimes walked the concert halls early and would leave guitar picks in random spots. So my eyes were peeled and I noticed there was an EV pick on floor next to foot of the guy sitting to the left of my buddy. So I politely leaned over and picked it up. I wanted to make sure the guy sitting next to us didn't drop it so I asked if it was his. He told me no and then said 'and if I ever found a pic on the floor I wouldn't be dumb enough to ask anyone else if it belonged to them'. I guess he was annoyed that he never noticed the pic next to his foot and that's why he was an ass. But I was so stoked to find the pic that I didn't care.

Sorry you had a bad experience. Some people are just jerks.

I believe these picks get tossed out during soundcheck for lucky fans to find. I recall at the '06 Albany show my 10C pair were somewhere in the 1st 10 rows on the floor and we were right on the inside aisle. At some point during the show my brother somehow noticed a pick on the floor one row ahead of us. He waited until the end of the main set and the politely asked the couple ahead of us if he could pick something off the floor and they gladly gave him room. Once he had it in his hand and showed it to me I congratulated him on what turned out to be an Ed pick. It was clear the couple in front of us felt robbed, the woman actually turning to her husband visibly frustrated and angry. He was level-headed enough to know there was nothing wrong done and tried to calm her down.

That show was at the NJPAC which is an opera house and has multiple levels. People were finding them upstairs too. There was an interview or comment by Ed that he liked to walk around venues he's never played before the show.

kasedoug

Found an Evil Knievel pick beneath my seat in the 2nd row before the show at the Arlington Theatre in Santa Barbara in '08.
But I sympathize with the OP. Seems to be every man for himself with regards to stuff that's tossed from the stage during shows.

BRAIN0FJAY

Good thread.

Mike carpet-bombed Stone's side of the rail in Lexington with picks; I caught a glimpse of him coming toward our side just as dozens of picks rained from above. I raised my left hand and caught one as many of the picks went bouncing off my hat, face, and shoulders. I immediately put the pick in my pocket as temporary hell broke loose where I stood...many adults on their hands and knees snatching up the highly sought after treasures.  I think someone tried to take one of my shoes off during the scrum.

Etiquette, it seems, is out the fuckin' door.  Like kasedoug said above...it is every man for himself when stuff comes flying from the stage.

Thief of Silence

I've seen both ends of the spectrum at other concerts:

1. In Ottawa in 2006, I got to go to my first Guns N Roses show at the arena. I had GA floor tickets, so I went right up front for the show. I knew Paradise City would be the closer, so to beat the crowd, I started to leave towards the end of the song. What I didn't know was that Axl Rose throws his mic into the crowd at the end. That night, it sailed way over my head into at least 8 sections deep into the lower bowl. I guess because of the lights/pyro/etc, some guy got clocked square in the face with it. A doichy-looking couple picked it up and celebrated with it.

2. This Spring, I went to catch the L.A. Guns reuinion, just as a curiosity mostly. I managed to snag a Tracii Guns pick during the show. At the end of the show, they threw out a ton of picks. Once the crowd cleared, I noticed a pick at the front of the stage and picked it up. There was a guy a few steps behind me who I didn't even notice. Not even a bit rudely, he said something like "you've got quick hands". Figuring he was probably a bigger fan than I was, I gave him the second pick, not even expecting anything in return.

I've seen SOO MUCH selfish behaviour over my many years of shows and never understood any of it.

PP193448

Every pick for itself. Survival of the greediest.  

TFlyer

When I was at the Lindsey Stirling show a few years back I had VIP which included meet and greet Q&A soundcheck etc...I ended up having a lengthy discussion with her drummer actually and due to the fact that you're in the venue for soundcheck they didn't make you exit and re-enter. As they were all exiting the stage he clocked me on the rail and literally just handed me one of his drumsticks straight from the stage. I thought this was a great gesture from him as it seemed like he was letting me know he actually did recognize me from all the faces of fans....the reason I went into the effort of telling this is as I was getting ready to exit someone next to me starts to tell me this big long story about how her friend couldn't come to the show and Lindsey is her favorite artist and can she please have the drumstick and she'll call her to prove it blah blah blah. So I gave it to her thinking it was an act of kindness.....I guess most people really don't feel the same though. 

It's good to see there are a few others on here though that have my shared ideals

buck502000

Stuff

bootlegger10

After a show I found two picks next to someone's foot.  I picked them up, and gave one to the person standing there.  Other times I've gotten multiple picks and have given them to people around me.  I don't think you should have to do that but I think it is a decent thing to do.  At the end of the day I don't think Mike is trying to throw picks to as little number of people as possible.

P34RL J4MM3R

I was at a Weezer concert and we were waiting after the show during stage tear down.  A roadie tossed the set list out to us on the rail.  A woman and I grabbed it at the same time.  Instead of ripping it in half, we both said "Oh, you take it." It was one of the best exchanges I have had.  In the end, it was 2 pages and she took the main set and I took the encore.  We carefully un-taped it and went on our way.  There are a few kind souls out there.

CM189191

there’s only one commandment, and it’s easy to remember, and it’s uh, “Don’t be an asshole.” 
-ev

lastexitlondon

Ive always shared. Even when matt handed me personally 2 sticks wrapped in a sweatband with 2 picks in. All i kept was the band and 1 pick. I gave all the rest away. But that didn't guarantee karma. Bec many occasions ive been treated like shit by fellow fans and 10c members. One time in vienna its on you tube. End of baba. Ed comes over points at me tossed a tambo into my hands only for a Canadian chap id been talking to all afternoon to grab it. Ed saw what happened went back got a new one banged it in his head and handed it to me. Ed rules. Also when in front of mike ive always caught picks and handed them around if i already got one. 

2-feign-reluctance

P34RL J4MM3R said:

I was at a Weezer concert and we were waiting after the show during stage tear down.  A roadie tossed the set list out to us on the rail.  A woman and I grabbed it at the same time.  Instead of ripping it in half, we both said "Oh, you take it." It was one of the best exchanges I have had.  In the end, it was 2 pages and she took the main set and I took the encore.  We carefully un-taped it and went on our way.  There are a few kind souls out there.

That happened to me St.Louis 2000 - except the asshole that tried tackling me ended up getting a corner of it. Had a bunch of Mike picks thrown at me all night. Only managed to keep one. The rest were in and around my feet on the ground. I didn't even bother picking them up, but directed some folks in my row to them when we left. Champaign 2003 I was handed both the main and encore by Ed's tech and nobody tried anything. Walked up to the front about 10 rows back and the tech saw me coming, just handed it over and that was that. Took like 5 seconds.

F Me In The Brain

People buy 35 stickers and pins as well.  Par for the course.

atovissi

Pittsburgh 2013 I was about 4 rows back on Mike's side. Over the course of the show I caught 4 of Mike's peace sign picks. 3 black and 1 white. I ended up giving 2 of the black ones away. One to a woman who said she had been a fan since Ten and that was the first time she was seeing the band live. The other to the guy I was standing next to for the whole show and had a great time rocking out with who said in his 5-10 times seeing rhe band he had never gotten a pick or anything thrown from the stage.

Was happy to be able to make 2 other people's nights.

The 2 I kept are now framed with the shows poster and ticket stub 

karmakvisser

This is a bit lengthy but in Pittsburg years ago, my wife and I each had a pair of 4th row tickets.  Friends were supposed to come but they bailed.  So we were in a foreign city and began to look for someone to share the tickets with.  We only wanted face value.  We ran into a party in the parking lot and then offered this huge Pearl Jam the tickets.  He was skeptical at first.  I showed him my license trying to prove that we weren't trying to rip him off.  Finally his friend bought the tickets and gave one to him and then kept the other one.  Now Aaron and his friend had an extra pair of nose bleed tickets.  I said we should find someone to give the tickets to and we did, a seemingly nice young couple that was in line to buy tickets.  It felt like the right thing to do, make some one else's day that much better.

Aaron wanted to go in early to get a poster so when we got to the gate, Aaron all the sudden noticed he had given his 4th row ticket to that couple.  He immediately went into despair mode.  His friend kindly offered the 4th row tickets to Aaron and the thought was he would try to find the couple and get the ticket back.  Aaron, my wife and I went in, he got his poster and we went to our totally awesome seats.  I'm a friendly type and I spoke with the security guy working our section and told him the story about the ticket debacle.  Not thinking about it, I went to the vending area, had a couple of mixed drinks and was feeling happy.  As I got to the front of the line, the fella in front of me bought the last sticker that I was interested in.  I said something out of jest, he turns around and gave me the ticket out of the kindness of his heart.  

As I went back into the floor area, I noticed that guy and his girlfriend were in the last row on the floor.  When I got back to our seats, the guard comes up and tells me about the fella that had the missing ticket tried to take the seat next to us.  The guard looked at him and thanked him for bringing the ticket back.  The guy looked at him sheepishly and handed the ticket back to him.  We desperately tried to reach Aaron's friend that was way laid in the nose bleeds but couldn't reach him.  

Now when you are at a crowded show, its always a bonus if there is an open space next to you (I'm 6ft3 and space is always a welcome commodity)  But in my eyes, this was a waste.  So I went back to the fella that gave me the sticker and offered him the extra 4th row seat.  He left his girlfriend in about 1.2 seconds and came up front with us.  We had an awesome concert and felt good about it as well. 

To me, what goes around, comes around.  Treat people with some modicum of kindness and it can always come back to you.

PJ_Soul

I think grabbing something out of a person's hands is stealing.
(side note: I don't actually like the "throw shit into the crowd" tactic at all. Sure, it's supposed to be all in fun, and is meant to get the pit excited, but I have seen WAY too many instances of people being horrible bullies and just going totally insane when the bands throw out things, and it can get quite dangerous at worst, but also just turns normal people into scroungy animals too often. Not classy. It reminds me of throwing dinner scraps at hungry dogs or something. It's demeaning. I think all bands should put a stop to that, and just pass items to people in the crowd of their choice if they want to give things away)

lolobugg

I had an asshole grab Ed's wine bottle right out of my hand. Ed handed it to me and gestured for me to pass it on. I was in shock so I went to hand it to my ex-wife and this bastard reached over my shoulder and snatched it before she could take a sip. She was beyond pissed.

PS- as a sidenote, she was sick as a dog and she probably would've infected the whole first row.... so I guess it was for the best. Later in the show the same asshole that did that had a little speech given to him by Pete. I basically heard "Calm down or you are out of here".

EVEN BROS, man.

tempo_n_groove

F Me In The Brain said:

People buy 35 stickers and pins as well.  Par for the course.

I do and then I trade em all to people all over the world for other stickers.  Face value of course.

mace1229

I have a harder time imagining this with a pick.
whoever gets a good hold first has claim, and if someone rips it out that is wrong. I just don't see how you can have a good grip on something as small as a pick and leave enough for someone to grab on to, so I picture fumbling around to grab at it was going on.
Being hit in the face doesn't lay claim, nor does fumbling around try to grab at it. I imagine the other parties involved in the original story would have a different take. That being said if I was in your shoes I'd be pissed, more that I wasn't fast enough than anything else.
I see this being a bigger issue with a tambourine or something. Still enough to grab on to after someone already caught it. But if that tambourine bounces off your head Jose Conseco style I'm still reaching for it.

crookedcross

I bring a handful of cheap blank picks to concerts I attend where I know I will be in pick-flicking distance.  Then I randomly drop said picks throughout the show and sit back and laugh at people killing each other for pieces of plastic.  If you happen to catch one, or pick one up maybe even dive for one, real cool.  But to fight over THINGS that are being thrown, or take it from someone else is just asinine

tempo_n_groove

mace1229 said:

I have a harder time imagining this with a pick.
whoever gets a good hold first has claim, and if someone rips it out that is wrong. I just don't see how you can have a good grip on something as small as a pick and leave enough for someone to grab on to, so I picture fumbling around to grab at it was going on.
Being hit in the face doesn't lay claim, nor does fumbling around try to grab at it. I imagine the other parties involved in the original story would have a different take. That being said if I was in your shoes I'd be pissed, more that I wasn't fast enough than anything else.
I see this being a bigger issue with a tambourine or something. Still enough to grab on to after someone already caught it. But if that tambourine bounces off your head Jose Conseco style I'm still reaching for it.

When Vedder throws the Tambourines he almost always points and looks at who is supposed to get it.

buck502000

Here is my stuff from the second row of a recent Chilli Peppers show - my wife caught Chad's drumstick - Flea's armband appeared under my boot and I found the pick walking out of our row after the show

mace1229

tempo_n_groove said:

mace1229 said:

I have a harder time imagining this with a pick.
whoever gets a good hold first has claim, and if someone rips it out that is wrong. I just don't see how you can have a good grip on something as small as a pick and leave enough for someone to grab on to, so I picture fumbling around to grab at it was going on.
Being hit in the face doesn't lay claim, nor does fumbling around try to grab at it. I imagine the other parties involved in the original story would have a different take. That being said if I was in your shoes I'd be pissed, more that I wasn't fast enough than anything else.
I see this being a bigger issue with a tambourine or something. Still enough to grab on to after someone already caught it. But if that tambourine bounces off your head Jose Conseco style I'm still reaching for it.

When Vedder throws the Tambourines he almost always points and looks at who is supposed to get it.

Even still, unless they are disabled, I think it's all fair game after it bounces off someone's face. Ed points at you I won't reach out in front to grab it, or even go for it when you got bobble hands, but if it bounces off your face and lands at my feet I'm keeping it (at least until Ed calls me out).

lastexitlondon

crookedcross said:

I bring a handful of cheap blank picks to concerts I attend where I know I will be in pick-flicking distance.  Then I randomly drop said picks throughout the show and sit back and laugh at people killing each other for pieces of plastic.  If you happen to catch one, or pick one up maybe even dive for one, real cool.  But to fight over THINGS that are being thrown, or take it from someone else is just asinine

I like this^^^^