Youngsters at concerts

eddie tonight "i love playing to such a big amount of people like this tonight, theres kids up here who are like 10 years old and they are perfectly okay" stick that in your pipe and smoke it

I think care is needed for anyone young at gigs - the sound levels can damage hearing, which is very sensitive to loud music. If you bring young folk, use good hearing protection.
Seated areas are better for kids, they can't see at standing gigs and small people can feel very claustrophobic when surrounded by taller and bigger people. The danger from being pushed around and jumped on is considerable.
I've been taking my son to live music since he was 12, but I chose the events carefully and made sure he used ear plugs for loud ones.
He's now a musician himself and goes to plenty of gigs I wouldn't go near

I like all the points everyone is making, but if we put a 16 and younger rule on these shows. We must also put a maximum age as well. And I think 35 is a great age to start. When I am at a show, I cant help but worry about how many people are at risk during these shows, especially you people 35 and older. At the Chicago shows last year, I saw people in the upper deck front row sitting down, those poor people cant even stand up to watch a concert. I was considering getting a security guard or seeking medical attention for them. I was so worried because I thought something was wrong with them, and that was the exact moment I knew that people 35 and older shouldnt be allowed to shows. They also do stuff like drink and bring drugs into concerts which is no ideal environment for the people around them, especially those who arent even old to enough to drink alcohol. Also men 40 and up are extremely liable to have heart attacks and it bothers me to a drastic level during the show, that what would happen if someone had a heart attack because the music is too loud? I actually canceled my midwest tour plans this spring because I was so bothered by how annoying older adults are at concerts, and I just couldnt handle it.

So Im with all of you, we should have a minimum age of 16 and a maximum age of 35.

matabele wrote:

While some of you might have been taken to concerts when you were young and have turned out to be productive members of society the fact of the matter is that a 2, 6 or 10 year old should be in bed getting a good nights sleep. It always amazes me when it comes to parents and the my kid is fine attitude, if everybody's kids are being brought up well where are all these little scumbags coming from,

The "little scumbags" were left unsupervised while their parents went out to party at bars and rock concerts.

That was easy.

Criticising the parenting of others always is a dangerous move, especially if the critic is not a parent. Each child is different, each parent is different. Some people are lousy parents; some children are indescribably difficult, and they are going to have trouble regardless of how good or bad their parents are. In general, however, children turn out better when their parents are involved in their lives and the family does activities together. My boys, now 13 and 11, have been to six PJ shows over the past two years; they had a fantastic time. They wore earplugs. Their parents were stone-cold sober at all six shows. They smelled funny smells, and the kid with OCD struggled with the whole notion of smoking, but oddly enough neither one has begun drinking or smoking dope.

The boys also are regular patrons at a local Shakespeare theater; as it turns out, the eleven-year-old likes Hamlet almost as much as he likes "Daughter." Then there are the subscriptions to the NY Philharmonic, the museum trips, the many hours spent standing in the woods watching birds.

I think the odds are very good that my kids will turn out just fine. If they do not, it will not be because they saw Pearl Jam.

drsluggo wrote:

But if you don't take your 2 year olds and hold them up and block everyone's view, how else can you get Ed's attention and hope for a tambourine?

this is becomming way too popular if you ask me... it's one thing to bring your kid bc she actually likes the music, but its sad when you see 2 yrs olds half asleep being waved around on some guys shoulders in a glittery "i eddie vedder" t-shit...

I hate to even get involved in this, but can't help myself. My 13 year old has seen PJ 5x since he was 11 and EV twice. He has also seen Neil Young 3x, The Who, U2, Bruce Springsteen, Paul McCartney 2x, Stevie Wonder 2x, maybe a couple of others I forget. My 15 year old kids have also been to similar numbers of concerts. These experiences have given my kids an incredible appreciation for what I think is pretty awesome music. The 13 year old can play just about anything by PJ on guitar and has a much greater appreciation for the subtleties of their music than I do. Why exactly should I be denying him this experience? Maybe you're right -- they should just wait until Ed is in a wheelchair to go see him. Also, I would far rather that they experience the dedication, musicianship, and joy of seeing PJ perform than say the prefab, auto-tuned, lip-synced, overly sexualized garbage that is shoved down pre-teens and teens throats and passes as popular music today.

As for drugs, alcohol, and other misbehavior there is nothing that they are unaware of or that they wouldn't encounter at a professional sports event either. And somehow I have 100% confidence that my kids have never indulged in any of these behaviors -- in fact I think they just look at the few people who let themselves go to extreme excess and take them for idiots. We have had lots of talks about Ed's drinking and especially his smoking and I think it has provided valuable discussion about people's imperfections and how people we admire in some ways are perfectly capable of behaviors that we don't condone. Again, a good life lesson and one that you can't miss by following the behavior of politicians, athletes, various entertainers, and also religious leaders, educators, and, oh, just about any human being.

Seeing Pearl Jam has brought my wife and I closer to our children and given us all some of the most pleasurable shared experiences we have ever had as a family and memories that I know we will all cherish for the rest of our lives. I would not trade that for anything and really cannot overstate how these experiences have served to bond us together and continue to do so. Other families share different hobbies, activities, interests, this is one of the primary ones that defines who our particular family is.

I have a few legitimate concerns about kids at concerts that have been mentioned but they have virtually nothing to do with the nonsense the OP brought up. I would never let my kids go to unassigned seating. I do worry about their hearing and, quite frankly, think that I have not done enough for them in that regard. I would not feel comfortable letting them go by themselves to a PJ concert, but I don't let them do much of anything that exposes them to thousands of strangers at once without adult supervision. Seems like an individual parental decision to me, but I think that for my kids at least, they overall appreciate that we are concerned about their well-being at all times, more than they resent having some limitations put on their independence.

Lastly, I worry about their being spoiled - they have been front row at PJ 2X, something I had never experienced at any concert until my 40s. They are tremendously appreciative of these experiences, but there is something to be said for working for things on your own in life. Again, this is more a result of the fact that they are able to reap the benefits of privileges we are able to give them in all aspects of their lives that our parents could not give us when we were children. At the same time, parenting has changed from my generation compared to my parents. Parents are much more friends and companions to their children than they were then -- I selfishly would not enjoy the experience of going to a PJ concert as much if I couldn't share it with my kids, just as I want to share it with my wife. In the end, there is no textbook for being a good parent. You just do what seems right for you and your children and hope that through some combination of love and good fortune that everything will work out OK.

I was 13 when I attended my first show... I went with my dad. We had seats so there was nobody bumping into me. Everyone that greeted me before the show was very happy that I was a "little jammer" . I have to disagree and say that if I didn't go to that show, I might like rap/pop/country.... yuck..