If you've ever gone to a concert with me, you probably know that I try to be as polite as possible to the people around me. "Why?" you may ask. Because I am a firm believer in a little something called pit karma. I believe that if I'm rude to some random girl at a concert, then the next time I'm at a show I'll get that attitude back times two. I don't know why I'm in this state of mind, but it's just something I do. Haha, a random quirk of mine. =)

Warped Tour is rolling around again this summer (June 20 is the first date) for its 14th run! Featuring bands such like Gym Class Heroes, We the Kings, The Color Fred, All Time Low and more.

With my little experience with concerts in the past years I've learned two simple things:

1. Girls can be cruel. You can laugh all you want, but I mean it. Suddenly the nice-looking lady next to you can transform into a mean, strong person who is rude and obnoxious when the "hawt" bandmembers come onstage.

2. People are selfish jerks sometimes and will do anything foul to get what they want.

These two facts have inspired me to create ...

Savannah's Guide to Pit Etiquette * 

If you're going to to be the pit, follow these rules of etiquette! ;)

*Please note this is created partly in jest. These things might annoy me but I am not trying to sound like a controlling, no fun, vain, "Everyone-should-do-follow-my-rules" b---h. Please be amused while reading this and reminisce about the past concerts you have gone to when you have experienced all these things firsthand. And please don't think I'm a jerk/loser/etc. for posting this please. As I said, this is partly in jest.

 Ok, without further ado, I give you...

Savannah's Guide to Pit Etiquette

1. Don't scream the lyrics when you can't carry a tune to save your life. We've all met these people. The obnoxious girl who belts out the words in a loud and very off-key voice, often drowning out the singer's voice. We didn't come here to here YOU sing, honey! We came to listen to the band play, so please tone it down and save the karaoke for the privacy of your bedroom. This happened to me at my Fall Out Boy concert, and I almost had a fit. The girl next to me was screaming (not even singing, but screaming!) out the words to a FOB song in a loud voice that sounded like a cat dying while being sucked up by a vacuum cleaner – right in my ear. It was not pleasant at all. And she was drowning out Patrick's voice, which is saying a lot considering that I was in the front row right near the amp. Please people who do this – don't. It is very annoying and uncomfortable for everyone around you.

2. Don't be a dreaded FANGIRL! Dun, dun, duuunnn! Now I'm not talking about people who are actually fans of the band. I'm talking about the girls who are here just because the guitarist/lead singer/bassist/drummer/*insert band position here* is, quote, "omgz so totally hawt!" These girls obviously don't know anything about the band but desperately NEED to be in the front. I encountered MANY of these girls at my All Time Low concert. The girls who deck themselves out in the slutty outfits and hope to be noticed by the bandmembers while they claw at the surrounding girls (a.k.a. the "competition"). They couldn't tell you a single song by the artist or hum a single tune but suddenly they are the bands BIGGEST fans and they just HAVE to be as close to the cutie they have their eye on or the world will end. And they didn't care who they trampled to get to them. One girl was literally trying to climb over me when All Time Low were playing. It's insane. Seriously, no one likes when people act like this and the bandmembers can see right through it.

3. Don't get there late and expect to get to the front row. C'mon people, this is just common courtesy! If you arrive at the venue five minutes before the band you like starts to play, don't assume that you deserve to be in the front row. The people in the front row have waited in line for hours to see this band, and you can't just storm in and expect everyone to move out of your way.

If you want to see a band that is across the venue at Warped and is playing five minutes after the band you are watching currently, chances are you will have to settle with a spot in the back or center and won't get to the barrier. That's not to say that you won't because some people manage to get to the front, but please don't be one of those hated people who are jerks and inconsiderate of everyone around them. Knocking small children down to get what you want is not very nice and some angry parent or older brother might come after you.

4. If you are a guy, don't try to crowd-surf at a concert when the crowd is 95 percent teenage girls. Yea, good luck with that happening, kid ... I don't get why 200-pound guys think they can be held up by the skinny, lightweight teenage girls in the crowd. I was amazed when this happened at my Boys Like Girls concert. Uhh ... hello? Obviously the 13-year-olds or the girls checking out Martin can't hold the 6' 9" guys up in the air. It's really hot out at Warped Tour most time, and no one wants to deal with a stinky, sticky guy over their heads. Trust me, it feels like you are suffocating and it is not pleasant at all.

5. Don't push the people in front of you when people are already smushed together. The people in front of you who are pushed up against the barrier can't go anywhere! There is no more room! Which means you pushing them does nothing but annoy them. Use common sense please. No space = nowhere for them to go = you being really annoying while you crush them. The heat makes peoples tempers show and you will get shoved back by some annoyed concert goer. You don't want to get into a fistfight or something as trivial and being an asshat to someone and being kicked out of the Warped venue by security. That's no fun for anyones.

6. If you don't like the band then don't stand in a prime spot for moshing/viewing the concert. This happened when I went to my This Providence concert at The Living Room, a very tiny venue. There were these four big girls standing in front of me with their coach purses hanging from their manicured hands and their arms folded snootily across their chest. They had no cameras, no excitement for the band, and obviously didn't like This Providence's music because they weren't even looking at the stage! They hadn't been there for any other band and just shoved in front of me and my friend. My friend, because she is pushy and I love her for it, managed to slip in front of them and not be stuck behind them – but, alas! I was not so lucky. Still, me and the guy next to me spent the night dancing and singing and snapping pictures together of the band together and rolled our eyes at the girls.

But if you don't like a band and are just waiting for them to leave the stage for the band after, ask someone who is a fan of the current music if they would like to go in front of you just for that set and then switch back after. Who knows? You could have just made their day 10 times better then it was!

7. Don't shove people for no reason. This happened to me at my TAI concert. There was this obnoxious girl who was pushing people for no reason at all besides for fun. She wasn't trying get ahead in the pit or anything, she was just being a jerk. After she knocked into my shy friend a few times repeatedly, I swung around, pissed off because she was disrupting the concert, and politely told her to please stop acting like that because she was hitting my friend, accompanied with an "if-you-don't-stop-I-will-make-you-stop glare." She just looked at me and replied in a snotty voice, "It's a f---ing rock concert, people are supposed to f---ing do this." Well, apparently the pit guard didn't agree with her, because he came over and gave her an earful and threatened to throw her and her friends out if they kept up their antics.

People are exhausted by the heat and the 12-hour day and they don't want to have to put up with your obnoxious tendencies. It is rude and annoying and pointless. Basically just write "I am a jerk" on your face in permanent marker if you're going to do this.

So when you are at Warped Tour and go to do one of these things, think twice, and think about how you would feel if someone did it to you. Don't ruin what could be an amazing day. :)

xo Savannah