13 Useful And Potentially Life-Saving Safety Tips For Concerts Shared By This TikToker

Tess Stevens has 359k followers on TikTok and she is a singer, songwriter and a guitarist based in California’s East Bay. As she introduces herself on her blog, she is “known for dark lyrics with sugary-sweet pop-punk melodies. [...] Inspired by punk from the ‘70s to today, Stevens adds a much-missed female voice to the high-octane world of rock and roll in this new world of independent artists.”

If you would like to hear her music, you can listen to her EP Patient 139 on Spotify, Apple Music or Amazon. She is working on her follow-up debut album now and is planning to release it next year.

She started her series on safety tips at concerts at the end of August, so it just proves a point that concerts could get crazy even before Astroworld and it was up to the staff, organizers, artists and audience themselves to take care of each other.

Bored Panda got in touch with Tess and asked who should take the most responsibility for keeping everyone safe and she thinks that it should be the artist, "Yes, there are hundreds of people on their team who make concerts happen, but to create a safe environment at your shows is ultimately the musician’s responsibility. As an artist I never would want anyone to be uncomfortable or unsafe. Music is my happy place, and concert goers just want to experience that too."

But there are things that you can do in the case of feeling unsafe and Tess shared what they are. The first video went really viral with 4.4 million views and 1.5 million viewers liked it. People wanted to know more, so the TikToker uploaded a couple of more videos including one giving advice to people who go to concerts alone.

In these videos the singer stresses how important it is to be aware of your surroundings while having fun and to trust your intuition when you’re feeling something isn’t right and the strangers around you don’t wish you well. 

The advice that is related to being pushed at the front of the crowd and feeling crushed is that it would be best to notice that the crowd is being compressed ahead of time, but you need to try to get to the back where fewer people stand. To do that, you can shout that you want out and people should let you do that, because for them, a new standing place that is nearer to the stage will open up.

As Tess went to a fair share of concerts herself we asked if it's worth being crushed in the crowd if that means that you're closer to the stage and she thinks it is really unnecessary to go up there, "When I was a kid I would rush to the front because I thought it was so important, but it is so not. You can dance and have fun anywhere at a venue these days. Many new places are designed to have no bad seat in the house. A lot of shows that have pit access also have seated areas. If you know you are susceptible to claustrophobia, have breathing issues, or simply don’t want to experience a sweaty crowd, get a seat! You won’t be jostled around and you can get to the show anytime you want."

Tess wanted to create those videos because she knows how people get caught up in the moment and don't think or don't know what to do when the crowd in a concert becomes dangerous so that is why she thought her knowledge and experience could be useful for others. It breaks her heart to see people suffer because to her "Music is a celebration of our lives and emotions, and should not be a fight for who gets closer, or more rowdy."

She said, "it is important that we take huge precautions and think about each detail before playing whether you’re playing for 5 people or 50,000. I just want to arm people with knowledge and keep spreading the word so everyone can enjoy concerts for what they are - an escape from the every day, and a damn good time."

Do you think that these tips Tess gives can be useful? Do you like going to concerts in general? If you've been to many concerts, can you think of any tips that could be added to the list of what you experienced that worked? Let us know in the comments!