In December of last year, experimental-hip-hop group Death Grips announced their 2023 tour across the United States. The group is composed of frontman MC Ride, drummer Zach Hill, and producer Andy Morin. Without any new music released for over 5 years, the band still managed to sell out venues within minutes. Such a highly anticipated tour was predictably met with issues among concertgoers. An important thing to know about the Death Grips fanbase is their tendency to be insufferable. Over the course of the band’s hiatus, they amassed a large following among a much younger demographic due to the spread of their music in niche social media spaces. Due to the pandemic, younger music fans have little experience with concert etiquette, and lack the respect for the artist as an individual. Since the tour’s beginning on May 4th of this year, many Death Grips fans have come out with their experience of the shows, detailing injuries, a disrespectful crowd, and sexual assault. At the band’s show in Arkansas, fans would repeatedly throw glow sticks at the members on stage, causing them to walk off and end the show early. Such disrespect stems from a general unhealthy dynamic between performer and audience that gives a concertgoer the impression that since they are paying for a show, they can completely disregard the performers’ humanity. Specifically, a majority of the Death Grips fanbase sees the band as an extension of the culture that surrounds them on the internet, which the band has no control over. Fans have a difficult time separating the two, which leads to the blatant lack of empathy between the audience and performer. My personal experience with the tour was at their Philadelphia show at Franklin Music Hall, a sold-out venue with no air conditioning. Waiting in line, my friends and I were spoken to by a man in his 20s, who would walk along the line outside of the venue trying to rile up the people waiting. Clearly intoxicated, he would spend the time in line telling crude jokes to me and the rest of the people in line. Little did we know, the same man would later expose himself in the mosh pit, and urinate on nearby fans trying to enjoy the show. This man, now notoriously dubbed in the community as the “Philly Pisser,” is just one example of harassment and negligence brought on by Death Grips fans. A fellow student at LM, Willo Melton ’25, reported, “At the start of the show, there was a crowd surge where I got shoved up to the front where I struggled to breathe. I quickly forced my way to the side and waited for the surge to cool down before making my way back in. After that I had a great experience, the crowd was very vibrant. There were times where I was concerned for my safety but I look back at the show fondly.” While a great experience for me and many other fans, it is necessary as a part of the community to recognize those who were injured or assaulted during the shows. Every band that performs in the future should look back on shows like these and aim to improve the concert environment. Whether it be properly staffing, stopping shows when necessary, or calling out unacceptable behavior, it is important for the performer to create a safe space for their audience no matter what.