Crazy Fans

I saw that we were going to be talking about fandom in a few weeks and it got me thinking about this show that I went to this past weekend. I went to see The Maine and I figured that since it was a Sunday night and Mother's day there would not be that many younger people there, but I was wrong- the show was completely sold out. The venue had a capactiy of 400 but when we got there, I noticed that there were only probably 30 people there that were over the age of 18 but not a parent. I definitely felt really old. The average age of the kids at the show was probably 15, and a lot of them had at least one parent there with them.

Everything was fine until The Maine started their set. There were a lot of little girls standing at the front of the stage, and when the band came out they got crushed. A few of them had to be taken out by security because they had passed out. A few songs into the set, some of the girls began climbing onto the stage so that they could hug the singer. At this point I was starting to get a little annoyed. Do they really need to climb onstage during the set just to hug a guy that they think is "OMG SOOOO HOTT!!!" (I definitely heard that quote more than once throughout the night.)

Then they started yelling "John, I love you!" I'm here to enjoy the music and instead I'm stuck listening to teenage girls shriek at the singer, who is definitely too old for them to even have a chance with. Then I began noticing all the homemade t-shirts. Most of them had the band members names, quotes, song titles, and other random sayings on them. A lot of them said something about a band member being so hott. I don't really have a problem with that, people can wear whatever they want. It's just a little weird when 14 year old girls have "John Oh is so sexy!" written across their chests...

After the show, all of the band guys were hanging outside the venue to talk to their fans. The group of girls around The Maine's singer was absolutely ridiculous. They clearly worshipped him, and also knew everything about him. I overheard girls asking him about his family and bringing up other personal information. How do they even find all this stuff out?

It's pretty creepy seeing a 12 year old girl asking a band member if he has a girlfriend and then asking him to kiss her. I've seen girls in hysterics because they didn't get a hug from a band member. I've seen girls follow a band from one state to the next. I've seen girls who know every detail about a band member, including personal stuff about their family members.

So that leads me to the question... How far is too far? If I were a guy in a band and I had fans like that, I'd be scared. They know everything and if you don't make them happy then they are absolutely ruthless. I realize that with the internet and social networking sites it's pretty easy to get personal information about almost anyone, but if this were Hollywood those girls would be arrested for stalking! It's creepy, and I hate being at shows where other people might think I'm like those girls just because I'm a girl at a show. I started going to shows when I was 15, and I never acted like that. It feels like fans these days have no boundaries anymore. They will do anything to try and get close to a band member. It scares me to think that it could get even worse in the future as the internet makes it easier and easier to find out anything from interests to addresses.