Understanding the “new” disruptive behavior at live music events: Group normative (mis)alignment and collective self‐regulation

Recent years have seen increased reports of disruptive behavior at live music events, leading many to question the capacity of audiences to regulate their behavior. This matters both for positive audience experience and for crowd safety. Whilst some previous studies have examined violence in music audiences, there is almost no research looking at the current phenomenon of varied forms of disruption, the psychological antecedents of disruptive behavior, and potential mitigations. We report three studies addressing these questions experientially, observationally, and statistically, with interviews ( n = 27), an ethnographic field study at a live music festival ( n performances = 13, n interviews = 44), and a pre‐registered questionnaire survey ( n = 2,025). Results suggest that audience perceptions of disruption are sometimes contingent upon perceived group norms. Reports of disruption can occur where there is normative misalignment between disparate groups in attendance at the same event. Audience members do attempt to regulate each other's behavior, based on expectations of support, but some interventions can themselves be disruptive. We offer recommendations to venues and event organizers on how to reduce disruptive behavior, based on social identity and group norms. The results from the questionnaire survey have been certified as computationally reproducible by an independent statistician.