sustain:if:able kiwi

u2 conference: GA queue and fan self-organizing culture at U2 concerts

Participant observation of GA queues. Observing their culture. Surveyed fans. Awarded fan “status.” Studied line intrusion scenarios.

Stanley Milgram fans form a self-organising culture. Pretty much replicated city to city.

Based on procedural justice (first come first served) and fair investment (of time). At Chicago, fans generated their own wrist bans to organise. Goal is “rail.” Every fan is “30, white, educated.”

At Dublin, of 780 fans, only 20 were Irish.
Berlin fan queue was chaos.
Spanish fan queue was beautifully organised.

Correlation: the more committed the fan, the more they believed you needed to “suffer.” The closer you are, the more focused you are.

Contrary to prior research, it did not make any difference if the intrusion occurred ahead or behind the person in the line. At U2 shows, people care because if fans patrol the line, then you will ensure better order. U2 fans DO not have a higher care for social justice when it applies to their queue, cos the more you give, the more you care.

For other posts on U2 conference go here.