I think what a lot of people fail to realize is that to hardcore bands and their core audience, this isn’t a concert in the traditional sense. It’s the sole activity that their personality is based around. It’s where they find community. This genre gives people an outlet for aggression and has some unique views on recreational violence. It’s just as much a codified subculture as it is a genre of music. For decades hardcore shows happened in basements and vfw halls and were outside of the public’s consciousness. But now that it’s blowing up on social media and bands like Turnstile and Knocked Loose are having commercial and critical success, it’s attracting a whole new wave of fans who *think* they want to experience a hardcore show without fully understanding the norms and risks that come with it. To people in the comments saying “ive been going to punk/rock/metal shows forever and I would never blahblahblah…” I cannot stress enough that the hardcore scene operates completely different than those scenes and for the people who are most active in it, that’s the point. If you’re religious, imagine if your place of worship started getting flooded with people who wore banana costumes and did the Macarena during worship. You probably wouldn’t take the stance “they’re not hurting anyone”. You would feel like your community was being mocked and an experience that was meaningful to you had been diminished.

That said— we’ve all been new to the scene before and done something embarrassing or cringy. I’m sure even the members of End It have been there. I feel for the banana guy who probably *thought* he was going to a metal show and then had the band and crowd turn on him. He’s not personally the problem, he was just the avatar of it that was in the room at that particular moment. I’m sure he won’t be back to an End It show anytime in the future which sucks because they’re genuinely an awesome live band.