Planning your exit before the encore
Launch library · evergreen read
Leaving right at the very end of a show, along with several thousand other people all reaching for the same doors and the same transport at once, is a genuinely predictable bottleneck that a little forward planning can meaningfully soften without actually missing anything important from the performance itself or the encore.
Knowing the venue's exit layout in advance, including whether there are multiple exits spread across different sides of the building, lets you choose a route that avoids the single most congested option most attendees default to automatically without really thinking about it during the excitement of a closing set and the applause.
For those who genuinely need to leave promptly, whether for transport, work or simple tiredness, standing nearer a secondary exit for the closing stretch of a show is a reasonable trade against being right at the very front. A small compromise in position, made early, buys a much smoother, calmer exit.