The Real Reason Concert Crowds All Clap At The Wrong Time

Thousands of people, one beat, and a hidden force pulling them off it.

A giant crowd clapping along almost always drifts, and it is not because everyone is bad at rhythm.

Sound takes time to travel, so people at the back literally hear the beat late and clap to what reached them.

Everyone also nudges their clap to match the neighbours they can hear, and thousands of tiny adjustments slowly bend the whole room.

It is a stadium-sized game of follow-the-leader with no leader. Somehow, magically, the chorus still pulls everyone back.