Picture the scene. It’s a balmy summer night and you’re sitting on historic grounds not too far from a massive stage set to host one of the world’s best tenors and one of the world’s most popular ones.

They do not disappoint. They enchant the audience with their powerful voices after the orchestra lures everybody in with its exquisite playing.

The concert is proving to be a success so far, and it is about to get better as one of the most anticipated, if not the most anticipated song of the evening, comes up.

As soon as the first notes of Con Te Partirò ring out you can feel the anticipation turn into excitement and, soon enough, the crowd gets into it.

Just as the audience is being entirely enveloped by the magical, aesthetic experience of the evening, halfway through the song, an entourage of extremely rude latecomers makes its way to their seats two rows in front of us.

This most ungraceful of entries utterly destroys the mood and ruins the moment, and I tell my partner just that: it was extremely rude and inconsiderate of them.

At which point one woman from the unwelcome party, the rudest of the lot, turns to me and gives me an unsolicited “we had a wedding” excuse.

Now, there are many things wrong with this. Firstly, the organisers tackled this intrusion in an extremely amateurish manner. The professional thing to do in such cases is to tell such latecomers (one hour late, no less) to wait for a more opportune moment to make their rumbustious entry, especially since we’re half a song away from the interval! This is what is done at all major events organised by people worth their salt. There is no way you would be able to do this if you were to attend, say, an opera.

I have naturally contacted the organisers about this but have so far received no reply.

Secondly, these people themselves, had they an ounce of decency, would have chosen to wait for the song to finish.

Thirdly, to actually have the gall to justify such a barbaric incursion with one’s own reason for being late is both hilarious and absurd. This is essentially saying, “Hey, I had a wedding and I wanted to go. But I wanted to come here too. And now I felt like coming halfway to ensure you suffer the consequences of my actions and circumstances... I realise this is entirely my problem but now it is yours, as well.”

There’s something very wrong with this sort of thinking but, alas, for us Maltese, there is also something very familiar.

Lack of discipline is the bane of Maltese society

After having pointed out why her behaviour could not be so easily dismissed or justified, she eloquently responded with a number of expletives which said more about her than anything else.

It also confirmed the kind of behaviour I was dealing with: it’s childish, puerile, infantile, immature, vulgar, unsophisticated, unbecoming, undignified, unladylike, indecent and certainly inappropriate.

Is this enough adjectives to describe it? No, of course not. It is also selfish, rude, egotistical, disrespectful, irresponsible, anti-social. But, worst of all, it’s typical.

Lack of discipline is the bane of Maltese society. Our anything-goes attitude (so long as it does not affect us, of course) is the cause of many unnecessary inconveniences and endless annoyances that inevitably give birth to extreme but needless frustration.

The people behind me, mostly foreigners, were just as shocked by this thoughtless act. Many expressed their support. One towering South African actually intervened and attempted to educate her, much like a headmaster delivering a stern scolding to a bunch of rowdy pupils, with a few authoritative words: “Stay quiet. He is correct.”

As I obviously was. And the word obvious is key here: for this is truly obvious to most of our European neighbours as it is a matter of basic etiquette, and yet, it is far from obvious for many Maltese, who as children learn all the useless dates and trivia at school only to forget them as adults, and do not learn such important things as how to behave in public in a proper and considerate manner.

Indeed, I overheard her friend applaud her for sticking up for her rights. Which rights, exactly, I do not know.

Perhaps the right to be a selfish dud, or the right to impinge on everybody else’s right to enjoy the show they have paid good money for? Or the right to be insufferably ignorant and just as arrogant? You see, this ‘rights’ thing has been long coming: years of repeating the mantra of “having rights” without actually understanding what this means and what it entails, without any mention of the duties and obligations that go hand in hand with such rights and which are just as essential as our sacred rights. This has produced an army of righteous paladins bound by no duty other than safeguarding their own selfish interests at whatever expense.

Things that for us are ‘acceptable’ are absolutely frowned upon abroad. It’s telling that these foreigners were all annoyed: disturbing others for one’s selfish reasons is simply not on.

Some people had flown miles to witness Andrea Bocelli and Joseph Calleja on stage, and obviously these pilgrims were waiting the magical moment of listening to the biggest hit. All it would have taken for them to witness it peacefully was for this inconsiderate bunch to patiently wait a couple of minutes in the aisle. But no, they had a wedding you see and, well, to hell with you lot.

Imagine being at La Scala during say, the performance of Eugene Onegin. The duel is imminent, the music forebodes it. It’s the pivotal scene, the climax. The duelists take their dreaded three steps. Guns are raised as the unfortunate prepares to fall. At that very moment, someone decides to step in, shooting his excuses and reasons, ensuring the immersion is totally ruined. Unspeakable, unthinkable.

And yet, here I was, witnessing similar behaviour first-hand and capturing the rudeness in glorious 4k as well. The savvy internet user may thus manage to catch a glimpse of the incident.

One of the songs played during the concert was the hit by The Tramps Inti Djamant. The accolade bestowed on Gozo can equally be bestowed on the whole archipelago and its inhabitants. Malta is indeed a diamond, but it needs polishing.

Mark Anthony Falzon is not appearing this week.