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Mobile phones at gigs

107 replies

Lemon221 · 14/06/2022 01:59

Just got back from an amazing gig I’ve been looking forward to for so long. I haven’t been to a gig in probably 4 years now. Tonight I’ve come away feeling so annoyed at the amount of people filming the entire songs, they block the view behind them and I have to watch them through their screen! It was driving me nuts. The woman directly in front of me looked miserable, but filmed most of the first three songs, I moved closer after that. I understand getting a few pics and short videos, but I just kept thinking why can’t we just live in the moment without having to document everything!? What’s the likelihood these people will go back to these video clips again and again?

OP posts:
BalloonsAndWhistles · 14/06/2022 08:12

Oh God this is one of my pet hates! Why can’t people just live in the moment anymore? You just know it’s for FB so they can boast ‘I was there, I was having fun’ to people who don’t give a shiny shit. Are these people ever going to watch their grainy videos? They’ll be on YouTube anyway FFS. Adele once shouted at a fan for doing this and I thought, good for her. The most I’ve ever done is take a quick pic but the rest of the time I’m dancing and singing (badly) 😂 Phew, got it off my chest.

PrincessGraceless · 14/06/2022 09:37

The thing is @BalloonsAndWhistles (from what I saw at length at a recent gig!) is that the quality is really good on the new phones (I sound v ancient 😂) and even though v irritated that I was forced to watch the band via other people’s screens - I was nonetheless impressed by the quality. Looked better than IRL!

aSofaNearYou · 14/06/2022 10:04

Completely agree OP, I find footage of gigs I see on TV really dystopian these days, it's just a sea of phones.

Sure, take a few pics or clips but why the hell are people recording seemingly the whole show on their phones? Much better footage will exist of that gig. What's the point.

FearlessFreddie · 14/06/2022 10:12

Someone was doing this at the bloody opera the other day, in the stalls at Covent Garden. Luckily the staff told them to stop (pretty sure you're not allowed to film anything) but the mentality that says it's a normal thing to do is pervasive.

littlepeas · 14/06/2022 10:24

FearlessFreddie · 14/06/2022 10:12

Someone was doing this at the bloody opera the other day, in the stalls at Covent Garden. Luckily the staff told them to stop (pretty sure you're not allowed to film anything) but the mentality that says it's a normal thing to do is pervasive.

I was about to say that I was recently at the Albert Hall and people were filming! It was a charity event that involved kids and yes, it is very exciting that your dc is on stage at the RAH, but it was being professionally filmed FFS! Just enjoy the moment.

Shangrila · 14/06/2022 10:32

Phone videos of gigs are always shit with terrible sound quality. Its Glastonbury next week and its madness the amount of people who still stick the videos in the air. I mean the BBC spend millions filming it in properly in HD so why do you need your own video? Just enjoy the gig.

Pedallleur · 14/06/2022 10:49

As has been mentioned, some artists are starting to stop the use of phones at shows. It will be classed as image rights or similar. I expect to see it being part of the t&c for people with tickets in the first few rows or front blocks of venues. An artist prob wont care about the view from the back of the Etihad but those front rows are prime seats. Image rights are worth money.

Lincslady53 · 14/06/2022 10:50

Bob Dylan has a strict no phones policy on his latest tour in the US. Phones are put in sealed bags that block the signal, which are opened as you leave. He has no big screens, and often plays smaller theatre venues. He will probably do 80+ gigs this year across the world, with tickets going on sale just a few weeks before the shows, not 2 years before like some artists like Elton John. His setlist is mostly his new album, and any older songs are rearranged with some of the lyrics tweaked to suit current times. I know he is not everyones cup of tea, but he is a true artist that doesn't sit back on his laurels and milk his hits from 50 years ago.

QuestionableMouse · 14/06/2022 10:53

I recently started listening to a different singer who does gigs but has only released two albums (with one being impossible to get).

I'm very glad of the recorded songs on YouTube because it means I get to see him performing different things. (And I discovered one of my favourite songs through YouTube!)

CapMarvel · 14/06/2022 10:55

YANBU.

Take a quick photo -> absolutely fine. Don't make me watch the gig through your fucking phone though, that video will look and sound like shit and you'll never watch it more than once.

Join the fuckers who talk the whole way through the gig or think I would rather hear them sing rather than the band and piss off.

Lookjaz · 14/06/2022 10:55

Surely it is illegal to record at concerts

bigbluebus · 14/06/2022 11:01

I haven't been to a concert for a long time but I only take a few photos of any day out. DH is a bit more obsessed with it. 25 yo DS says FFS put the phone away and just enjoy the view!
Having sorted through my parents photos from the days when people were careful with what photos they took due to the cost of film and developing and finding that loads of them were fairly boring, I'm mystified as to when people think they might view all these millions of videos and snaps they take!

Zilla1 · 14/06/2022 11:10

Sometimes it might be better for the memory to be of watching the stage or the experience rather than remembering holding a mobile up and looking at that?

DdraigGoch · 14/06/2022 11:20

25 yo DS says FFS put the phone away and just enjoy the view!

I love how things have come full circle now, and he's backing up what his grandparents would probably say.

StrawberryLipstickStateOfMind1 · 14/06/2022 11:36

CapMarvel · 14/06/2022 10:55

YANBU.

Take a quick photo -> absolutely fine. Don't make me watch the gig through your fucking phone though, that video will look and sound like shit and you'll never watch it more than once.

Join the fuckers who talk the whole way through the gig or think I would rather hear them sing rather than the band and piss off.

You don't like people who sing?
Surely you're supposed to, I love the crowd singing, one of the best bits

CapMarvel · 14/06/2022 11:43

I don't like people who can't sing for shit belting out every word to the extent I can't hear the actual singer, no. If you do it at a reasonable volume and/or during the bits when it's clear that it's a singalongy bit that's fine.

Other than that, no. Plenty of gigs - more of the guy-and-a-guitar type, usually - get ruined by people thinking they can sing better than the person I'm actually paying to hear sing.

StrawberryLipstickStateOfMind1 · 14/06/2022 11:46

Ah, that makes more sense then.

LetsGoFlyAKiteee · 14/06/2022 11:55

Was at one before where someone was filming for a lot of it on a ipad. Bad as phone can be least they're small! Enjoy the moment!

WeAreTheHeroes · 14/06/2022 12:19

Crowd singing has its place. In the theatre at a musical absolutely not: we have paid to watch and listen to those onstage, not some half-cut halfwit in the stalls. It is not an extension of your living room.

Two really powerful moments for me have been singing along to Shout by Tears for Fears and Pride (In the Name of Love) at gigs.

Pedallleur · 15/06/2022 10:49

£100+ for a ticket and I have to listen to Karen or Darren yelling Summer of 69 or whatever there favourite song is.

theleafandnotthetree · 15/06/2022 11:01

When I watch pre mobile phone age gigs, like Live Aid or the Freddie Mercury tribute concert from the 90s (been on Sky Arts a few times and it's fab) or Depeche Mode 101, it makes me so sad to think what's been lost in terms of that communal experience of just being there, in the moment, surrendering to the power of the music and the energy of the crowd. I'd nearly rather go to live sport now to get that buzz than a gig because other people's inability to just put their fucking phones away makes me both cross and sad..

HazelBite · 15/06/2022 11:09

I made a point last weekend of turning my phone off when we were at Kenwood House. Actually people were dancing around so much and enjoying themselves that the phones started to be put down/away after a few songs in

SheSaysShush · 15/06/2022 11:13

I have filmed at a gig then deleted the videos when I got home after I realised it was a pointless exercise. Nobody else is interested. Who wants to watch sketchy videos of a gig they weren't at?

Didn't Kate Bush ban phones at her gig a few years ago?

JustRestingMyEyesForAMinute · 15/06/2022 11:14

I went to a big concert recently and the phone use was ridiculous. I had to watch a lot of the concert through the screen of a guy sitting down holding his phone up. He was about 5 rows in front so I couldn't just tap him on the shoulder and ask him to put it down.

There was also a girl in the row in front who had the camera on selfie mode and was filming herself singing/dancing/reacting to the concert. So, not even the artist. It was absolutely bizarre.