This tainted what was meant to be a pleasant evening

[HelpMePleaseeee]

Okay, it didn’t ruin my night, but I went to a candlelight concert last night. It was in a cathedral and it was tiny and intimate, a string quartet played a mixture of modern songs with candles around them. It was so cute and it was a cheap but different activity with DP.

The guy next to me was scrolling through his emails the whole time, with his phone glaring into my eyes.
Everyone in front of me kept filming every song. It’s a tiny venue and we were right at the back so it did affect my view. Phone screens left right and centre. Also, on the other side of the room, constant red flashes from someone’s camera.

When did this start happening? There can’t have been more than 200 guests and it was a string quartet in a tiny venue. Why couldn’t people just listen to it?

Am I wrong here??

This kind of behaviour is so selfish - it would have ruined the event for me too. I wish venues would enforce bans on phones during performances.

One of my favourite announcements about phones was before a Doctor Who Prom at the Albert Hall. A dalek told us to switch off our phones, threatening to exterminate anyone who didn't.

My other favourite was in Germany, before a lecture about that evening's opera performance. It asked us to please remember to switch our phones back on after the lecture.

Both announcements caused laughter, and I suspect they resulted in much greater compliance than an ordinary request to turn off phones would have done.

I went to something v similar at Xmas time and everyone was asked to keep phones away until the last 10 mins when people were invited to take videos/photos. Worked really well as we all got to enjoy it, and kept everyone happy who NEEDS to record every experience on insta.

I am jealous, love his stuff. Glad he did this, it must be so off putting for a performer to have to contend with such inconsiderate people.

I’d make a complaint to the theatre and demand a refund. They did not provide the experience you paid for. Yes, it was other patrons causing the problem but they should have dealt with them.

It pisses me off. Even at Dd's dance concert, where the venue has a red very strict no filming/phones/photos policy (and the staff WILL pull you up), people are still blatantly filming & blocking you view. The performance is filmed & you can buy the professional copy for very little money.

Oh how annoying. I went to a play last night and we were told at the start to put phones away, no cameras allowed full stop. I would let the venue know and ask them to ban phones full stop. Who says the musicians want to be filmed anyway?

When we went to see Bob Dylan, he’d insisted on this. It worked so well. It was brilliant, as you say, to be able to enjoy the show with no distractions.

You are completely right. We were lucky as the one we went to had helpers/security that were on the ball with this and went up to anyone who tried to use their phone.
What's wrong with paying attention to the thing you paid to go and see, might as well stay at home and watch it online, leave us to enjoy it in peace.
I feel your frustration OP

Projection.

I went to a similar event just before Christmas, like you said OP about 200 people. I didn’t see a single phone screen though, I wonder why yours was so different.

At my son’s First Holy Communion there were a couple of gobshite parents who tried to film every second of their child’s day to the extent that at one point the dad got in the way of the Priest. To his eternal credit the Priest pulled him up politely but with a face that said “try that again and I’ll flatten you.”

Absolutely with you OP. There’s something about being fully present and experiencing the moment which you just don’t get if you’re watching it through a screen.

We went whale watching last year, right at the end of the migration season so only saw a mother and her calf. I took some footage but then I realised I was more focused on getting the shot than what I was there to see. Put my phone away and just enjoyed the privilege of being at sea, watching these marvellous creatures.

You are right. I’ve only been to one of these kinds of things. I sat at the back too. I just closed my eyes and soaked it all up. It was a great experience.

IME this doesn't happen on mainland Europe to anything like the same extent. People seem more respectful to the performers. More polite in general actually, especially in France. Just my own experience.

I agree with so many of the comments above. Enjoy being in the moment!

I remember being at a water park in Portugal. One dad sent his wife and kids out three times to be filmed coming through the gate. They hadn't looked excited enough the first couple of times apparently ... meanwhile all the other kids were jumping in the pool.

And as for talking in the cinema. I don't want to hear about someone's cousin Brenda's new patio instead of the film we've all paid to watch. Go for a coffee instead if you want to have a chat.

It did have a no phones and filming rule, I was at OP’s candlelight gig last night and everyone was clearly told so as they walked inside. It was a disaster: filming, chatting, numerous people scrolling though their phones and yes I noticed the flashing photography as well. Also grown ass women chatting during the performance and one started singing along the orchestra, it was laughable. The only well behaved people around me, funnily enough, were younger children (8-10-ish).

As grown adults they should know better, at least the children had some manners

This..

This absolutely sums it up…..

Instead of enjoying the moment - people glued to their phones, not really taking the experience in. It’s so very sad (and selfish to those around them as they are using blocking someone’s view with their self entitled attitude). I doubt they will never play it back.

Definitely not unreasonable. It's inconsiderate to people around you who want to watch the event live. Many schools now professionally record many performances so that parents don't use their phones. But it doesn't stoo them.

Earlier this month I took my 12 yr old boy to watch Coldplay for his first ever concert and he wanted to take his phone with him to record. Promptly told him no way, he should experience it through his own eyes and not via a screen and that I would take my phone so that we could take selfies together before and after.

Almost everybody around us had their phones out recording the whole concert anyway so within hours of the concert finishing, videos from our exact position were on YouTube for us to watch. Fortunately, we were right at the front so it didn't impact his view but had we been further back, I can imagine he would have had difficulty seeing.