I saw an article today while perusing social media about how A Perfect Circle had ejected 60 people from a concert because they got caught using their phones after a "no phones allowed" rule had already been widely and publicly announced at the venue. Apparently this sent many people online into a rage. Personally, I think the band was right to do what they did.
Aside from the fact that there needing to be consequences when you break the rules, I agree with the rule to begin with. Phones have been ruining concert going experiences for a long time now for a multitude of reasons.
Reason 1:
How completely stupid and lame is it to just stand there the entire time just watching the show through a phone/camera screen? I mean, you paid a lot of money for your ticket to see a band live in person with your own eyes and ears. If you want to watch a video of the band performing, just look it up on YouTube or get the tour DVD. You're literally depriving yourself of what you shelled out an obscene amount of money to go see.
Reason 2:
Your pictures and videos are going to be absolute crap. I understand you want to remember that night for years to come, but maybe there are better ways to do that than just standing there with your phone the whole time? If you really want to watch the show again on your own time why not just wait for the tour DVD to come out? It will look and sound a LOT better than anything you will record.
Reason 3:
Performers feed off of audience energy. There is a special connection that forms between musicians and audience. The excitement of the crowd gets the band going, which in turn gives the audience an even better experience, which then further feeds the band. The cycle keeps going on and on and upping the intensity until the concert finale. When the audience is just standing there dead to the world just pointing a phone camera at the performers and not showing any excitement at all it absolutely kills things for the band. When the band gets no energy from the crowd, they can't give much if anything back. They can put on the best show they can anyway, but it won't be anywhere near as good as it could have been had you put your phone away and just enjoyed the show.
Reason 4:
By having your phone out and up in the air you are ruining the experience for other concert goers who are actually trying to enjoy themselves and get what they paid for. They will have a hard time seeing over or around you. You just standing there like a statue makes it even more difficult because then they can't get around you and the other zombie idiots doing the same thing.
I've heard of other performers banning phones at concerts too. Jack White has been doing this at his shows for some time now. Over time though I hope it becomes more and more of a common thing at concerts because we need to be less glued to our technology and more present in the moment. Not everything needs to be on the internet or on our phones. We need to enjoy life and the good things it has to offer, like concerts. Concerts should become the spiritual experiences containing energy with unstoppable momentum. The more performers keep putting into place rules like this, the more there is a fighting chance of this happening.
No comments:
Post a Comment