Cell phones at concerts

musicismylife78

Whats your take on this?

Its kind of like filesharing in that it cant be stopped or put back in the bottle, but I kind of see both sides.

Its kind of cool how people can take pictures now, and record some of the concert. My cousin recorded some of the San Fran III show and now has a few songs as his ringtone.

But on the other hand its annoying. You pay good money to see a show and some jerk is sitting next to you viewing the concert through some electronic device. its like, okayyy!

I think the worst is when people talk on the phones during the show. Theres NO excuse for that.

PJGARDEN

I used to say I could care less what you do. Now I have been to too many concerts with some idiot in front of me holding his phone up so he can record the whole show. I say leave them in the car or on your pocket. You don't need a phone during the show.

Evacuation Rules

Reminds me of a Frogs show I was at - there was this girl text messaging in the front row, and Dennis stopped the song and told her that he was going to shove it up her ass. It was pretty funny.

JaneNY

Just like anything else it can be benign or annoying. A picture here and there, an occasional text, a quick quiet call, no big deal, but I don't see why people have to take 500 pictures. My phone stays in my pocket unless I need to check the time. Wouldn't people rather actually experience the show? (I'm probably in the minority for this, but I think its cool when everyone holds up their phone during the slow songs (like people used to do with lighters))

Wobbie

It's fucking lame. Then again, I'm old. We got by just fine without them in the "good old days"

Joe2TheRevenge

i never really notice anything out of hand.

for every 10 people holding them up, there are typically 200 that aren't.

Joe2TheRevenge

Besides, sometimes when i can't see, i just look for the dude 2 or 3 rows ahead of me and look at his cellphone screen to see what's going on. haha

1ThoughtKnown

Old thread here but here is a thought on the subject a decade later when so many more of these devices exist.
Saw Jack White at the Stampede Corral last night (GREAT SHOW). There was a no cell phone policy.
People who brought a phone were provided a pouch which required some kind of magnet to open it (forget what it was called). As you left the show you got your phone from the pouch and they got back their pouch.

it was refreshing to be at a concert where everyone was into the music and not watching it through a smartphone.
I’m all for this, PJ shows included. What is more annoying than standing behind someone with their phone in the air while you are trying to watch the band?

The YouTube videos I’ve seen of concerts I’ve attend never capture the magic of the show anyway so I stopped watching them.

Listen to the bootleg instead and close your eyes folks... you will go right back to that time and place.  
Cheers! 

helplessdancer

1ThoughtKnown said:

it was refreshing to be at a concert where everyone was into the music and not watching it through a smartphone.
I’m all for this, PJ shows included. What is more annoying than standing behind someone with their phone in the air while you are trying to watch the band?

The YouTube videos I’ve seen of concerts I’ve attend never capture the magic of the show anyway so I stopped watching them.

here we go again.
phone or camera? phones should be banned but cameras should not be. imo
and imo this captures the magic and i for one am super grateful that this exists, among many other utube videos all captured with cameras
live and let live i say. be polite.

PEARL JAM *WASTED REPRISE into BETTERMAN into SAVE IT FOR LATER* Buffalo 5/10/2010 HD
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CtsnO3aEi3g&feature=player_embedded

Spiritual_Chaos

helplessdancer said:

1ThoughtKnown said:

it was refreshing to be at a concert where everyone was into the music and not watching it through a smartphone.
I’m all for this, PJ shows included. What is more annoying than standing behind someone with their phone in the air while you are trying to watch the band?

The YouTube videos I’ve seen of concerts I’ve attend never capture the magic of the show anyway so I stopped watching them.

here we go again.
phone or camera? phones should be banned but cameras should not be. imo
and imo this captures the magic and i for one am super grateful that this exists, among many other utube videos all captured with cameras
live and let live i say. be polite.

PEARL JAM *WASTED REPRISE into BETTERMAN into SAVE IT FOR LATER* Buffalo 5/10/2010 HD
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CtsnO3aEi3g&feature=player_embedded

The best thing would be to have a dedicated fan filming, and the rest can feel like "Oh, them playing Just A Girl and Evenflow will be on youtube anyways in a few hours -- and I can focus in the show"

At the same time, I could not have done this video etc without people filming:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JCjwOnPH2WU

PJ_Soul

I couldn't care less what a cell phone might do for individuals' concert experience - I never understood why people bitch about how other people should be enjoying a show without seeing it through a screen... What do they care?? What difference does it make to them? If someone wants to watch a concert through a screen, then go ahead, it makes no difference to me. The one and only reason I HATE cell phones at concerts is because so many idiots hold the phones up in the air constantly and block my view of the stage. It makes me really mad!! It's so fucking inconsiderate!

1ThoughtKnown

helplessdancer said:

1ThoughtKnown said:

it was refreshing to be at a concert where everyone was into the music and not watching it through a smartphone.
I’m all for this, PJ shows included. What is more annoying than standing behind someone with their phone in the air while you are trying to watch the band?

The YouTube videos I’ve seen of concerts I’ve attend never capture the magic of the show anyway so I stopped watching them.

here we go again.
phone or camera? phones should be banned but cameras should not be. imo
and imo this captures the magic and i for one am super grateful that this exists, among many other utube videos all captured with cameras
live and let live i say. be polite.

PEARL JAM *WASTED REPRISE into BETTERMAN into SAVE IT FOR LATER* Buffalo 5/10/2010 HD
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CtsnO3aEi3g&feature=player_embedded

This is a fair point.  I just find The glow from all the smartphones rather annoying to me on the floor and actually distracting to my own concert experience.   I just can’t understand why you would pay money to watch a show through your tiny smartphone screen. 
The Jack White concert took me back to concerts when I was younger... that is all.  It was a great experience and more than one person we talked to after the show commented on it. 
Everyone was focused on taking it all in.  Very cool. 

Spiritual_Chaos

If Pearl Jam would ban smartphones -- would they have their screens in colour?

PJ_Soul

helplessdancer said:

1ThoughtKnown said:

it was refreshing to be at a concert where everyone was into the music and not watching it through a smartphone.
I’m all for this, PJ shows included. What is more annoying than standing behind someone with their phone in the air while you are trying to watch the band?

The YouTube videos I’ve seen of concerts I’ve attend never capture the magic of the show anyway so I stopped watching them.

here we go again.
phone or camera? phones should be banned but cameras should not be. imo
and imo this captures the magic and i for one am super grateful that this exists, among many other utube videos all captured with cameras
live and let live i say. be polite.

PEARL JAM *WASTED REPRISE into BETTERMAN into SAVE IT FOR LATER* Buffalo 5/10/2010 HD
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CtsnO3aEi3g&feature=player_embedded

My phone is my camera. The problem isn't the device, it's how people are using them. The REAL problem is simply people being selfish, inconsiderate assholes. I think if these assholes had digital cameras with them, they'd just hold those up in front of people's faces instead of their phones. Same glowing screen, same obstruction of the stage for people behind them. There are ways to photo and film shows without being an a-hole about it, but it seems only maybe 5% of people have bothered to consider how that's done.

Gern Blansten

It's fucking annoying....we wouldn't tolerate it at the movies and we shouldn't tolerate it at concerts

I saw the RHCP in Cincy last year and this fucking moron and his wife in front of me had their camera/video going the entire fucking time.  They were moving around so much that video would have been completely unwatchable.

Really wanted to strangle them....but I did not.

PJ_Soul

Gern Blansten said:

It's fucking annoying....we wouldn't tolerate it at the movies and we shouldn't tolerate it at concerts

I saw the RHCP in Cincy last year and this fucking moron and his wife in front of me had their camera/video going the entire fucking time.  They were moving around so much that video would have been completely unwatchable.

Really wanted to strangle them....but I did not.

Yeah, I had my U2 concert ruined by the same type of person. And to top it of, the jerk wore a fucking fedora, which also blocked my view. Double-douchebag.

1ThoughtKnown

I think it’s a no brainer for the band to institute the no cell phone policy strictly from a business perspective. 
The band recorded and sold all bootleg audios of concerts because they were being recorded anyway so they gave the fans a high quality version and pocket the cash.

Why wouldn’t they do the same thing but with video?  Ban the smartphones and cameras and sell the concert footage they are taking anyway.  Be a lot better quality than the stuff on YouTube.

Win-win - The fans win because there is no annoying smartphones and they can still relive the show if they wish. Band and all their staff and charitable organizations win as it’s another revenue source. 

Over-simplified? Perhaps but it’s something to ponder 

PJ_Soul

I love these new cell phone lock bags... the only issue with them is that you have no fucking clue what time it is, lol.

willbarclay

I like to pull my phone out to grab a quick photo and maybe a short 45 second video (so I can show my little boy at home). Then away it goes for the rest of the show.

I also cant stand people watching the entire show through their phone. irritates the crap out of me.  

HughFreakingDillon

PJ_Soul said:

I love these new cell phone lock bags... the only issue with them is that you have no fucking clue what time it is, lol.

I was just going to post this. Last night at JW I had to keep asking the beer girl what time it was. LOL. 

no cell phones at that show made it infinitely more enjoyable for me, especially being in GA on the floor, there was no glowing screens in front of me. it was glorious. at the Paul McCartney show, the douche in the seat in front of me, was recording the entire concert on his phone, and he was watching the screen. What a waste. I would have told him to put it away, but he was off to my right and the stage was to my left. But if I had was behind him? Damn straight. At Chris Cornell in 2011. i was row 2. Douche in row 1 was recording the entire show above his fucking head. At song 3 I told him to put the fucking thing away. he actually had the nerve to act all annoyed and asked me why. i said "because it's glowing in my fucking eyes, moron!". you're in the front row! enjoy the show! I was also kind of surprised the security guy standing directly in front of this dude, facing him, said nothing to him. 

at STP last week, my back was against the wall, directly across from the band, so I recorded one of their songs on video knowing it wouldn't be in anyone's eyes. that's the only time I've ever done that. I'm a bit Constanza-like in my public behaviours. 

WE LIVE IN A SOCIETY! WE SHOULD ACT IN A CIVILIZED WAY! 

PJ_Soul

I'm really glad you enjoyed the show so much HFD - I was worried for you and all your doubt about it, lol!

HughFreakingDillon

PJ_Soul said:

I'm really glad you enjoyed the show so much HFD - I was worried for you and all your doubt about it, lol!

if he had played Why Does A Dog Need To Be Walked, I may have a different take. LOL

facepollution

I'll record the odd bit here or there, but would rather just watch the show and feel present in the moment.  It is annoying when everyone has their phones in the air, but then I've enjoyed loads of that footage on youtube, so I can't complain too much.

A few years back I was lucky enough to get tickets to see NIN at a tiny club show in London.  As soon as they came onstage, a guy in front held an iPad in the air and started filming - thankfully everyone around him abused him until he put it away!

I did (drunkenly) call out the guy in front of me at Chris Cornell's Royal Albert Hall show who spent the entire evening messaging on his phone.  It was directly in my line of view, and towards the end I kind of lost it and gave him some abuse, told him he was messaging like my 12 year old niece at the dinner table.  I've no idea why he was there, he hardly looked at the stage all night.

PJ_Soul

I rarely remember to even take a photo at a concert. Sometimes I end up taking a couple. And maybe 30 seconds of video once in a while, if something is really unusual or something (and if I do that, I never ever let it get into someone's line of sight. I even cover the screen completely with my hand so the light doesn't bug people behind me... it always makes for some really shitty video, lol!). I definitely don't use or think about my phone enough at any show to miss it when I can't use it.

Wobbie

been listening to CSNY four way street. imagine how cool that was.....high as hell and no distractions.

Spiritual_Chaos

Wobbie said:

been listening to CSNY four way street. imagine how cool that was.....high as hell and no distractions.

Just rediscovered that also!

deadendp

PJ_Soul said:

I love these new cell phone lock bags... the only issue with them is that you have no fucking clue what time it is, lol.

Watches, Fitbits... Great at telling you what time it is.   

I would be good with no cell phones at shows. 

helplessdancer

phones vs cameras blah blah blah