5 Reasons why I don’t use my phone in concerts
I’ve wanted to make this video for so long, like one year ago. Last summer I went to the Download Festival in Madrid and I begin to capture photos and videos with my phone. It was not like something conscious of me. I took out my iPhone and press REC while seeing Avenged Sevenfold headlining day number one. When I was already recording the video I asked myself. Why am I doing this?
Lately, artists such as Roger Waters, Bob Dylan, Steven Wilson, Beyonce, and Bruno Mars have banned the use of cell phones on their shows. They even threatened the audience to dismissing the show if they use their phones on the gig, Obviously with no refund of their ticket. That might sound a bit too harsh for you, I get it, but I will tell you why I don’t use mine anymore, I bet after reading this you wouldn’t as well.
- You get distracted. Even if you take only 5 photos and one video. The act of taking your phone, making sure that your photo/video is well-framed, all that takes energy from your brain. that energy and attention should be focused 100% on the show itself. In the end, you go to a concert to see the band on the stage and hearing them play. You are not been paid for being a camera guy.
- You block people’s view. It’s OK if you are a tall big dude that is blocking the view of the small guy that is behind you. It is not your falt to be that tall. Another thing is to consciously block the view of the guy behind you because you want to film something to post in your Instagram story just because. That is your fault, not of the guy that is behind you.
- You won’t see the media ever again. Most people see the photos and videos the same night of the concert and that’s it. How many times have you seen the video you filmed when you saw Korn in 2015? Just one time?
- Nobody would like to see your media. Who would want to see a video of 30 seconds filmed by somebody that is all shaky and it has poor quality audio? I won’t. And don’t take it from me. I’ve asked my friends the same, the answer is equal.
- Bands like to release new material live. This is the only bad thing I can think of that will harm musicians. If an artist wants to release a new single live, it would be a pain to see that the single is everywhere the minute after they play it. Yes, we live in a modern era, but I think that this makes the surprise of hearing the new song live or when it’s released in high quality more enjoyable. Call me old fashioned if you will.
In the end, I think the best thing to do is to enjoy the show. Nowadays we have all sorts of distractions. Such as notifications, the news, politicians messing around, climate change… so on and so forth. When you go to a gig the best thing to do is taking full attention to the show itself. Believe me, it’s hard for me, my friends tell me every time I go to a gig. And why you didn’t upload anything on your Instagram/Facebook story? Having a blog about music makes this harder to achieve.
I have to say that sometimes artists take it to damn seriously, too much I would say. The famous case of Corey Taylor hitting the phone of a guy that was all over the web recently. There are some cases when phones are needed. For example, if that guy was just texting his wife asking for his daughter for example. What is the big deal of it? For me, phones should be banned only for shooting photos/videos. If you think that is not possible, a couple of years ago Apple won a patent that prohibits phones to do just that! Maybe in the near future that would be a thing.
https://www.theguardian.com/music/2016/jun/30/apple-wins-patent-on-technology-to-stop-fans-filming-gigs