How many times have you recorded videos of a concert just for them to collect dust in your camera roll? Personally, I know I never watch thoes videos again. So here’s my proposal, no phones at concerts. One thing I love so much about live music is the sense of community in the crowd. We all love the same music and we’re all having a collective experience together. But I hate when all I see in the crowd is phones. I want to dance and live in the moment. I want to have the memories of how I was feeling in the moment not watching through my phone screen. I make a point to only pull my phone out during my favorite songs and I record snippets of those. I love concerts and the feeling in the air at live music but I can’t help but think it would be better without cellphones. I think of some of my favorite artists from the 70s like Fleetwood Mac, Bee Gees, and Steely Dan, and what their concerts would be like in their prime.
Imagine being the artist on the stage wanting to also have that connection with the audience and instead just staring at the back of phones. At a 2013 concert in Minneapolis, The Lunineers stopped a performance of the song “Ho Hey” to tell fans to stop recording. They told the crowd to put their phones away and “be present.” Since then, The Lumineers have required fans to place their respective phones in secure bags during performances. They aren’t the only artists that do that though. Bob Dylan and Coldplay also have similar rules. Whether they are just asking fans to put their phones away or have them locked up before the show even starts. Notably, Silk Sonic’s residency in Vegas was completely phone-free because audience members had to lock their phones in small pouches for the evening, courtesy of a company named Yondr. Mitski also famously doesn’t like the thought of phones at her shows. “When I’m on stage and look to you but you are gazing into a screen,” she wrote, “it makes me feel as though those of us on stage are being taken from and consumed as content, instead of getting to share a moment with you.”
“I think you’re surrendering your own memory to a very imperfect medium (when you use phones).”
Jeff Tweedy, lead singer of Wilco
There is also nothing more awkward than accidentally being in the background of someone else’s video. Me and my friends would often joke at music festivals that we were probably in so many people’s pictures and videos. Take the pictures for the memories then put the phone away. Just live in the moment with the people around you. Sing without worrying about your voice being in the background of the video and dance without worrying about shakey camera quality. Absorb what is happening around you. Concerts are way too expensive now to have any regrets when you leave. There is so much more energy in the crowd when people aren’t focused on their phones. So maybe at your next show try it out, put the phone in your pocket be grateful for the experience you are sharing with the people around you.