The issue of Phone camera's and other issues in concert

[StephUK]

I have to say, I've never heard (or seen in writing) anyone leaving an Eagles concert saying the last line! People might be torqued at the rules, but they generally never say they'd never go to another of their concerts. Of course, the 140 character limit on tweets may have something to do with that!

I mentioned in the second Auckland review thread that those in Australia hadn't tweeted much after concerts. I neglected to mention that those who did tended to mention the lack of using phones and nearly always as a good thing. Of the tweets I saw, I'd say over 2/3 were supportive of it, compared to the ones that complained.

I don't think the last line was meant to be a direct reference to the Eagles. Maybe you need to be British to understand it!

[VAisForEagleLovers]

I thought of the Eagles' policy on phones when I saw this on Facebook:

[Brooke]

Love it! And noting how some people are always on their phones.....

[MaryCalifornia]

Now guess which band said "no cell phones or photos" at their (intimate) show last night? Yep, the Rolling Stones. It's catching on!!!

http://www.latimes.com/entertainment...=outfit&page=1

[Glennsallnighter]

Now, I was at Taylor Swift the other night. We had excellent seats, a few rows from centre and to the side. At the start of the gig Taylor told everybody 'Don't mind what those security guys say about staying in your seats. Stand up and dance and do what you like'. So everyone did. The guy in front of us put his child standing on the seat beside him. This kid was tall enough and completely blocked Lauras view. It was also dangerous as those seats fold up automatically. Laura had been asked to take down her sign (They all bring signs to Taylor Swift concerts) as it 'could block someone'. So she asked me to say something to the security guard. He had every sympathy for her but said he could do nothing as 'she' (TS) had told the audience to do what they wanted.

In the end he upgraded us to a centre front enclosure section, where we were in the front and Laura had a great view.

But that is the other side of allowing people to stand up and dance for the whole show.

[WalshFan88]

Sebastian Bach, formerly of Skid Row wants venues to adopt a phone ban:

http://classicrock.teamrock.com/news...-phones-policy

Baz, really?! A rock concert is NOT a movie, a musical or broadway show. It's freaking rock n' roll.

I've talked a lot about how amazing social media has been for concertgoers to interact and encourage others to go to shows. And how the artist can use it to great extent to involve their fans, interact in ways never possible before.

No instead, he wants us to sit in our seat and eat popcorn (exaggerating a bit, but to get the point across). That's not rock n' roll.

Sometimes these aging rockers say things that make me facepalm.

It's one thing if it's affecting others, but if you find a way that it doesn't, who is someone to tell you what to do at a rock concert. I mean COME ON! You paid your ticket, your seat is your own. Again, I draw the line at affecting others. But if you want to sit in your seat and text all night (which I'm not advocating or saying I would do), that's your business if you can make it happen without affecting others.

Maybe Sebastian needs to get back to making music and not trying to show his age. You don't have to embrace it with arms wide open, but let your fans be themselves and do what they want to do. They are paying to see you, afterall. If they want to take pics or send a text, let them. Otherwise you just look foolish.

ETA: I realize some artists have trouble with flash and some like Ryan Adams have an eye problem that makes phone light painful and I'm totally cool with that and respect it and would never use one that would affect that. It's different when you are just a jaded has been rockstar who likes to complain about the way it used to be as compared to now.

[VAisForEagleLovers]

Don't forget the copyright issue, WF88. Not everyone wants to give their work away for free, and just because 'everyone does it' doesn't make it right. Some people think there are more important things than 'looking cool' and 'being with it'. Sometimes, there's a moral integrity that someone has to stand up for. People are not entitled to see concerts for free, nor are they entitled to provide them for others to see.

It is distracting and to more than just the artist. Plus, there is no way for someone under six feet tall to film a concert from five rows back or further without blocking the view of someone unless possibly they're in an aisle seat, and even then that would stop around row 10. It's distracting for the people who paid good money and it's distracting for the artists to see people with devices in front of their faces, or others bobbing and weaving to see around them. Even if they're not held up high into the air, it's a lighted moving picture that is distracting. Plus, it's a disservice to those who care about their music to have others see it on social media and have crappy sound and an out of focus picture represent their work. There are those who say people watching the vids know better and realize it was better in person, but that's just not true, I've heard too many say otherwise.

All I can say is that when I was 20 years old, I scraped and saved in order to go to big name concerts on a regular basis. My husband and I had to work a lot of overtime to afford it, and we did without other things. There were black market concert tapes available, but back then, it was considered wrong to watch them or buy them. The laws haven't changed.

People are conditioned to look where others are looking. You've all heard of the experiments people have done, send one person to a crowded intersection, have them stand there and look up. Even as people rush by them, perhaps annoyed they're in the way, they look up to see what the person is looking at. It's the same with people having their heads in their phones. The person next to you has their phone out and reading something, during a concert or wherever, you are going to look at it at least peripherally. Even if you don't, you have to force yourself to ignore it, and the part of your brain telling you to ignore it is distracted.

Go to the Caption This thread and look at the last picture that AG posted. How many of us looked at that picture and were distracted away from Ringo celebrating by the fact Joe had his head in his phone and was missing the moment? I know I was.

[WalshFan88]

I was mostly referring to just pictures and using the phone normally.

The recording video and youtube thing is another can of worms, much like spotify.

But I do think people have a right to take photos and text during concerts and such.

I just went and looked at the Caption This. To me that is normal nowadays that people are really involved in their phones and are constantly checking notifications, responding to things, posting pictures, etc. I think that's ok. Some people now have rules about a phone pile at the dinner table at a restaurant and the first one to grab theirs pays for the dinner. I would definitely be paying lol. But I would try to not be in that situation.

There's no doubt people are missing out, but I think that's their choice to make.

Again, the sticky subjects are when it involves others experience and the royalties/copyrights/content. That's another ball of wax.

[WalshFan88]

LOL....

If you look hard enough at the second picture, you might see me.

[VAisForEagleLovers]

I was mostly referring to just pictures and using the phone normally.

The recording video and youtube thing is another can of worms, much like spotify.

But I do think people have a right to take photos and text during concerts and such.

I just went and looked at the Caption This. To me that is normal nowadays that people are really involved in their phones and are constantly checking notifications, responding to things, posting pictures, etc. I think that's ok. Some people now have rules about a phone pile at the dinner table at a restaurant and the first one to grab theirs pays for the dinner. I would definitely be paying lol. But I would try to not be in that situation.

There's no doubt people are missing out, but I think that's their choice to make.

Again, the sticky subjects are when it involves others experience and the royalties/copyrights/content. That's another ball of wax.

I get the whole checking notifications thing, and before cell phones were totally outlawed, I did check hockey scores between songs. Not looking them up on an app, just reading the notification. Because of course my Pens don't have the first idea of how to play the game unless I'm screaming instructions to the TV, but I digress. Unfortunately, I've sat beside people at concerts who texted, were on Facebook, and Twitter the entire time. Having that slightly moving glow out of the corner of my eye was annoying.

Earlier tonight as well as Monday night, I saw tweets from people asking their friends what songs they should Periscope live from the Eagles concerts. In both cases, I did reply and let them know that wasn't an option. Ha, one of them now follows me because we've bonded over the Eagles apparently. In both cases there were comments by people for specific songs they like and a few made comments that they don't have the money to see concerts.