Listen: How About Phone Etiquette at Concerts

Festival season is dawning and many headline acts are also taking to sold-out indoor arenas across the country. These huge gigs are as expensive as they are amazing, with ageing bands making final tours that could be the last chance for some fans to see their favourite musicians. High-profile talents and extortionate ticket prices mean everyone wants to make the most of the experience – an ambition that is smashed when someone in front of you raises their phone to take photographs and film clips.

This is not a  call for an absolute ban on phones. Many venues try to restrict phone use, and acts such as the Eagles and Rammstein have often asked fans to show some restraint and just enjoy the show. Some venues are trialling a system in which security staff put attendees’ phones into cases developed by Yondr which lock the phone up, so the owner can keep hold of their phones without being able to use them. An iOS camera app called Kimd dims phone screens and disables flash to avoid distracting other people but that doesn’t solve the problem of having a phone waved in front of you.

If you pay high ticket prices you are entitled to take some personal memories away with you. Where is the line between capturing personal memories to bury on icloud and ruining the experience for everyone around you?

Keep it Low

If you raise your phone above the audience for a clear view you will block out several rows behind you with your arms and thrust your elbows and armpits at the people either side of you.

If you can see the band you can just take a photo from your eye line without affecting anyone behind you.

Remember to bend your elbows but don’t lift your shoulders, as if you were taking a close-up selfie.

Be Quick

Photos are fine. If you see a clear shot then bring your phone up, take the photograph and put the phone back in your pocket. This is not just respectful but also means a sudden movement in the crowd won’t make you drop your phone. Hovering with your camera ready is distracting to those around you.

What about focusing the camera? Most smartphones will do this automatically but if you need longer to get a perfect picture then stop as soon as you have a good result.

Film clips are controversial since nothing captures the spirit of a gig like the sound and action recorded from where you stand. But recording a whole song is a step too far and when you share it on social media no one is really going to view the whole thing, least of all you.

Capture just the chorus or a dramatic finale to reduce your impact on other people while still getting the prime sample that represents the whole gig.

No Shit Phones

If your phone can only produce a pixelated blur from the front of the audience then just don’t bother. All you are doing is getting proof you were there rather than a nice image.

There will be enough banners to take a selfie against before or after the gig rather than getting in people’s way to take a photo that looks like it came from Twitter.

 

No iPads

Imagine the annoyance of a phone and multiply it by 20. Even if you keep it low this gadget spans more than even your thick head and forces anyone behind you to watch the show through a screen.

 

 

YouTube

Have you ever considered the fact that 20,000 people are all recording the same bit of a performance which has been repeated hundreds of times? That is a lot of videos of the same content, usually captured in crap quality.

If you really want to relive a particular moment you will probably find it on YouTube. Of course that means at least a few people have to film the performance but a die-hard fan in the front row will get better clips than the thousands further back. And it is very likely there will have been a professional videographer at some point in the tour with a good camera.

Who Cares?

Like all social media the governing principle of posting gigs is narcissism. “Look at me in an expensive sold-out gig close(ish) to the front with an epic band.” The truth is that no one will watch that rubbish footage of a band only you like. If they cared that much they would either have gone themselves or found better footage on YouTube.

Enjoy the gig

It may seem obvious but a good indicator of how many photos to take is the amount of fun you want to have. If you spend the show checking the focus and poised for a perfect shot then you’re not in the spirit of the concert.

Take a few shots at the dramatic entry when everyone else does then put your phone away and you will enjoy the whole experience a lot more.

You aren’t really going to look back at your photos anyway so take about five, then relax and enjoy.

What to do vs what not to do

Kiss is the perfect example of a band so iconic that everyone wanted to capture the triumphant finale to their tour “Kisstory” at London’s O2 Arena on May 31. This video demonstrates both the respectful way to capture a short clip from eye level and the impact on other people when a fan raised his phone during the hit encore “I Was Made for Loving You”.

 

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by Stewart Vickers @VickHellfire

The post Listen: How About Phone Etiquette at Concerts appeared first on Felix Magazine.