Please excuse my rant, but this has been bugging me lately.
I go to more shows than most, and fewer shows than other people, and the vast majority of my fellow concert goers are pretty great. However, the one thing that I never understand is peoples uncontrollable urge to whip out their phone in the middle of a show. Maybe it's the shows I go to, but these aren't kids who have never known life without a phone - a lot of the time it's the 55 and up crowd.
It's super distracting. It's like whipping out a flashlight or an alarm clock and pointing it backwards at the people behind you. The other night at the Beacon a woman three rows in front of me was on her phone the whole night, at one point looking up the set list on JamBase. Can't that wait? Sure, music is auditory first, this isn't the movies, but seriously, take a phone break.
But the worst are the people who decide they need to film the whole show with their camera phone. Never mind that even the best camera phone cannot properly record concert audio, but you just obscured a fellow concert goer's view and enjoyment so you could share poor quality footage and audio with someone the next day online who can probably find a properly recorded audio file of the same show. Leave the taping to the professionals, people - yours generally sucks worse than the other 100 a-holes who are trying to capture the same shaky cam, crackly audio moment.
Just put the phone down and enjoy the show, enjoy the moment through your own eyes rather than a 5 inch screen, so everyone around you can also enjoy the show.
Ok, END: rant
The phone people are annoying, sometimes they get some ok youtubes. The worst for me is the yappers..,
Yeah, concert talkers are no doubt the worst. At least with phone folks, you can close your eyes and drown them out. There's no way to ignore constant talkers, though most people I've ever asked to chill the chatter have obliged - most don't realize how loud they actually are. If they are talking about the show, that's one thing, if they are catching up on work gossip, GTFO.
I'm pretty tolerant, I understand some chatter and a quick photo here and there, it's not Catholic Mass, but just enjoy the moment - the phone vid can't capture what your ears and mind experienced.
Humans always have sought out ways to be annoying.
Fond reminisces of past concert annoyances:
Inflatable beach balls hitting the back of your head.
Glowing objects held aloft and swung around in cool motions.
Bic lighter fests
Devil horn hands held high and powerful
Remember the sea of flashbulbs?
Group patchouli scent?
The time honored group sing along by non singers, actually inspired by the artist
Been scary sheet since Kingdom Come it just has went digital, not sure the old analog versions were any better 
I couldn't agree more. I also noticed, having recently gotten back into baseball, the same is true for people attending games. Doesn't make very much sense considering the costs for entertainment not matter what the setting.
My chatty friend and I captured some sick video of Luther Dickenson tearing up some IMOER last night at the Beacon. WOAH! 😛
Seriously, great show last night. They tore it down!
Can't talk at baseball???
My chatty friend and I captured some sick video of Luther Dickenson tearing up some IMOER last night at the Beacon. WOAH! 😛
Seriously, great show last night. They tore it down!
Ha, actually, I saw some really awful unlistenable video of last night's TTB "Liz Reed" from the front row on JamBase and it's what made me start this thread.
My chatty friend and I captured some sick video of Luther Dickenson tearing up some IMOER last night at the Beacon. WOAH! 😛
Seriously, great show last night. They tore it down!
Ha, actually, I saw some really awful unlistenable video of last night's TTB "Liz Reed" from the front row on JamBase and it's what made me start this thread.
That's funny! Most concert video is in fact garbage... especially front row. Too much dancing and having fun. Don't get me started on concert dancers! Who the hell do they think they are!?!? 😉
My chatty friend and I captured some sick video of Luther Dickenson tearing up some IMOER last night at the Beacon. WOAH! 😛
Seriously, great show last night. They tore it down!
Ha, actually, I saw some really awful unlistenable video of last night's TTB "Liz Reed" from the front row on JamBase and it's what made me start this thread.
That's funny! Most concert video is in fact garbage... especially front row. Too much dancing and having fun. Don't get me started on concert dancers! Who the hell do they think they are!?!? 😉
Totally, I'd way rather see people dancing and having fun - can't complain about that! Put the phone down and enjoy the show
I concur Bob, cellphones held up recording are damned distracting. Can you imagine what it looks like from the other side - from the stage. We have read of artists shutting down their performances when folks wouldn't stop using their cellphones when told to. I think Neil Young and also Jack White have done it.
On the flipside I have had fans emphatically ask myself and my friends to refrain from cheering between songs at concerts - we were annoying them.
Humans always have sought out ways to be annoying.
Fond reminisces of past concert annoyances:
Inflatable beach balls hitting the back of your head.
Glowing objects held aloft and swung around in cool motions.
Bic lighter fests
Devil horn hands held high and powerful
Remember the sea of flashbulbs?
Group patchouli scent?
The time honored group sing along by non singers, actually inspired by the artist
Been scary sheet since Kingdom Come it just has went digital, not sure the old analog versions were any better
I agree with Bob and always hope people will be polite and just listen to the music.Over the years,As Tony says,it was always something albeit tech problems are a modern phenomenon.
Here are a few of the wild things I've seen since going to shows starting in 1973:
People standing on their chairs through an entire show while drinking major amounts of southern comfort,eventually falling down.
People fighting with dancers,dancers fighting one another.
People urinating in their seats at the Beacon.
People attempting sex in their seats at the Beacon-we suggested they use a bathroom....they said ok and left!
People injecting drugs.
People throwing up at their seats,on one another,or on random others.
People talking about very very personal issues,loudly.
I can go on...but you get it...Phones,talking all suck...but get the dancers vs. non dancers thing going and watch the arguments rage! These days I pick my shows carefully and rarely get disappointed since I have realistic expectations.
Have fun out there music fans...there's always the couch tours 
but get the dancers vs. non dancers thing going and watch the arguments rage!
Precisely to what I was referring earlier... Hysterical 😛
left out Roosevelt Stadium in the 70's...had all of the above, & then some...the fires were a highlight along with the junkie bullpen & the extreme violence and the many ambulances taking bodies out at the entrance...loved those shows 😮 😛
May I add; Just put the phone down and drive as well! I must admit that I have enjoyed many many youtube videos from concerts i was unable to attend....ones that may have irked concert goers as well....i think unless the venue clamps down on this behavior it's just another example of progress compromising quality of life in a way....I don't see people becoming kinder to each other these days and just putting the phones down and saying I am sorry to bother you....people are screaming on them in stores, on public transportation and anywhere they feel like it....I.M.H.O it's getting worse
yeah man, it was a lot crazier a long time ago, someone with a phone wouldn't even have been noticed, other than, whoooaaa faar out blue light thingie maaaannnn . . .
Something that drove me crazy was people clapping along en masse to a quiet acoustic tune, throwing the rhythm of the band off completely. Just enjoy "Needle and the Damage Done" we don't need a Nuremberg Nazi Rally of off tempo clapping to prove to Neil we like the song. He knows we like the song, that's why he is playing it.
The phone thing doesn't bother me that much. I don't find it distracting, but I also don't understand why people are either posting every second of their life on social media or looking at the show right in front of them in the smallest screen possible.
What does bother me:
1. Concert talkers... The people who are there for the concert to be the background music for their own personal event. It's usually a group of younger people (I'm 40) who get together and use the music as background noise for them catching up on today's events
B. Look at me... Let me see if I can explain this. People who are dancing are fine. No problem if you are there enjoying yourself and the music. However the people who are obviously dancing while looking around to make sure others are seeing them dance need to go away. These are the ones paying no attention to the music, just their group of friends and wanting to be seen. You can also add the selfie taking groups into this as well. Take your one picture, you don't need 20 selfies in front of the stage.
May I add; Just put the phone down and drive as well! I must admit that I have enjoyed many many youtube videos from concerts i was unable to attend....ones that may have irked concert goers as well....i think unless the venue clamps down on this behavior it's just another example of progress compromising quality of life in a way....I don't see people becoming kinder to each other these days and just putting the phones down and saying I am sorry to bother you....people are screaming on them in stores, on public transportation and anywhere they feel like it....I.M.H.O it's getting worse
Just put the phone down in general and live life and look out for your fellow man. Apparently I'm an old 40. I just don't get the desire to be on the phone 24/7. Put the phone down and drive, keep yourself and everyone else safe. Learn to treat others in person like human beings instead of how you treat strangers online. I think the ability to just let anything rip to random strangers online is causing people just to have lower value for others in person. We are becoming a society of one where everyone is the center of their own world.
As Dennis Miller said "never in history have lives less lived been more documented."
However the people who are obviously dancing while looking around to make sure others are seeing them dance need to go away.
Hahaha - for sure . . . 'twas ever thus:
"The youth of America today is so wonderful . . . And I'm proud to be a part of this gigantic mass reception. I hope she sees me twirling, yes . . . I hope she sees me dancing and twirling . . ."
- Frank Zappa, Flower Punk
Just went to a show with a friend who put down a few too many and who became 'that guy', dishing up some heckle for the opening act, kept talking/wouldn't shut up during the show, almost had to drag him out, but unfortunately he annoyingly calmed down just enough to KEEP GOING for 2 hours. Jesus. And the worst part, he was singing along. I promise nobody paid for a ticket to that show to hear him rather than the artist, name and venue deleted to protect the innocent.
It really stunk, it's been decades since I had to show-babysit.
Next day he calls me to tell me what a great time he had, then he hangs up.
Won't go to another with him, I told my wife she can't miss another
[Edited on 10/7/2016 by WaitinForRain]
Please excuse my rant, but this has been bugging me lately.
I go to more shows than most, and fewer shows than other people, and the vast majority of my fellow concert goers are pretty great. However, the one thing that I never understand is peoples uncontrollable urge to whip out their phone in the middle of a show. Maybe it's the shows I go to, but these aren't kids who have never known life without a phone - a lot of the time it's the 55 and up crowd.
It's super distracting. It's like whipping out a flashlight or an alarm clock and pointing it backwards at the people behind you. The other night at the Beacon a woman three rows in front of me was on her phone the whole night, at one point looking up the set list on JamBase. Can't that wait? Sure, music is auditory first, this isn't the movies, but seriously, take a phone break.
But the worst are the people who decide they need to film the whole show with their camera phone. Never mind that even the best camera phone cannot properly record concert audio, but you just obscured a fellow concert goer's view and enjoyment so you could share poor quality footage and audio with someone the next day online who can probably find a properly recorded audio file of the same show. Leave the taping to the professionals, people - yours generally sucks worse than the other 100 a-holes who are trying to capture the same shaky cam, crackly audio moment.
Just put the phone down and enjoy the show, enjoy the moment through your own eyes rather than a 5 inch screen, so everyone around you can also enjoy the show.
Ok, END: rant
I hear ya man. I don't even own a smart phone and really do not want one either.
I was at a red-light the other day and a person was in front of me. Turned green, they sat there not moving. I knew instantly they were on their phone .So I waited a few seconds for them to look up and go , still not moving. I laid on my horn obnoxiously long they looked up and finally went and they put down there window and told me I was number one! 😛 😉 What did I do wrong? I just laughed.
Its the times we live in man.
Everyone has a plan, till you get punched in the face,
May I add; Just put the phone down and drive as well! I must admit that I have enjoyed many many youtube videos from concerts i was unable to attend....ones that may have irked concert goers as well....i think unless the venue clamps down on this behavior it's just another example of progress compromising quality of life in a way....I don't see people becoming kinder to each other these days and just putting the phones down and saying I am sorry to bother you....people are screaming on them in stores, on public transportation and anywhere they feel like it....I.M.H.O it's getting worse
Just put the phone down in general and live life and look out for your fellow man. Apparently I'm an old 40. I just don't get the desire to be on the phone 24/7. Put the phone down and drive, keep yourself and everyone else safe. Learn to treat others in person like human beings instead of how you treat strangers online. I think the ability to just let anything rip to random strangers online is causing people just to have lower value for others in person. We are becoming a society of one where everyone is the center of their own world.
As Dennis Miller said "never in history have lives less lived been more documented."
Amen to that! I don't even own a smart phone. Only a dumb phone with minimal gadgets and only a few people who have my number. And that Dennis Miller quote......wow! How true!
