FEATURE:
Not Black and White
PHOTO CREDIT: @dannyhowe/Unsplash
Should Phones Be Allowed at Gigs?
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IT is not a clear-cut argument…
PHOTO CREDIT: Paul Hanaoka/Unsplash
when it comes to the issue of phones at gigs. I can understand how people want to record gigs for posterity. It is all well and good saying that and making that argument, but I wonder why people need to get the audio in such bad quality! Photos can document gigs and you get a record of actually being there. The footage you see shared online at gigs is so terrible, I wonder if it does actually serve any benefit or provoke memories and fond recollection! Surely something so lo-fi and hard-to-hear is not really useful or will serve as any impressive and evocative record of a gig years from now. Because of that, I wonder whether phones should be banned at gigs. They can be taken in for emergencies, but no filming allowed perhaps. Watching the gig and providing your full focus will surely deliver a much more rewarding, tangible, and real experience. If you are distracted filming a show and not focusing on the act, then this means you are missing out. Some artists do have a no-phones policy at their gigs. One such artist is Jack White. As this recent NME feature details, he made sure the phones were safe and secure. But nobody could take them in. Whilst many might bridle, a lot seemed to prefer the fact they were not distracted:
“But having survived the show, I have to attest that Jack White has a point. We’re all sick to death of having the person in front of us at a gig decide to film the best bits from overhead or stream the whole show to their dog. It’s not just a distraction and annoyance for us – it’s a waste of a great in-person live music experience for them too.
The pouches themselves opened at the touch of a magnetic button on the way out, so venues could quite easily pepper them along exit routes to let people release their precious zombie boxes themselves, then drop the pouch in the buckets provided – because who the hell wants to steal a straitjacket for a mobile phone (unless you’re planning an intervention on Darren Grimes)? In a world where mankind has realised the impossible dreams of space travel and Deliveroo wine, it must surely be possible to concoct a machine that releases everybody’s phones remotely as the houselights go up, too. Although that might lead to innumerable injuries as people fail to notice all those flying drumsticks.
The entire live experience might be improved, too, if bands feel that they can treat us to previews of new albums without the unreleased songs getting splashed all over social media within minutes. The benefits for improved connection between band and fan could be immense, and they could even make pouches that light up whenever they recognise a ballad starting. Imagine what Coldplay could do with these fuckers.
Whether they’re taken up by the wider music world remains to be seen, but the possibility of phone-free gigs is finally, realistically upon us. And from personal experience, I can tell you – when the screens go dark, the whole room lights up”.
People survived perfectly fine before smartphones. They were able to go to gigs and simply enjoy them. Technology allows us to photograph and record live music, but I can’t see any real advantage of it. Even if it is a once-in-a-lifetime occasion like seeing Paul McCartney at Glastonbury for instance, you do get a feeling that when that person watches the video back months from now, they will either delete it or bemoan its poor sound quality. Actually watching live music and being immersed in the togetherness and connectivity seems to be much richer and more worthwhile. I am not sure why people feel the need to video everything instead of putting their phones down. People video tragedies, accidents, and arguments rather than intervening. It is almost ghoulish and desperate how dependant and glued to phones people are. I feel it is ruining the live music experience. Many would say that each person is entitled to their own take and rules. I have seen on social media many artists thank fans who share videos of gigs. If they are happy and the people seeing the music are too, then is there any real issue? I guess it all comes down to whether the artists want their fans to have phones. One should not be in a position to feel like they are entitled to video gigs. If someone like Jack White wants his audience to be in the moment and watch a gig with their own eyes, then that sounds fair enough to me. It might be more common that we see gigs phone-free. Some would complain about that, but I feel it would not cause too many problems and would return us to a time when people were not distracted or felt the need to look at live music through a phone. It is a debate and question that will rumble and be asked as more artists ask people to put away their phones. I can see advantages for having phones at gigs but, more and more, the idea of leaving them at the front door and simply being at a gig…
PHOTO CREDIT: @hannynaibaho/Unsplash
SEEMS very sensible.