Like many of us that remember the days when we could watch a concert without people filming it on their phones, it feels like a time of nostalgia (for me anyway). However today I read an article about a concert by Skepta that made me genuinely sit up and think, "This could be revoutionary".

Concert-goers get given a pouch when they enter the concert, which the phone is locked in (but kept with the owner), and upon exit the phone is unlocked and the concert-goer gets their phone back. I guess there is potential for these things to be used in schools, nightclubs and many other places. Apologies if these are already widely used elsewhere, but this was the first I'd heard of them, and it excited me. So what says you? Are these the future for concerts?

You have to put your phone in something like that when you go to Paisley Park, but they keep your phone until you leave.

As far as this goes, I love it! We went to the Apollo 11 50th Anniversary concert last night. It was outdoors and there were tens of thousands of people there. And of course there were tall people in front of us, which we could deal with, but when they put their phones up, even at 6'1" my view was completely blocked.

So something like this would be AWESOME. But honestly - I wonder if Millenials/Gen Z parents of young kids will be able to do without their phones for 2 or 3 hours?

RodeoSchro said:

You have to put your phone in something like that when you go to Paisley Park, but they keep your phone until you leave.

As far as this goes, I love it! We went to the Apollo 11 50th Anniversary concert last night. It was outdoors and there were tens of thousands of people there. And of course there were tall people in front of us, which we could deal with, but when they put their phones up, even at 6'1" my view was completely blocked.

So something like this would be AWESOME. But honestly - I wonder if Millenials/Gen Z parents of young kids will be able to do without their phones for 2 or 3 hours?

In the news article it says they (youngsters who attended the concert) found it really wierd at first, but by the end of the night they loved it. Prince would have loved something like this for his concerts.

It's a total shame when you pay good money for a concert and can't see, even worse when you're watching through someone else's screen. I'm only 5'4 so it's been a problem all my life for me (they invented heels for a reason, but I'm getting where I like my comfy flats nowadays ). Anyway hope the concert was good, even if you couldn't see.

maplenpg said:

RodeoSchro said:

You have to put your phone in something like that when you go to Paisley Park, but they keep your phone until you leave.

As far as this goes, I love it! We went to the Apollo 11 50th Anniversary concert last night. It was outdoors and there were tens of thousands of people there. And of course there were tall people in front of us, which we could deal with, but when they put their phones up, even at 6'1" my view was completely blocked.

So something like this would be AWESOME. But honestly - I wonder if Millenials/Gen Z parents of young kids will be able to do without their phones for 2 or 3 hours?

In the news article it says they (youngsters who attended the concert) found it really wierd at first, but by the end of the night they loved it. Prince would have loved something like this for his concerts.

It's a total shame when you pay good money for a concert and can't see, even worse when you're watching through someone else's screen. I'm only 5'4 so it's been a problem all my life for me (they invented heels for a reason, but I'm getting where I like my comfy flats nowadays ). Anyway hope the concert was good, even if you couldn't see.

The best thing about it was that the concert celebrated man walking on the moon, and it featured a band called Walk on the Moon.

Their music is very bland and I'm sure it's by design. They did a cover of Talking Heads' "Buring Down the House" and it was very, very good. But all their own stuff is so over-produced as to be yawn-inducing. If I had a dollar for every time the other band members had to say "Oh oooh ooh" or "HEY!"...

One of their songs contains the catchphrase, "Shall we get intimate again?" over and over. All I could think of was Prince's "Let's Pretend We're Married" and weep for this generation.

People at concerts filming the show on their phone instead of just enjoying the show ... one of my pet hates.

I want to go up to each one of them and ask when will they ever watch back the shaky footage with p*ss poor sound? Honestly, what's the point? ...

Jack White has been using this method to prevent rampant filming and photographing at his shows for awhile now. If you attend one of his shows and want to promote it on social media, he says you are free to repost images taken that night by his authorized photographer.

sexton said:

Jack White has been using this method to prevent rampant filming and photographing at his shows for awhile now. If you attend one of his shows and want to promote it on social media, he says you are free to repost images taken that night by his authorized photographer.

I've always thought artists should upload the house's video/audio feeds (for those houses that have them) and make it available for purchase as soon after the show as possible.

You could just upload the unedited feed, or you could fiddle with it and add titles, chapters, etc. But get it out there and charge for purchase. Or, ala Prince, build in $5 or so into every ticket and give ticket holders the access to it.

But Rodeo! People will upload that to the internets!!!!

So what? They're doing that now from their phones. At least this way, the artist can make a little more money, or even in the case of major tours, a lot more money.

.

[Edited 7/22/19 12:09pm]

People at concerts filming the show on their phone instead of just enjoying the show ... one of my pet hates.

I am bothered by this as well as any big moment in life where it seems everyone tries to get their phone at the right angle rather than just fully enjoying the moment.I don't get upset with a particular individual doing that but with the cultural trend.

Good ridance concert videographers!

Oh yeah...bringing back the lighter for the slow songs...

S2DG said:

Good ridance concert videographers!

Oh yeah...bringing back the lighter for the slow songs...

I agree.

sexton said:

Jack White has been using this method to prevent rampant filming and photographing at his shows for awhile now. If you attend one of his shows and want to promote it on social media, he says you are free to repost images taken that night by his authorized photographer.

Thanks for this. I would have been surprised if the UK was the first to use it. I like the idea of only using official photos.

RodeoSchro said:

sexton said:

Jack White has been using this method to prevent rampant filming and photographing at his shows for awhile now. If you attend one of his shows and want to promote it on social media, he says you are free to repost images taken that night by his authorized photographer.

I've always thought artists should upload the house's video/audio feeds (for those houses that have them) and make it available for purchase as soon after the show as possible.

You could just upload the unedited feed, or you could fiddle with it and add titles, chapters, etc. But get it out there and charge for purchase. Or, ala Prince, build in $5 or so into every ticket and give ticket holders the access to it.

But Rodeo! People will upload that to the internets!!!!

So what? They're doing that now from their phones. At least this way, the artist can make a little more money, or even in the case of major tours, a lot more money.

.

[Edited 7/22/19 12:09pm]

Agreed.

PeggyO said:

S2DG said:

Good ridance concert videographers!

Oh yeah...bringing back the lighter for the slow songs...

I agree.

My thumb used to hurt by the end of the night with lighters. I'm not sure I every really perfected using them (of course, I'm blaming the lighter, not my own stupidity)

Ban em.

Chris Rock used this system during his Blackout tour. It worked fine. It was known beforehand that this system would be used, so many people didn't even bring a phone. There were parts of the hallway roped off where you could use your phone, supervised by staff. I am all for it, it was a much better experience without those irritating phones in the air all around you.

During Prince's last concerts in Atlanta, knowing how he felt about pictures and phones, etc., I left my cell phone in the car during the 7 PM show. But then I saw people taking pictures of the venue (absolutely beautiful venue) and they were able to take pictures of the piano on stage prior to the start of the concert, so I brought my phone in for the 10 PM show, took pics of the venue, the piano, but then put it away when Prince came on stage.








End of concert:



Pictures of the Venue:

I saw Natalie Merchant a year or so ago and she did this marvelous routine where she simply approaches the concertgoer and snatches their phone out of their hand before setting them in a pile on the stage. It seems she has been doing this for years, here is an NPR quote from 2014:

.

"Merchant did lose patience with cellphones, however, as she confiscated multiple phones (even getting help from Dye) between “Texas” and Ophelia’s “Kind & Generous,” an apt ending for Big Day Out. Asking why it could not still be 1998, when people did not feel the need to be on phones and take pictures all the time, she took a stance rarely taken by performers at a show. And the crowd seemed to be fine with it, as they were joyously partaking in the familiarity of an old tune."

.

It was really cute to watch her sway around dancing while she would single the people out and just grab the phone out of their hand.

StrangeButTrue said:

one could easily buy one of those video cams that u can put on a hat and conceivably shoot whole damn thing

jfenster said:

one could easily buy one of those video cams that u can put on a hat and conceivably shoot whole damn thing

How would you get your hat past security?