Should music fans stop filming gigs on their smartphones?

[Jazzy]

As fans filed into Webster Hall in New York City last week, a note from indie rock band the Yeah Yeah Yeahs wasted no syllables in laying down the law.

Please do not watch the show through a screen on your smart device/camera, it said, along with some stronger words unrepeatable here.

During the gig, vocalist Karen O repeated the request, telling fans to take a picture right at that moment - but to then keep devices hidden for the good of those around them.

On the web, news of the band's defiance against the march of the amateur filmmaker spread - and was met with whoops of delight from many music fans fed up with seeing mobiles thrust into their line of sight at every public event.

Many of them longed for the days when the only thing illuminating the crowd at a packed gig would be a sea of cigarette lighters, held aloft during the more tender moments - and not, as is now more often the case, the glow of the mobile phone.

I would never turn on a cell phone at any musical event, wrote Roger Waters, former bassist and vocalist for Pink Floyd.

It would seem to me to show a lack of respect to and care for fellow concert goers, or for that matter the artist.

Apart from anything else, how could I possibly truly experience the thing I'd paid to see and hear, if I was fiddling with an iPhone, filming or twittering or chatting or whatever?

Full article with video

Do you think music fans should be banned from using their smartphones at gigs? Why or why not?

 

[Crusader]

I'm split. I like to record the odd video and take some photos to remember the occasion but you are going to enjoy it more if you don't. People that take their iPads or other tablets to gigs are morons. Double the morons when they use them to take photos, record videos with.

 

[Evil Eye]

If the band has a problem with it, yes, they should be banned.
Otherwise, I guess it's fine.

 

[Raven]

Don't really see the problem for the odd songs. I've done it before, but the sound is crap and the picture sometimes blurry from my shakes.
If bands are really that bothered by it, record the gig themselves and release that. But even then I don't think you could stop it.
The only way would be to confiscate phones at the door, And theres no way in hell I would support that.

 

[Sinon]

I don't think it really matters. The majority of them come out with pretty terrible quality. A local band I saw last week did a similar thing, they asked for all electronic devices to be turned off during the performance, to avoid "interruption and plagiarism"

Funnily enough, it was a free gig. But I guess if they don't want wider recognition through channels like Youtube, that's their problem.

 

[Flurry]

I can understand filming here and there, but to constantly keep it out is another. You're there to see the music, not fiddle with your devices.

 

[Crusader]

Here's something. When I saw Saxon on Thursday night they played an acoustic song for the first time in the UK, or even the first time ever at a live show (can't remember which he said). After the song he told us that and then asked if anyone had recorded it. It was along the lines of this:

"First time we've done that, anyone recorded it for YouTube? No? Thats no good!"

Bare in mind, Saxon have been going since 1979 and there they are, embracing new technology while many of their peers try to do the opposite.