Phoneless Concerts – An Idea That Isn’t as Good as It Sounds

You’re at a concert, the band is playing your favorite song, and all you can see in front of you is a sea of phones being held up by people hoping to get a photo, or video of the moment.

It’s intrusive, it’s annoying, and quite frankly most of the photos and videos wind up being awful, and never get looked at after that night.

It’s also the norm, although a number of artists are tired of it being the norm, and have introduced the concept of phoneless concerts, where phones aren’t allowed.

While some artists, like Paul Simon, simply request concertgoers not take photos, or videos, other artists have become much more extreme.

Jack White has banned phones at his shows, requiring concertgoers to put their phones in a locked pouch at the front of the venue.

I was also recently sent a flyer promoting a series of shows which are being advertised as “phoneless.” I’m not sure if that means phones are banned, or just have to remain in people’s pockets.

At first, the thought of not being surrounded by phones being held in the air might seem like a hallelujah moment, but upon further reflection it not only isn’t as good as it sounds, it’s wildly exclusionary to a number of groups of people.

First off, by saying fans can’t have their phones on them you’re basically telling parents that they aren’t welcome at your show.

A parent should always be able to have access to their phone, because while they trust their babysitters, emergencies happen, and they shouldn’t have to wait until an artist’s set is over to find out something’s wrong.

Did parents go out before cell phones existed? Of course, and as someone who had a babysitter, and even had a few babysitting gigs, I can tell you the first thing parents did before leaving the house was make sure the babysitter had the phone numbers of the restaurant, friend’s house, or any other place the plans for the night involved.

Parents deserve a night out, but they also deserve to be able to be contacted in case of emergency.

Similarly, and this one hits closer to home for me, part-time and full-time caregivers legitimately need their phones on them at all times.

Just like a parent, caregivers need to be able to be reached in the event that we’re needed. Case in point, before my father passed I spent ten months as his full-time caregiver. He had to be rushed to the ER quite a bit during that time, and one day when he had to go to the ER I had tickets to a concert in the city. The folks at the hospital knew me quite well at that point, and I knew so much about what was going on one doctor even accidentally addressed me as “doctor.”

After a handful of hours, and a bevy of tests, the results of which had all come in, I was waiting for my dad to get a room in the hospital before I would leave. The doctors and nurses told me to go the city, go to the show, and enjoy myself. They said I deserved it (which was really nice to hear). They noted it would be quite a few hours before he got a room, that he was in good hands, and if they needed anything they had my number.

Let me repeat that – if they needed anything they had my number. 

Sorry, but even Jack White would have to agree that a call about my father’s health was more important than an artist’s set … and that I had earned a night out.

In a wild sequence of events, that turned out to be the night I bumped into Stephen Colbert. Shout out to the ER doctors and nurses for that, because without their push I wouldn’t have gone in.

Obviously taking away people’s phones at the door is a terrible solution to the cell phone problem at shows, because it’s a non-negotiable for so many people, so what’s a good solution?

Let me go back to an idea I wrote about 12 years ago – make the “first three songs” rule that concert photographers have to observe universal concert law.

The “first three songs” rule states that photographers can take photos, without flash, during the first three songs of an artist’s set.

If this was the rule for everyone, concertgoers could get their photos, and artists could have a mostly phone-free set.

Everybody wins.

For the artists who might still be concerned about fans potentially checking Instagram rather than paying attention to what’s happening on stage, all I can say is – be more engaging than whatever is happening on Instagram.

Yeah, it sucks to see people looking at their phone rather than the stage, but those people paid to be there, and if you aren’t grabbing their attention, it’s their right to find something that does. It’s really no different than the fans who get bombed out of their mind on drugs, or totally drunk at the bar. Do you think they’re paying attention to the show? They aren’t, we’ve just come to accept that as show behavior.

Cell phone usage is now part of show behavior.

This doesn’t mean all is lost in this relatively new concert landscape. In fact, whether it’s a storytelling singer-songwriter, or a heavy metal band with insane theatrics (hi GWAR), I’ve seen plenty of shows where fans get their photos, but also stay totally engaged with the performance.

So let’s dial it back with the idea of phoneless shows (see what I did there). Let’s not make parents, and caregivers, feel excluded from going to concerts.

Let people have their phones, but also find some creative ways to encourage them to keep those phones in their pockets until necessary.