[bpavuk]

I remember being on a concert relatively recently, a few years ago. nearly everyone had their phones up, mine was in a pocket. no one made a single movement that resembled dance, everyone just... stood still. that differed by a great measure from several concerts I attended circa 2018-19.

on both music fests, I was in flow. I've been dancing - it's a usual thing all humans naturally do when they hear rhythm that resonates with them unless they consciously resist dancing for one reason or another. though, this time, no one joined me. people just made space around me and pointed their cameras at me, which created a ton of unease and I eventually stopped. it was enough to get viral in local Telegrams, but I had no joy in that. in the moment, I wanted to shout, "duh, why aren't you all dancing? put down your goddamn cameras, you can always scroll later!"

phones, primarily due to their current addictive implementation, are such a killjoy. I hope that one day, devices like Clicks Communicator will change this.

[brabel]

Wait, were things different as recently as 2018? I just remember when I was into concerts, circa 1998, most people just stood there unless it was a big hit playing, but a significant amount of people would always dance or just jump like crazy near the middle of the pitch. I did recently went to a punk concert from a band from the late 80s , so most people there were my age. It was just like the old times. A lot of people went crazy as this was a band that had only good songs to play! But some around me thought that they could just stand there and film with their phone. They quickly realized that they would had to move away as nearly everyone around just started jumping like maniacs, just like in the 90s . I can’t comment on the new generation though as like I said, I don’t frequent the scene much anymore and when I do the younger people only go to accompany their parents, I guess.

[microtonal]

I'm so happy that my prime concert-going days were 1998 to 2013. People just came for the concert and were fully immersed in the music and the vibe. Though admittedly, concerts of groups that were not too well-known, but also not unknown, were the best. At more mainstream bands people would come for the hits. But as something like a Nomeansno concert everyone was locked in.

I also don't really understand what the point of constantly filming is. Some groups regularly put high-quality concerts on Youtube [1], so if you want to re-experience a similar concert afterwards you can.

I guess it's more about documenting your life's story on socials. But what's the point of documenting the life that you don't really live?

Some artists (e.g. John Zorn) forbid filming, which is IMO the best way to go. It's all about experiencing it in the moment.

[1] Bands like King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard even put pretty much every concert online now in full 4K, professionally filmed glory.

[surgical_fire]

> I've been dancing - it's a usual thing all humans naturally do when they hear rhythm that resonates with them unless they consciously resist dancing for one reason or another.

When I went to concerts it was heavy metal.

No one was dancing. Unless you consider banging heads a form of dancing. People did sing along though.

Last concerts I went to (respectively 2019 and 2024, I don't go to many concerts nowadays) people mostly behaved as they did in the past. Only a few were filming the concert with their cellphones, but this was definitely the minority.

I don't live in the US. Maybe this is a bit of cultural differences in terms of geography and in terms of demographic for the genre?

[wolvoleo]

> No one was dancing. Unless you consider banging heads a form of dancing

I certainly would. It's just the style of dancing with heavy metal.

[bpavuk]

> When I went to concerts it was heavy metal.

> No one was dancing. Unless you consider banging heads a form of dancing. People did sing along though.

my point is that people were engaging and interacting with and within music, not observing and recording it for the sake of internet points. so, yeah, in this context...

> banging heads

...is definitely a form of "dancing" :D

I mostly went to EDM, raves, and pop concerts. there, dancing is a lot more appropriate and welcome :)

> I don't live in the US. Maybe this is a bit of cultural differences in terms of geography and in terms of demographic for the genre?

me neither, but I observed this in Ukraine and (through friends and acquaintances) Poland, US, and Russia. something definitely shifted

[hahn-kev]

I don't think they were scrolling. They were recording, which I think is a very very different thing from doom scrolling addiction.

But man that sucks, there should be a phone free zone in the concert.

[wink]

Which would prevent prevent people from snapping 1-2 pictures per band in a 4h concert, which I would kinda not like. Maybe it would improve the experience enough though, or you'd have to move to the bar area and take your one pic there.

[recursivecaveat]

Yeah I don't mind people taking their "I was there" pic. Sometimes I just want something to be in my camera roll to prompt a memory in 5 years. What I don't understand is 200 people all holding their phone up to take the same terrible quality video as each other of an event that will be recorded professionally from every angle anyways. Certainly no way would I ever watch back a 1 hour DJ set if I recorded that on a personal phone.