A Different View with Dave O’Connell

We all lost our phones when we went to see Tommy Tiernan in Leisureland recently. Actually – and technically – we didn’t lose then as such; they were stuffed into small, locked pouches so that you still had them, but you just couldn’t use them for the duration of the gig.

The expression on some faces in the audience suggested they felt they’d been asked to watch the gig with both arms tied behind their backs; they seemed to be suffering some form of bereavement for their ever-faithful phone.

For others, it was a freedom – a chance to just enjoy the gig, to crease over in laughter, and then reclaim your phone by unlocking the pouch on your way out the main door.

Tommy isn’t the first to use this service provided by a company called Yondr – Bob Dylan did it at the 3Arena – and globally, big acts like Jack White, Bruno Mars, Madonna and Adele have all followed suit.

So we can anticipate a growth in the numbers that do this here as well, but these acts will also know that this mobile ban comes at a significant price tag of three to four euro per phone, which is borne by the artist.

Or you’d imagine, ultimately, by the audience.

Schools are increasingly opting for a variation on this phone confiscation as well; removing usage of the mobile from the student during class time – although that’s for a different reason than banning them at gigs.

Part of the problem is that, because everyone has a phone, everyone wants to take a pic at a gig which is fine if you turn off the flash, take two seconds to grab the pic, and put the phone back in your pocket.

The problems begin to mount when they also want to record their favourite song, holding their phone over their heads to block the view of the person standing behind them.

And then they feel that their friend at home would like nothing better than live Facetime coverage of a singer in the distance performing at a gig they either didn’t want to go to or couldn’t get tickets for.