The Herald Sun has reported that fans headed to Jack White’s gig tonight in Sydney or seeing his set during Splendour in the Grass will be asked to keep their phones tucked away in their pockets, and rather than record the gig, actually watch it.
According to The Herald Sun, last night the doors of the Festival Hall in Melbourne, the venue for White’s sold-out show, bore the guidelines for respectful behaviour during the performance. The notices instructed fans that the use of social media was “strictly prohibited” while requesting fans to “please leave your phones in your pockets/purses and enjoy the show live and in person.”
“The gadgetry for the experience of a live show has gotten ridiculous. You look out and see a sea of blue screens,” White told News Limited earlier this year.
“The worst thing is to watch a young kid watching a show on their camera screen, instead of watching it on stage. You just want to take it out of his hand and go, ‘Come on man, that’s not what this is about’,” stressed White.
White isn’t alone in his ideology that gig goers all too often watch the show through the pixelized screens of their phones. When in Australia earlier this year City and Colour creator Dallas Green requested fans place all recording devices in their pockets for one song, poignantly observing that in attempting to remember the show, fans forget to experience it.
