Singer Chrissie Hynde has pleaded with her fans not to film her gigs through their phones.
The 74-year-old musician - frontwoman of The Pretenders - took to her Instagram page to question the fascination everyone has with technology, especially when it comes to music concerts.
She wrote: “Hi All! Question: What is it with people and their phones? Why do people have to know how many steps they take every day? What difference does it make? But my real question is: why do people have to film or take pictures at concerts or museums? Why???”
Chrissie went on to say that she’d had dinner in London recently with country singer Emmylou Harris, with the pair discussing their thoughts about phones at concerts.
With the duo agreeing that even if there are rules in place that people shouldn’t be able to film on their phones, they still feel “entitled” to do it.
It’s even got to the point that Chrissie is thinking about introducing a blanket phone ban, similar to Bob Dylan’s no phone policy at his shows.
She continued: “It reminds me of monkeys w****** in full view of the people standing around their enclosure.. and frankly, in that case, people deserve to be w***** at because monkeys should not be in an enclosure in the first place.
“However, an artist on a stage?” And no one seems to be able to understand why artists don't like it. If you've ever had a mosquito buzzing around your head when you're trying to go to sleep, you will get a vague idea of what it's like to have people filming your show or taking photos while you're on stage.”
Chrissie has also experienced the annoyance outside of being on stage - noting that it happened when she went to see Sarah Snook do her one-woman show, and also when she went to a Vincent Van Gogh exhibit.
She said: “Morons (were) holding their phones up in front of the masterpieces so that no one could see them.”
Chrissie concluded by writing: “My conclusion is: If Jesus Christ were to walk into a room the first thing everyone would do would be to pull out their phone. Can someone please explain?”
