Pretenders frontwoman Chrissie Hynde has criticised concertgoers who film live shows on mobile phones, calling the habit a “weird compulsion” that disregards artists’ requests, per loudersound.com.
In a letter to fans posted on social media, she said the practice undermines live performance and compared it to “monkeys wanking in full view of the people standing around their enclosure.”
Hynde questioned why audiences feel compelled to record concerts and museums, asking: “Why do people have to film or take pictures at concerts or museums? Why?”
She cited a conversation with country singer Emmylou Harris, noting that both artists are frustrated when fans ignore “no camera” requests. Hynde described how some audience members smuggle phones into venues where devices are meant to be sealed in locked pouches.
“After having the conversation with Emmy, the minute her show started at the Albert Hall, a guy in front of me started filming it on his phone,” Hynde said. The phone’s light obscured the concert. When told he was being rude, the man replied, “mind your own business.”
Hynde likened the distraction to “a mosquito buzzing around your head when you’re trying to go to sleep.” She said no one seems to understand why artists dislike being filmed.
She also recalled attending Sarah Snook’s Tony Award-winning one-woman production of The Picture of Dorian Gray, where a front-row patron filmed the performance. A separate visit to a Van Gogh retrospective was spoiled, she said, by visitors photographing paintings rather than viewing them.
“I wanted to cry,” Hynde said. “If Jesus Christ were to walk into a room, the first thing everyone would do would be to pull out their phone.”
Hynde, 74, has fronted The Pretenders since 1978. She has previously spoken about audience phone use, reflecting a wider debate among musicians over live-show etiquette as smartphones have become ubiquitous.
•Featured image: Chrissie Hynde/Ki Price
