Chrissie Hynde has absolutely no time for people using phones at concerts.
The Pretenders legend posted a letter on her social media accounts (as per Rolling Stone) slamming people who use phones at concerts, saying it’s “like a weird compulsion that people can’t control.”
“It reminds me of monkeys wanking in full view of the people standing around their enclosure … and frankly, in that case, people deserved to be wanked at because monkeys should not be in an enclosure in the first place … However, an artist on a stage?” Hynde’s letter continues.
The letter recounts a dinner Hynde once had with Emmylou Harris before seeing her perform at London’s iconic Royal Albert Hall.
“Our conversation naturally turned to people on their phones at concerts,” Hynde writes. “This is a subject that comes up every time I meet an artist. It’s become like an unpleasant fug hanging over the heads of all artists. You can plaster a venue with signs requesting ‘NO CAMERAS,’ but people don’t respect it. It’s as if people feel entitled, even though the artist clearly has asked them not to do it.”
Hynde, however, makes an exception for pop stars who specifically ask their fans to film them “because they want to be on social media,” and also praises Bob Dylan for insisting that phones be placed in pouches at his shows. “You would think an artist of his stature could make a simple request and the audience would respect it … no chance,” she writes. “People will still sneak in a camera or phone.”
Hynde recalls how at the aforementioned Harris show, a fan started near her inside the Royal Albert Hall filmed the concert on his phone, blocking Hynde’s view as a result.
When someone told him to stop filming, he replied, “Mind your own business.”
It happened again to Hynde when she went to see Sarah Snook perform The Picture of Dorian Gray as a one woman show. “A woman sitting in the front row pulled her phone out and started filming it,” Hynde remembers. “Unbelievable.”
The Pretenders haven’t toured for nearly a year, but she did tell fans that the band have just finished recording a new album.
Just be warned: keep your phone in your pocket if you do go see The Pretenders live.
