Garth’s Vegas Shows Go Phone Free, Not Sure I Like The Trend

Country megastar Garth Brooks is starting a Las Vegas residency later this month at Ceasers Palace. Just don't expect to be able to grab a snapshot of him on stage to post on your Facebook page.

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Fox 2 Now reports:

According to the email from ticket broker Ticketmaster, the artist’s “Plus ONE” Las Vegas residency will be a “phone-free experience.” Concert attendees will be required to lock their phones in secured ‘Yondr’ cases. These cases will be unlocked after the event.

I don't know how I feel about this either.

First, let me say unequivocally that I think your cell phone should spend more time in your pocket than in your hand at a concert. Second, if you're the person holding your phone over your head trying to capture the show on video for posterity, just stop it. You're at the concert, just soak in the experience of being there. Of seeing what's happening with your eyes and enjoying the music with your ears.

Yet, having to lock my phone in a pouch so it's virtually impossible to use during a show just bugs me. In fact, if I was required to put my phone in a pouch at Brook's Arrowhead show a couple of years ago, I probably wouldn't have gone.

My wife had just gotten out of the hospital a couple of weeks prior and if I was unreachable, that probably would have made me somewhat reticent to head into the city to see the show. Not to mention, my being unreachable would have probably bothered her too. Even if she were OK with it and I went, there would be that little voice in the back of my head wondering if she were OK, so yeah, I probably would have skipped it.

How it works is rather simple. When you go to a concert or event that's phone free, you get a pouch. You put your phone in the pouch, and it locks. And it can't be unlocked until you leave the phone-free area. This is according to Yonder.

Fox 2 does say Caesars Palace will have areas where Brook's fans can use their devices, but it will require stepping away from the show to do so. Fans in attendance will also get access to professionally shot photos from the show

I get it, I really do. It can be annoying to see people capturing videos or snapping photos on their devices while you're trying to be in the moment. Yet, it can also be fun to play amateur photographer and try to get a few snapshots of your favorite artist.

For me, as a general rule, I allow myself to snap photos or maybe take videos for the length of one song, maybe two. Then I make it a point to tuck my phone away and enjoy the show.

Whether it was taking grainy photographs at shows in the 80s with my Kodak Disc camera, or getting some pretty nice photos of Styx during their Vegas residency a few years back, shooting a few photos before putting my phone away is tradition. So I'll be disappointed if phone-free shows become the standard. That's why I'm on the fence with this trend.