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Pretenders leader Chrissie Hynde has spoken out against fans who film live shows on their mobile phones, accusing them of feeling "entitled" to carry out a "weird compulsion" that's often at odds with the wishes of the musicians they're watching. In a letter to fans posted on social media, Hynde goes on to compare those who film concerts to "monkeys wanking."
"What is it with people and their phones?" asks Hynde. "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?"
Hynde goes on to describe a discussion with country icon Emmy Lou Harris, in which both artists expressed their despair over the fact that fans often ignore "no camera" requests from musicians, with some going as far as to smuggle phones into venues where they're meant to be sealed in a locked pouch for the duration of the performance.
"It's like a weird compulsion that people can't control," says Hynde. "It reminds me of monkeys wanking in full view of the people standing around their enclosure. And frankly, in that case, people deserve to be wanked at because monkeys should not be in an enclosure in the first place. However, an artist on a stage?
"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.
"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. So the concert was obscured by the bright light of his phone throughout the whole show. (Someone did eventually tell him that he was being rude and his filming was distracting. His response was, 'mind your own business')."
Hynde goes on to describe an occasion in which her enjoyment of actor Sarah Snook's Tony Award-winning, one-woman version of The Picture of Dorian Gray was spoiled when a patron in the front row began filming the performance. She also says she no longer goes to museums after attending a Van Gogh retrospective marred by fans more determined to take photographs of the paintings on display than to actually look at them.
"I wanted to cry," Hynde says. "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?"
Not us, Chrissie. Not us.
