Smartphones really started to kick off in the 2010s. It seems like we went straight from the standard flip phone to holding micro-super-computers in our hands in a matter of a few short years. Today, smartphones are more or less the center of personal lives, professional lives, and the overall universe. When it comes to concert culture nowadays, you’ll see a sea of glowing rectangles in audiences across all genres. But back in 2016, KISS’ Gene Simmons tried to sway concertgoers from viewing concerts through the lens of their smartphones. And he had a few stern words to say about fans who use smartphones excessively at concerts.
“When we first started out, this was before cellphones or technology and even voice mail,” Simmons said in a radio interview with Jack Antonio in 2016. “There was no cable, there was no nothing, so at the concerts, they took away your cameras, they didn’t allow you to do that. So, in a lot of ways, the concert experience, especially with KISS, was real, it was emotional, it was deep. […] Technology, of course, has made everything less emotional. You know, when you get back home and look at your cellphone and the video there, and you go, ‘Oh, I don’t remember that from the concert!’ Well, of course you don’t, cause you were too busy texting or looking at your cellphone.”
Simmons reiterated his point in 2023, when he said that he’d “take them all away” when referring to cell phones.
“You’re coming there for the show and we’d like you to watch it,” Simmons said. “But it’s tough to turn back time.”
Gene Simmons’ Comments About Smartphones Were Correct Almost 10 Years Ago, and They’re Still Correct Today
Considering that Gene Simmons’ comments about smartphones came out over a decade ago, it’s hard to ignore the fact that concert culture has gotten so much worse in the 2020s. That includes smartphone usage at concerts, among other bad behaviors that seem to be commonplace nowadays.
Sadly, there really isn’t a way to prevent this. Smaller shows could ban the use of smartphones and require concertgoers to leave their phone at the door. Historically, this has caused upset, but hasn’t been totally impossible to implement.
For large-scale performances, such as Coachella sets, I can’t imagine it would be possible to keep concertgoers from whipping out their phones for the entire duration of sets. We’re pretty far past that point now, and I can’t help but long for the era when music-lovers would just stand and soak in a performance, viewing it through their eyeballs instead of a screen. Isn’t that what live music is all about?
Photo via Disney/Eric McCandless