April 19, 2005
Cell phone concert craze
Concertgoers aren't pulling out their phones to chat during shows. Instead, they're pointing them away from their ears and toward the stage, as they did at a recent stop on U2's Vertigo 2005 tour.
Newsday reports.
"According to one review, as the band launched into the hit ballad "One," the stadium filled with the soft blue glow of the phones' displays. Bono urged the crowd, with the help of video displays, to text message for information from the One Campaign to raise awareness about global poverty and AIDS.
The phenomenon was repeated last Wednesday at Madison Square Garden as Simon LeBon, front man for '80s pop group Duran Duran, urged the crowd to take out cell phones and lighters before launching into "Save a Prayer."
"It makes it look like the stars at night," LeBon said of the glow. "And it makes you all look so much more beautiful."
Tom Ryan, senior vice president of mobile and digital development at EMI music, explained why people take out their phones even when Bono and LeBon aren't telling them to.
"The phone in general is being used as a method of sharing the unique [concert] experience," he said.
For instance, Ryan said someone at a Coldplay show could call a friend, let the friend hear a song, and then snap a shot of the band and message them the picture.
That's not the only reason phones are being thrust into the air, though. In a dark concert hall or arena, he said, the display screen on a cell phone creates a glow like a lighter, "especially when 20,000 people are holding them up."
Related articles:
-- U2's concert in San Jose integrates cell phones and SMS
-- Mobile phones are the new lighters
-- Why Cell Phones Have Killed The Concert Lighter
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