# Why you should not use your mobile phone at a concert... **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [September 30, 2008, 10:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-you-should-not-use-your-mobile-phone-at-a-concert/465929 "2008-09-30T22:37:04Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![newcrasher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/b3f665/32.png) [@newcrasher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/newcrasher)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2008, 10:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-you-should-not-use-your-mobile-phone-at-a-concert/465929/1 "2008-09-30T22:37:04Z")
I thought this was funny. You may get a kick out of it. [http://www.glumbert.com/media/phoneconcert](http://www.glumbert.com/media/phoneconcert) ---
**Author:** ![LurkerInNJ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ed655f/32.png) [@LurkerInNJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LurkerInNJ)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2008, 11:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-you-should-not-use-your-mobile-phone-at-a-concert/465929/2 "2008-09-30T23:49:44Z")
I got a laugh out of it. I just wish there were some way that actors in a movie could come off the screen and do something similar to people who use their cell phone in the theatre. ---
**Author:** ![Blue\_Mood](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ac91a4/32.png) [@Blue\_Mood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blue_Mood)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2008, 11:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-you-should-not-use-your-mobile-phone-at-a-concert/465929/3 "2008-09-30T23:59:58Z")
That would be embarrassing. But to be fair to the victim it looks like it could be an outdoor setting where the musicians are buskers. ---
**Author:** ![ParentalAdvisory](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/53a042/32.png) [@ParentalAdvisory](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ParentalAdvisory)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2008, 12:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-you-should-not-use-your-mobile-phone-at-a-concert/465929/4 "2008-10-01T00:30:06Z")
Awesome. ---
**Author:** ![NinjaChick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/71c47a/32.png) [@NinjaChick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NinjaChick)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2008, 1:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-you-should-not-use-your-mobile-phone-at-a-concert/465929/5 "2008-10-01T01:14:26Z")
That’s absolutely amazing - and the fact that the cellists followed is even more awesome. Speaking from experience, even if you’re just playing as background noise (looks like they were in a shopping mall or something), it’s one thing for people to be engaged in quiet conversation while you play, but it’s somehow different one someone is on the phone. ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Tildrum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e95f7d/32.png) [@Tom\_Tildrum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Tildrum)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2008, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-you-should-not-use-your-mobile-phone-at-a-concert/465929/6 "2008-10-01T17:02:52Z")
He might have been on the phone to his cousin the musician, like at the end of _Back to the Future_: “Yo Yo. Yo Yo. It’s Marvin – your cousin, Marvin Ma. You know that new sound you’re looking for? Well, listen to this!” ---
**Author:** ![Giles](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/giles/32/60_2.png) [@Giles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Giles)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2008, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-you-should-not-use-your-mobile-phone-at-a-concert/465929/7 "2008-10-01T17:15:37Z")
It’s at Covent Garden, in London, and not at a concert: they are more or less buskers playing for tips, though some seating has been set up around where they perform. So the cell-phone guy was rude – he was sitting where others were listening to the music – but not as rude as if it were at a concert, since it’s a public area where people are free to come and go. ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Tildrum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e95f7d/32.png) [@Tom\_Tildrum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Tildrum)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2008, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-you-should-not-use-your-mobile-phone-at-a-concert/465929/8 "2008-10-01T18:55:47Z")
Furthermore, the ambient crowd noise on the video, i.e., people talking, is loud enough to obscure the music at times, so this guy’s hardly alone in talking over the music. Still very funny, though. ---
**Author:** ![Santo\_Rugger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e95f7d/32.png) [@Santo\_Rugger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Santo_Rugger)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2008, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-you-should-not-use-your-mobile-phone-at-a-concert/465929/9 "2008-10-01T19:10:29Z")
I watched Spamalot with my parents on Father’s Day, and somebody’s phone rang. I don’t know if it was staged, because it seemed just too perfect the way they reacted, and the timing was pretty good. On the other hand, I forgot to turn my phone off at a wedding once, and right as the music stopped so they could start playing the entrance music, my phone went off, loudly playing “Eye of the Tiger.” It was too funny to be embarrassing. ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Tildrum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e95f7d/32.png) [@Tom\_Tildrum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Tildrum)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2008, 10:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-you-should-not-use-your-mobile-phone-at-a-concert/465929/10 "2008-10-01T22:39:05Z")
Did you take the call? ---
**Author:** ![lissener](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lissener/32/6139_2.png) [@lissener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lissener)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2008, 12:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-you-should-not-use-your-mobile-phone-at-a-concert/465929/11 "2008-10-02T00:50:32Z")
> [@newcrasher](#): > > I thought this was funny. You may get a kick out of it. > > [glumbert](http://www.glumbert.com/media/phoneconcert) NOTE: links directly to video with sound.