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I’m starting to wonder if 2023 is the last year we’ll have live concerts. The behavior being described in the venues is increasingly taking on last-days-of-Rome vibes. In June we were reporting on singers being pelted on stage with items ranging from hard metal to the macabre. For July the emerging theme seems to be The Artists Strike Back, with Adele shooting threats (and t-shirts from a gun) out into her audience, Billie Eilish saying we love you, but stop, and now Miranda Lambert stopping her own show in Vegas this weekend to tell some fans to get off their dang phones:
Miranda Lambert inadvertently waded into the ongoing discourse surrounding live performance etiquette when she halted a recent concert to reprimand a group of audience members for taking selfies.
Video footage shared on TikTok shows the country singer-songwriter beginning a rendition of her 2017 hit, “Tin Man,” before instructing her band to stop playing after she notices the group.
“I’m gonna stop right here for a second, sorry,” Lambert explains to the crowd, as seen in the clip. “These girls are worried about their selfie and not listening to the songs, [and] it’s pissing me off a little bit. I don’t like it–at all. We’re here to hear some country music tonight. I’m singing some country dang music!”
After taking a second to compose herself, she added, “Shall we start again?”
Vegas resident Adela Barnes, who was one of five women in the group singled out by Lambert, told HuffPost that she felt like she “was back at school where a teacher calls me out and tells me to sit down because I did something bad.”
She estimated that the whole ordeal lasted about 20 seconds and noted that she didn’t think she and her friends were being distracting while taking the photo.
Immediately following the incident, Barnes said she and one of the four friends decided to stay behind and try to enjoy the rest of the concert.
However, she no longer considers herself a fan of Lambert.
“It would kind of be awkward to go to another concert of hers,” she said, adding that she paid a few thousand dollars for her seat in the VIP section of Planet Hollywood’s Bakkt Theater.
To start, every quote from the reprimanded concert-goer is precious, bless. Second, Messy Miranda is back! It was only a matter of time before she entered this conversation, right? I mean, she once popped a fan’s beach ball that landed on stage. And in true Miranda fashion, her actions are leaving a wake of bitter divide in opinion. Some are coming down on the side of the fans, saying that for the amount of money they forked over on tickets, they should be allowed to take selfies. (On that note: who has “a few thousand dollars” to buy concert tickets? I’m really asking, I need data so I can go back and rethink all my life choices.) Then there are others, like Whoopi Goldberg on The View yesterday, who chimed in with “If you’re going to spend $750 to come to my concert, then give me the respect of watching me while I do my thing, or don’t come.”
Since two things can be true at once, my takeaway is that Miranda Lambert has a brash personality and a history of acting in her own interests regardless of others around her. AND I agree with her in this instance, put the phones down and be at the live concert you chose to attend. Call me old school, but I think it’s disrespectful to the performers–and to the other audience members–to be on your phone, even in a concert setting. And in a pinch, if you’re unsure about proper concert etiquette, most of what you learned in Kindergarten should help you out: no hitting, throwing, or name calling, and the seating is in order of the ABCs.
@nypost #MirandaLambert ♬ original sound – New York Post | NewsDifferent view of the Miranda Lambert show-stopping moment at her show at Bakkt Theater at Planet Hollywood on Saturday. Six women, taking multiple selfies, with flash, VIP section, backs to the stage. I get her frustration. This is ridiculous. #RJNow @reviewjournal pic.twitter.com/vZcMDIsH9p
— John Katsilometes (@johnnykats) July 18, 2023
*in my Suge Knight voice*
“If any fan that wants to be a fan and wants the artist to be all up in your selfies, all in your videos, come to #WeekendsWithAdele ✌🏾”
I crack myself up 😂
On a serious note, I highly suggest Miranda Lambert attend an Adele show. pic.twitter.com/GK4oZxlxL6
— Michele (@Mich_ele19) July 19, 2023
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