A video clip of musician Miranda Lambert stopping a live performance to call out some “fans” went viral. “I’m gonna stop right here for a sec,” Lambert is heard saying in the video, which has over 1.4 million views and 81,000 likes. “These girls are worried about a selfie and not listening to the song, and it’s pissing me off a little bit.”
I wasn’t there, but I’m inclined to give the benefit of the doubt to the performer. If she felt that telling them to tuck their summer in was a better choice to protect everyone else’s experience than letting it happen, I’m inclined to agree. If she felt the impromptu photo-op was disruptive enough that she didn’t want to wait until the song was over, I’m not going to replace my judgment for hers. And she may not care enough about backlash or some people who weren’t there and probably aren’t actually fans complaining on Twitter and supporting an “influencer” making poor choices, especially since they did this during her *ahem* Las Vegas residency.
I dislike “influencers” and the entire idea that consumption of live media must be filtered through a lens. Concerts can be personal experiences, no doubt, but their not internalizing anything here, their making it transactional without the permission of the artist. The fact that these people cannot put the phone down for events like these is indicative of a disease. Just because you pay money to be at a performance, doesn’t allow you to do whatever you want. I understand why some want to give equal weight to both sides here but they aren’t equal.
Also, Miranda Lambert is right. She’s the product. Show knows they came to see her perform and they paid money to see her perform. They didn’t pay to use her to get clicks for themselves. I think she’s absolutely right. She’s not a “content creator.” “Content” is some nebulous word for “any thing anyone wants to put on the internet.” She is a creator of art and a performer. Her art (music) is her product, not some random vapid “content.” Artists aren’t “content creators” and a musician most certainly has every right to call out asswipes at their shows that are distracting them or their audience.
I guess my bottom line is that it’s her show. She gets to decide if they’re being disruptive – to her, and she decides. She interrupted her own performance to confront them. She could have started the song over from the beginning if she wanted to, and I’m guessing her band is ace enough to pick up at the syllable where she left off, if that’s what she wanted. So, again, one CAN argue about what’s more disruptive, but the opinion that matters most is the one held by the name on the marquee.
I’m now enjoying imagining those same “fans” trying this at a Fugazi concert and the righteous indignation they would be posting after getting humiliated by Ian MacKaye for 5 minutes. Scratch that, I think we can all be thankful this never occurred at a GG Allin show.