Miranda Lambert pauses concert to call out selfie-takers
Miranda Lambert just wants to sing her songs, and she wants her concertgoers to put their phones down to listen.
The opposite was the case during her performance in Las Vegas on Sunday, where video footage from the concert shows the country star stopping mid-song because some audience members were taking selfies and distracting her.
“I’m going to stop right here for a sec,” Lambert said while singing her ballad “Tin Man.”
She is then seen pointing into the audience while saying, “these girls are worried about their selfie and not listening to the song and it’s pissing me off a little bit.”
“I don’t like it – at all,” she said adding, “We’re here to hear some country music tonight, I’m singing some country damn music. Shall we start again?”
The Las Vegas audience showed their support for the Grammy-winner by applauding her remarks, as Lambert then continued singing the song she had paused.
Lambert’s remarks were met with mixed reaction on social media, with some commenting that capturing footage to memorialize a concert is part of the excitement. She is far from the first artist to express frustration with concertgoers preoccupied by their phones.
When Bruno Mars and Anderson Paak’s Grammy-winning group Silk Sonic debuted their Las Vegas residency in 2022, they required attendees to lock their phones in a Yondr pouch come showtime.
Mars spoke about the choice during an interview with the Los Angeles Times last year, saying, “being the master of ceremonies and being able to read the room — understand the dynamics of what this room needs to feel like — that feeling goes away when you’re looking at a wall of (phones).”
“With the cameras, you’re like, ‘I don’t know if I want to try out this dance move tonight,’ or you’re afraid this joke might go on the internet,” he added.
Adele, like Lambert, paused a 2016 concert when she noticed someone taking a cell phone video, as seen, ironically, in footage posted to social media by a fan attending that same concert.
“I want to tell that lady as well, can you stop filming me with a video camera? Because I’m really here in real life, you can enjoy it in real life, rather than through your camera,” Adele said during the concert.
And during a 2013 concert, Beyoncé called out an audience member for being “too busy taping” to enjoy the show, saying, “I’m right in your face baby, You gotta seize this moment baby! Put that damn camera down!”
Smart phones overall have become a serious problem for many performers.
Beyond being a potential distraction to performers, artists like Drake and Bebe Rexha have been hit by phones thrown by audience members while on stage.
Rexha ended up suffering a serious injury to her eye as a result.