Search youtube for laserface and gareth emery. The sea of phones are all recording the stage. So they are the same color as the show. They turn the otherewise dark audience into a reflection, adding to the effect. This is not a bad thing.
As for dancing, dancing is for clubs. Clubs are not concert halls. You dance at a club. You watch a show at a hall. Only DJ-types who are confused about whether they are record-spinning robots or stars in a spotlight cannot tell the difference.
Perhaps they could have communicated beforehand that the performance would be available for free on YouTube afterwards, so that people don’t need to record.
But the official footage will not be the same as the show as you lived it. The effects look radically different from seat to seat. And your friends wont be there either.
Here is the thing, I still remember when there was no recording, what happens in the venue stays in the venue, or gets talked with others that shared the experience.
If I am paying $700 to see Lady Gaga you bet your ass I’m taking some pictures.
I actually find k-pop shows somewhat refreshing because there’s zero negative stigma for wanting to record pictures or video. I can easily tell that Gen Z/Alpha has no problem enjoying themselves and even dancing while recording a video.
If a phone is blocking your view the venue is designed wrong, or you have the rare concertgoer who doesn’t know how to hold their phone in a way that preserves the view for others, which is rare for the younger audiences. (I don’t go to venues with flat floors anymore. Often they weren’t even designed for concerts in the first place).
I don’t know why the techno-reactionary assumption is that the kids are just doing it for clout online, or that the kids recording aren’t enjoying themselves in the moment. To me, that viewpoint seems like an unsubstantiated assumption, and an embodiment of the “old man yelling at clouds” meme.
I am fully capable of enjoying myself while recording a video/picture.
You’d be amazed at the kind of video and audio quality modern smartphones are capable of taking in a concert setting. The audio quality might even beat the live experience, especially since I need special earplugs to be able to enjoy most concerts without them being too loud and washed out.
The smartphone doesn’t have the same problems that human ears have.
Modern telephoto lenses and video stabilization are incredible. My phone can literally see the stage better than my eyes can.
I’ve turned myself in to the police because I wasn’t enjoying the moment enough. I regret my crimes. I know better now to have exercised free will too extremely.
I'm mostly too old to go to clubs, but to me techno and other electronic music is not about stages or visual effects, quite the opposite. Well OK, VFX can be cool.
But getting lost in music, in a darkened room with some intentionally disorienting VFX; or simply none, loud electronic music in a room with many people is already quite an experience...
that's quite different from being at a festival or at a show like this, which looks more like a musical opera performance to me.
For big room EDM, was there ever a time when it was not about laser shows etc?
I mean there's nothing wrong with stage shows, pop music and lasers.
As for dancing, dancing is for clubs. Clubs are not concert halls. You dance at a club. You watch a show at a hall. Only DJ-types who are confused about whether they are record-spinning robots or stars in a spotlight cannot tell the difference.
https://youtu.be/9-ochJEQpb0