Rob Halford Kicks Phone Out of Fans Hands at Illinois Show at May 25th Show

For years, bands and fans alike have been complaining about cell phones at concerts.  Even with huge ass signs all over venues stating “NO AUDIO/VIDEO RECORDING,” fans still take it upon themselves to whip out their cameras and record entire concerts on their cells than to enjoy it with their eyes and ears.  Hell, King Crimson will have you tossed out at the drop of a hat if you are even seen with your cell phone out during their performance and honestly I can’t blame them.

Now I am guilty of this myself but I usually only do it for a minute or so for a few songs just to post to the Brainfart Instagram page and Facebook page.   A few years ago during a Queensryche performance, a fan was holding a phone right in front of Geoff’s face and Geoff decided to play along so he sang into the phone, grabbed it and chucked it into the crowd.

When this happened, people slammed Tate (because they like to do so anyway) saying how disrespectful he was to this fan and blah blah blah.  I’m sorry but even in my shitty little local band in which I am happy to have anyone even give a shit about filming us if some asshole was against the stage holding a phone up to my face, I’d probably do the same fucking thing.  Want to talk about being rude and disrespectful, how about ruining a moment, a special place that these guys have to get into in order to perform the kind of show you expect from them.  Ever think of it that way?

This past weekend on the 25th, Rob Halford had a similar experience.  During a performance of their song “Judas Rising,” Halford was delivering the goods as always and some dipshit up front decided to whip out his phone and film the show.  Filming the show wasn’t the problem though.  Based on folks that were at the show, the dude was using his “light” on his camera while filming.  Apparently, Halford just wasn’t going to play that so he decided to take homeboy’s camera out with a field goal worth kick.

In reading the comments about Halford doing this, I did find it funny that people were more forgiving about his action than they were for Tate’s action.  With that being said, the comments really did kind of make me laugh.  People were saying shit like Halford should act like a seasoned professional and not let shit like this bother him.  Someone else even went as far as to say that he would stop supporting Judas Priest because of Halford’s actions.

Folks, if you have never been on stage, you may not understand this but for those that have been on stage before, we know what it takes to get into that “place.”   It takes a lot to get into that mindset to actually perform and put on a show.  Imagine doing this on the level that these guys do it when they’re playing to thousands.  It takes probably 10x the energy and focus to really get into that place where you can give your audience the show that they deserve.  My band doesn’t even do it anywhere near this level.  While I love and encourage folks to take pictures and film our band while playing, if you come up to the stage and get in my face with a shining light while I’m trying to play, I’d probably kick the phone out of your hand as well.  Why?  Because one, it’s rude as fuck and disrespectful and two, it’s distracting.

Call Halford what you want.  Call Tate what you want but if you think it was an asshole move what these guys did, imagine how these guys felt when people are shining lights in their face and staring into the back of a fucking phone right up in front of the stage when a living legend is standing right in front of you.  Take a step back and instead of judging the artists’ actions, consider what it was that lead to their actions and then put yourself in that same scenario.  Chances are you’d have a totally different outlook on the whole situation!

 

 

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