I have had views blocked by people who are tall. I have had viewed blocked by people who are big. I have even had views blocked by people with voluminous hairstyles. I have never had a view blocked by someone holding up a phone. Not that I haven't sat behind people holding up phones, it's just ridiculously easy to adjust your view.
I'd also wager the reason some of the folks on your list (like Louis CK and Dave Chappelle) ban phones has less to do with creating a more enjoyable experience for the audience, and much more to do with the performer being free to spout their hateful (e.g. transphobic) viewpoints and have less backlash by attendees then posting clips of it on social media.
The excuse stand-ups sometimes give is they want to be free to "workshop" material, which is pretense for once again saying hateful things and not wanting a record of them saying them to get out.
No comment on the anger about comedians being offensive.
As for anger about comedians being offensive, not at all. On the contrary, I think stand-up comedians have a duty to be offensive and push boundaries. I just think it's pathetic and cowardly to try to prevent people from recording those incidents.
I think it's more a mixture of a belief that people are absent when their phones are out, that it's rude to the other audience members, and makes new sets less awesome for audiences down the line.
Chapelle has openly and explicitly expressed transphobic views both as part of his stand-up routine and in interviews.
Since you stole the pouches the system can't work that well given the company lost money from your theft.
> Simple slots that you slide your phone into and get an RFID tag with a locker number back in return
how you would align them for hundreds of thousands of attendees to not forget their numbers, lose their tags, crush against the wall.. no idea
I get they want people to enjoy the show and really not record it, there are problems though.
A major problem with no phone events is that you can't easily find friends in the event, we had to meet up with people and only knew their seats. People were in various areas and coordinating all that like the 90s was a task.
The biggest problem though is people with kids or elderly or assistance needs, being without the ability to receive or send messages in those situations is bad. Someone in our group had a family member in hospice and another with a babysitter, that time was a bit less enjoyable. Just having a phone on vibrate is nice to be able to check out and enjoy the show without worry.
A lower issue but one that stings a bit is you can only take pictures/videos outside the event. Once inside you never can even take a picture/video of anything. So the event history is just outside and since friends were inside those moments are only in memory not pictures/video. I love to get some experience shots at events/festivals/fairs/concerts etc, it can take you back.
Around that time I went to two other non phone events that were much smoother and I have photo/videos from.
At Adam Sandler they did allow phones and just told people to stop recording, that was much easier. Concerts that are no phone also lose the option to do the lights on final songs or moments, that is fun. Sandler had everyone do it on the Chris Farley song.
Smashing Pumpkins / Jane's Addition around that time also allowed phones and recording and it was great.
All the events were cashless and many people just like to bring their phone to pay. Well you had to get out the credit card or use the wristband. That is another annoyance.
So my review of no phone events is they are bad and unnecessary, they delay the concert fun with lines, make contacting friends harder and take away from the experience, make paying harder, add a massive pouch you have to carry around with your phone in it. If an event is no phone I'll have to really really like the act otherwise I'll pass. If they want to stop people recording just have a no record policy if you want but don't hinder friends/family/memories.
Funniest part is there are tons of recordings of the Chappelle/Rock event and most from the boxes where the policy is lax. Another reason not to like the policy, only the proles in VIP and GA have to adhere. The event was great though, Chappelle, Rock, Donnell Rawlings were all hilarious, Blackstar (Mos Def) was good as always and opener Rick Ingram was hilarious as well. I just wish I could have maybe snapped a shot at least of the final part where they all got on stage. It was amazing to see Chappelle and Rock like 20 yards from where we were sitting.
No phone policies at events -- delete.
Whereas a joke is very shareable, and stuff that pushes the edge can go super viral, especially when taken out of context -- risking Twitter/media backlash. So both the rewards and risks are WAYYY higher for standup.
That's crazy. I went to two Yondr standup shows and it was no real added delay at all. I assumed it would be on the way out, but unlocking took about 5 seconds per person and there were more than enough attendants to handle it.
They were both large theaters (~3,000 seats), not stadiums though or anything (~30,000). I do wonder how many attendants you need based on audience size. Or if they've moved on to "self-service" stations on the way out or something.
I now intentionally seek out no-phone shows and events (it's common in standup comedy).
The first two enforce the rule with security - if you get caught, you get kicked out and banned from future shows.
The later two shows used the pouch system from Yondr. At Chris Rock the show started 90 minutes late since people came to the show with their tickets on their phones and had to walk back out to unlock them. There were also nowhere near enough staff to lock the phones and provide pouches, nor to unlock phones. It was chaos.
Chappelle doesn't do digital tickets, but on the way out there was almost a crush in the crowd as people lined up to get their pouches unlocked. We ended up forcing open a fire escape and went home with our phones still in pouches, I ended up unlocking the pouches at home (you just gotta beat it open, or use a magnet)
The implementation of these systems aren't perfect - but there is definitely room here for a good implementation.
My thought was that the best solution would be phone lockers in venues that are after ticketing. Simple slots that you slide your phone into and get an RFID tag with a locker number back in return. I'm sure somebody will figure it out.