Most people film concerts they rarely rewatch and enjoy less for having done it.

Being physically present with others produces more emotion.

An invitation to presence works differently from a ban on phones.

I need the whole stadium to jump, put your phone down, let’s get all the fun. — From “Body to Body” by BTS

I need the whole stadium to jump, put your phone down, let’s get all the fun. — From “Body to Body” by BTS

At the start of their current world tour, BTS open with a song called “Body to Body” and a simple instruction: Put your phone down.

And fifty to ninety thousand people do.

Nobody is forced to. There are no pouches being snapped over their phones at the entrance, no staff confiscating devices, no threat of being thrown out. Someone simply asks, and the request is obeyed.

I was there in Brussels, watching it happen, and I found myself thinking about how amazing that moment was.

The research tells us that we already know what filming a concert can cost us. A Heineken study of Gen Z and Millennial concert-goers found that 55% admitted they prioritised filming over being present. Yet 60% said they would enjoy concerts more if they disconnected, while 13% rarely went back to watch the footage they had spent the evening capturing.

We know filming can get in the way of the experience but we do it anyway, at least until someone reminds us that we don't have to.

A randomised controlled study published earlier this year in Scientific Reports compared 130 participants watching either a live concert or a simultaneous cinematic livestream of the same event (Becker et al., 2026).

The people who attended in person reported greater appreciation for the music, greater emotional arousal and higher levels of kama muta—the feeling of being moved, often accompanied by warmth, chills or a sense of connection.

The music and the songs were the same. What changed was being physically........

© Psychology Today