Put your damn phone down.

Fans are recording entire shows on their phones. In the process, they miss everything they came to see.

We were right up the back of Spark Arena. I was there with my kids. My daughter had a tub of M&Ms. My son had a soda. I had a beer. Twenty One Pilots were about to come on. Happy fans – the best fans – were all around us.

We were happy too. This exact moment might be my favourite part of a show, the minutes just before an artist appears on stage, when crowd noise grows and anticipation for what’s about to happen hits its peak.

Right then, the woman next to me leaned forward. She had her elbows on her knees and her phone in her hands. When Tyler Joseph arrived on stage, she hit the record button on her camera.

And that’s how she sat for the entire show, her nose an inch away from her screen, watching everything play out on the cellphone propped up in front of her face.

A Twenty One Pilots fan records the action. Photo: Chris Schulz.

Everything incredible that happened that night – the multiple stage moves, the frequent ventures into the crowd, the confetti cannons, Joseph’s magic tricks – were seen on a screen about six inches wide. She didn’t move. She didn’t look away. I didn’t see her place her eyes directly on the performers a single time.

It was as if the only way she knew how to interact with a concert was to watch it through a screen, devouring it while recording it all through her device. But she’s not the only one doing this. In fact, it may be the year’s biggest concert trend.