Diary of a Gen Z Student: I am team ‘use your phone at concerts’ — it's not that deep

I have spent the past two weeks reliving the Olivia Dean concert by watching and rewatching every video I took at it

You think I’m going to lose those videos to the depths of my camera roll? That’s where you’re wrong.

Two weeks ago, I experienced a girlhood like no other at the Olivia Dean concert in Marlay Park. The crowd of 40,000 showed up ready for a night of dancing, clad in matching outfits.

No memo needed, the audience understood the assignment: everyone had to wear polka dots. I’d say there was not a polka dot dress left in Dublin following Olivia Dean’s visit. It was excellent. So excellent, in fact, that I have spent the past two weeks reliving it all by watching and rewatching every video I took at the concert on my phone. And I’m not ashamed to admit, there are many.

I can already feel the eye rolls I’m inducing by saying I am team ‘use your phone at concerts and ignore the begrudgers’. It seems to be a controversial take in certain circles, but I will always use my phone during a concert to take videos. And some people really take issue with that.

Every time there’s a big concert, you’ll hear the same argument about phone usage. People complain about how young people just don’t know how to have fun anymore. They can’t even get off their phones long enough to enjoy a concert!

But I am here, as ever, to come to the defence of my generation. We’re not actually a load of losers who use their phones at concerts to avoid social interaction, or however it is the naysayers put it.

In fact, we can use our phones to take a few videos at a concert and still manage to have a good time.

It’s really not that deep. If I’m seeing an artist I love, and they play some of my favourite songs, you can guarantee I’ll need plenty of videos of it.

You think I’m going to lose those videos to the depths of my camera roll? That’s where you’re wrong. Let me tell you, there’s nothing I love more than a trip down memory lane. I often scroll through my own camera roll and relive the highlights. And I will never tire of reliving a concert from the comfort of my own bedroom.

Before anyone tries to tell me that I can just listen to my favourite songs on Spotify like a common peasant, I know I can. But it’s simply never going to be the same.

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I need to rewatch the concert from the very position I stood in the crowd. To this day, I’m still rewatching videos of Hozier singing  Cherry Wine at a concert in Belfast years ago.

I’d say there was not a polka dot dress left in Dublin following Olivia Dean’s visit. Picture: Ben Birchall/PA Wire

I get that some people don’t like it when a phone is obscuring their view of the stage. And maybe I’m just a little too tall to fully understand the plight of the vertically challenged when it comes to being part of an audience. On that experience, I cannot speak.

All I can say is this: I’m just a girl trying to have some proof for my future kids that I was once young and cool. And showing them a video of Olivia Dean getting Irish dancers on the stage during Man I Need will become evidence of that.

And let’s not be holier than thou about this. I simply don’t believe the people who say they would not have been doing the same thing if they had had a smartphone during a Beatles concert back in the day. There would be nothing cooler than my grandad having a video from where he stood in the crowd at an iconic concert like that. And I refuse to accept any other reality.

As I write this, I’m preparing to see The Cure in Marlay Park. I might not be the age demographic they intend to appeal to. However, I have my phone charging in preparation for Just Like Heaven. And I will have no shame about taking a video of that song.

I expect I may be in a crowd that is less excited than me about getting a good Instagram story during the concert. But that doesn’t sound like a ‘me’ problem. I need evidence I saw Robert Smith in real life. And that is not a crime.

This comes with all the usual health warnings. I will be using my phone for recording purposes only. I will not take a phone call or scroll on Instagram during the concert. I won’t video the entire thing. All the obvious stuff. And if I spend 30 seconds here and there taking a quick video of the concert, I’m sure I’ll still manage to enjoy myself. And make my Instagram followers jealous with a video of it all. Now that sounds like a good time to me.