Miranda Lambert Calls Out Selfie-Taking Concertgoers: A Controversial Moment at Bakkt Theater

At first, Adela Calin did not know why the singer had stopped.

He found out very soon.

It was for her.

“Miranda Lambert came onstage and we were like, ‘Oh, this is when we can take our group photo,’ and we asked a lady to take a photo for us,” Calin said in a phone chat Tuesday morning. “We waited until a new song started and the lights came back on, and we took a couple more photos. As soon as we were going to sit down, we realized that the concert had stopped and I saw Miranda Lambert pointing at us and saying: ‘Sit down, sit down.’”

You probably know what happened on Saturday night at Bakkt Theater, if you made it this far. Lambert was singing his ballad “Tin Man” when he stopped between flashes at the edge of the show’s auxiliary stage.

“I’m going to stop right here for a second…sorry,” he said in a video initially posted by @redneckinvegas. “These girls are worried about their selfie and not listening to the songs and it’s making me a little angry. I do not like. We’re here to listen to some country music tonight. I’m here singing some fucking country music.” Lambert said “sit down” and asked the group to do so.

‘I don’t like it – at all. We’re here to hear some country music, and I’m singing some country damn music!’

Miranda stops Tin Man to call out girls who are more concerned with taking selfies than listening to the music 🫡 pic.twitter.com/6BKnUskeZz

— Miranda Lambert Fan (@ranfancentral) July 16, 2023

A video submitted by an unidentified fan, albeit blurry, shows Calin’s group posing for at least three photos, the flash hitting the stage in what was supposed to be a quiet moment. The audience applauds when Lambert stops playing.

The resulting debate on social media has been as heated as the flames emanating from the stage. @AJ Delgado responded to my own post of the video: “Thank you! Finally a person with a brain. They were not simple ‘selfies’ what they were taking. @mirandalambert is absolutely right. These women were being extremely disrespectful to her and the rest of the attendees.” And from @adriann-beazy: “If I buy VIP tickets to a show, I’m going to take whatever photos I want. From all angles.”

Different view of the Miranda Lambert show-stopping moment at her show at Bakkt Theater at Planet Hollywood on Saturday. Six women, taking multiple selfies, with flash, VIP section, backs to the stage. I get her frustration. This is ridiculous. #RJNow @reviewjournal pic.twitter.com/vZcMDIsH9p

— John Katsilometes (@johnnykats) July 18, 2023

A public relations representative for Lambert has declined to comment. Bakkt Theater does allow the use of cell phones, but the use of flash is prohibited in Lambert’s show. Ushers often remind attendees of this rule. Several Las Vegas productions require phones to be stored in Yondr soft cases, such as Garth Brooks in Colosseum and Bruno Mars in Dolby Live.

Bakkt Theater has never required that shows go “in a bag”. Lambert’s production is a success on social networks, with great pyrotechnic and video displays.

Calin says that she is a social media influencer “by hobby”, as she runs the Lifestyle with Adela fashion website and her IG account. She is of Romanian origin and has lived in Las Vegas for five years, after having lived for a time in North Carolina, where she studied at Meredith College in Raleigh.

Calin still speaks with a Romanian accent, saying, “I speak fluent English, but I don’t understand the English words of the songs.” She’s not very familiar with Lambert’s music, but she’s a fan of what she knows.

So Calin bought six VIP tickets for herself and her five friends in December. The group ate at the Strip House at Planet Hollywood Resort before the concert, and planned to showcase Lambert’s show on social media.

Calin said the group wanted better lighting during the performance, which, of course, is set up to focus on the star on stage, not the audience. The assistant said she waited for Lambert to move to the smaller “satellite” stage near the VIP booths. This platform intentionally shortens the distance between the performer and the audience, typically for an acoustic performance.

“We tried to take a group photo before the concert started, but the light was so bad we kept getting into the shade,” Calin explains. “But we were so close to the satellite stage that I thought to myself, ‘At some point, Miranda Lambert is going to come up on stage and we can take a group photo with her in the background.’

The group got their photos, which are now on Instagram. The girls are living some Warholian 15 minutes of fame.

After being flagged down by some four thousand concertgoers, Calin pulled a snap from Lambert’s lecture.

“He called us ‘girls,’ and I was like, ‘Wow, that doesn’t make me feel young! Somebody call me girl.’” Calin said. “We are in our mid-thirties and we reached our 60s. I am 43 (laughs), so we are not young. We are grown women.”

Two members of the sextet left the show after the incident, upset by what happened. Calin said that she probably wouldn’t attend another Lambert show after this experience.

He was asked what he would tell Lambert after this incident.

“I think you just have to think a little if you like cell phones, if you like people taking photos. Or decide, like other artists, that you don’t want phones,” said the influencer. “If they are given advance notice, or she could just say, ‘I don’t want photos during this particular song,’ and make it known. I think everyone would be happy, her and the public.”

2023-07-18 21:25:15
#dont #scolding #surprises #Lambert #concert #attendee