Bad news for anyone who thought taking selfies at crowded music festivals was going to be a whole lot easier this year with a selfie stick: Two of the nation’s hottest festivals, Coachella and Lollapalooza, have banned the trendy (and sometimes ridiculously offensive) devices. The camera-mount stick, which can be attached to a smartphone or a GoPro for the ultimate selfie, landed on both festivals’ no-no lists alongside knives, drones, and refunds. GoPros without attachments are still okay, however.
Following the lead of museums including the Smithsonian’s Hirshhorn Museum and New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art, both of which have selfie stick rules in place, Coachella updated their Rules & Policies page to state “no selfie sticks/narcissists.” (But if Coachella bans narcissists, doesn’t that eliminate more than half of its attendees?)
Jokes aside, a number of bands and artists have spoken out against photography and filming during concerts, including Prince, Arcade Fire, Neko Case, Fiona Apple, and Bjork. No word yet on whether Coachella will ban the more obtrusive iPad, Meerkat, or offensive Native American headdresses.
The bigger question is, which upcoming summer festivals will follow suit with Coachella’s selfie stick ban? Bonaroo (June 11–14), Outside Lands (August 7–9), nor Burning Man (August 30- September 7th) have publicly declared an opinion on the matter yet. Look, is a large, pokey stick really something a drunk person needs to wave around at a concert anyway?
Coachella is April 10–12 and April 17–19.
[via LA Times; photo courtesy of Jason Persse/Flickr]
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