BLACK STONE CHERRY's CHRIS ROBERTSON Says It's 'Ridiculous' For MIRANDA LAMBERT To Pause Concert To Call Out Selfie-Takers

BLACK STONE CHERRY frontman Chris Robertson doesn't agree with Miranda Lambert calling out fans for taking a selfie during her show.

Earlier in the month, the country music diva generated a lot of chatter online for pausing her performance at Planet Hollywood's Bakkt Theater in Las Vegas to shame audience members who snapped photographs while she was onstage.

"These girls are worried about their selfie and not listening to the song," Lambert can be heard saying in a TikTok video that surfaced Monday. "It's pissing me off a little bit." The crowd cheers, and Lambert starts the song again. The video, taken by another member of the audience, received millions views on TikTok.

During an appearance on the "Rock Of Nations With Dave Kinchen And Shane McEachern" podcast, Robertson commented on Lambert. When asked if he would call out a fan for taking a selfie at his show, the Kentucky rocker replied: "We were touring back before people had their phones out all the time. We've been fortunate enough to do that. But I also look at it like this, man: not every single person there with their phone out is just doing it to post on their Instagram Story to look cool. Some of those people that are there worked all fucking year to have one night to get to go out and do something, and if they wanna take a picture of themselves with their friends while I'm singing a pretty song, please do it. Please take all the pictures you want. Please — video, anything you wanna do."

Chris continued: "We have always had a policy at our shows of you can film whatever the fuck you want, you can take pictures of whatever you want, as long as there's no flash. We just ask that you don't come in… You can bring in your pro camera and stand in the pit. All that shit is on the venues or the bands we're touring with. If it's a BLACK STONE CHERRY show, I don't care if you come in with the same… I've got a Canon R5 — a really nice camera — I've got really nice lenses. I don't care if you walk in with the same setup I've got and take pictures of our band all night long from the crowd; I do not care.

"To stop a show because three girls were taking selfies and not watching you sing for 30 seconds is ridiculous — in my opinion," Robertson added. "Those people paid for a ticket. They didn't pay for a ticket just to hear you sing; they paid for a ticket in that venue and that seat to do what they want to in that seat. So if they wanna stand there and scream at you until they get kicked out… They bought the seat. I've had people scream at me — until I had 'em removed from the venue. They paid for their seat and they got their money's worth. They got to be seen by everybody in the damn venue, just like I was.

"I just think it's ridiculous for people to get pissed off for someone taking a selfie at a concert. Maybe Miranda Lambert was that girl's favorite artist and they wanted a selfie during that song that they can always remember while she was singing this one song they got their picture at her show to remember that night. And Miranda wasn't really nice to 'em about it. There's been another video surfaced where she punched a hole in a beach ball or something people were kicking around, having fun in the crowd, bouncing, and said the same thing: 'We're not doing that. We're playing country music.' I get that. But I'm pretty sure that it's okay to take a picture at a concert, man. I don't understand. And I'm not condemning anyone. She has every right — Miranda has every right to feel whatever way she wants to.

"For the record, for BLACK STONE CHERRY, take all the selfies you want of you and your buddies," Chris said. "The only thing that's ever disheartening to me is when we're playing and someone's on the front row all night looking at their phone. That's disheartening. And I'll call the person out. I'll be, like, 'Damn, are we that boring? Do I need to work harder?' And the person will laugh nine times out of 10, and they'll put their phone up and actually participate in the show a little bit. But I'm not gonna do it in a mean way. The people in the room are the only reason you get to do what you do."

The fan who identified herself as one of the people Miranda addressed said she was "appalled" by the singer's comments.

"It felt like I was back at school with the teacher scolding me for doing something wrong and telling me to sit down back in my place," she told NBC News. "I feel like she was determined to make us look like we were young, immature and vain. But we were just grown women in our 30s to 60s trying to take a picture."

Back in May 2018, GODSMACK frontman Sully Erna spoke out against cell-phone use at concerts, saying that there's "something really magical that happens when" you are not experiencing live performances through a "little four-inch screen."

A number of other musicians have come out in recent years to say that mobile technology is ruining the concert experience, including SLIPKNOT and STONE SOUR singer Corey Taylor. He told "Loudwire Nights" that "it's fine" if people want to take pictures of his bands' shows, but not so much if they are videotaping entire performances. "It's one thing to film it, it's another thing to just be staring at your screen while you're filming it," he said. "It's right there. Are you so terrified of real life that you can't do anything unless it's on that little four-by-four screen? Ugggh. It's very weird."

Former SKID ROW singer Sebastian Bach in 2015 urged fans to keep their cell phones at the bottom of their pockets and just watch his performances. "Be in the moment," he said. "You're distracted and it's distracting to the performer as well. Like, put your fuckin' cell phone away, dammit! You're never even going to watch that footage."

The overuse of cellphones to capture grainy, blurry photos and videos at concerts has for years vexed and enraged artists like Bach, who lamented the fact that every one of his performances could be recorded and shared on YouTube almost immediately.

"If I go to a wedding and sing a song, it's on Blabbermouth the next day and everybody analyzes it," said Bach. "It's a really backwards way to watch a band. It's a drag sometimes when I go up there and the first thing I see is everybody getting their phones out and holding them toward my face. It makes you feel intimidated."

Back in 2012, Bruce Dickinson chastised a fan for texting during an IRON MAIDEN concert, calling him a "wanker."

When Axl Rose reunited with his former GUNS N' ROSES bandmates, Duff McKagan and Slash, for the first time in 23 years at the Troubadour in Los Angeles in April 2016, the concert was phone-free.