On the way to Heathrow airport I travelled by tube. Out of the twenty people I could see one was reading a newspaper, one reading a book. The rest were on smartphones. The underground in Seoul is no different.
It can be very tempting. Most people have smartphones. But in most countries filming or recording during concerts is illegal. It's a kind of stealing.
Ushers in China even have red lasers that they can point at videoing offenders.
During the applause lots of phones come out for photos. That's OK.
On this tour there was a first. It was when our conductor, Daniel Harding, after taking his bow, whipped his phone out and snapped the audience ... then a selfie. They went wild. It was wonderful.
On a less happy note, smartphones can be a real pain.
Saturday, after the first movement of the concerto we paused to let in latecomers. A tall man wearing a green overcoat arrived and sat in the middle of the third row. We continued with the concert.
From where I was sitting on the 4th desk inside, looking at the music I couldn't help but notice him out of the corner of my eye ... what was he up to?
But play on ..... try to ignore.
Yes he was videoing. Phone close to his chest to make it less obvious. It's funny, people think we can't see them I've seen it all. Cameras peeping out from under programmes, hats, books. Today's cheeky chappie managed to video two movements of Sibelius Violin Concerto an entire Mahler Symphony and even the encore.
Cheers mate. I really wanted to savour playing Sibelius Violin Concerto and Mahler Symphony No 4 for the very last time and all I could think of was of you ripping us off.
At the ends of the concert he didn't even applaud.
Double cheek.