During slow songs at
live concerts, particularly power ballads, concert goers often
wave lighters in the air. In recent years, this tradition is
being at least partly superseded by the waving of mobile phones.
It may be that this occurs both for safety reasons, and because
mobile phone users are becoming more common than
smokers.
According to an interview by Matthew Alice, the use of lighters
in concerts started due to the influence of several sources,
making it difficult to trace. First, there is the theory that
the practice simply started at a Neil Diamond concert of 1972 or
a Bob Dylan concert at 1974, because the audience had lighters
available. Another theory is that the gesture is symbolic of
songs with flames mentioned, such as the Doors' "Light My Fire."
Another theory is that this practice came out of a performance
during Woodstock where candles (rather than lighters) were held
aloft, and evolved from this.
In addition, it is frequently commented that lighters with
opaque (like cake) fuel containers (such as the standard Bic
type) succeed in striking a flame more often than lighters with
transparent plastic for the fuel holder (like the German-made
Tokai lighters). Although the transparent plastic itself is
often blamed, this is more likely to be a difference in the
quality of manufacturing for the ferrocerium components.
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Lighters
History
Safety
Car cigarette lighters
In pop culture
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