Vent: The new 'silent disco' walking tour in Nashville felt like a weird gimmick

I was in Nashville last week and saw a group of about 30 people all wearing headphones, following a guide who was silently dancing. It's a 'silent disco history tour' where you listen to music and stories through the headphones. Honestly, it felt isolating. You can't talk to anyone without taking the headphones off, and the whole point of a tour is to share the experience. I think it's a fad that will fade once the novelty wears off. It solves a problem that doesn't really exist. Has anyone else done one of these and actually liked it?

4 comments

4 Comments

cameron_hernandez692mo ago

My buddy did one in Austin and said it was super awkward. He tried to ask the guide a question and had to wave his arms like a maniac to get noticed. The whole thing just felt like a lonely party.

miller.diana2mo ago

Remember thinking those silent group things were a dumb trend until I tried one last month. Felt exactly like your buddy Cameron described, standing there waving like an idiot just to ask where the bathroom was. The guide was so focused on keeping quiet he missed half the group falling behind. It turned a fun idea into this weird, lonely feeling in a crowd. Totally changed my view on the whole thing.

ericw932mo ago

Yeah, Cameron's buddy had it right. Turns out forced quiet just makes you feel alone.

iris_schmidt13d ago

Read about these silent disco walking tours popping up in a few cities, and every article basically said the same thing you did. People described it as feeling like you're in your own little bubble, which defeats the whole point of being in a group. There was this one story about a guy in Chicago who missed his wife stopping to tie her shoe because he was too into the music mix. The headphones are supposed to make the tour better, but it sounds like they just create more problems than they solve.