Camera phones and video recorders play havoc with the concert vibe

    1 of 1 2 of 1

      Technology is great. But does anybody remember when we used to go to concerts for music?

      Nowadays it seems like you can't go to a gig without people blocking your view to capture precious footage on their pocket-sized video recorders or snap the photo of a lifetime on their smartphones. The rotten fruits of these labours inevitably wind up on YouTube, where you have to sift through scores of shakey, terrible sounding clips to find decent concert footage of your favourite band.

      Not that I can talk. The last concert I went to--Aerosmith at Rogers Arena a couple of weeks back--I was playing the photo-snapping fool just like the rest of them. Worse than that, I was actually (cringe) texting!. But it wasn't like I had a choice: I was on assignment, blogging the show from my seat for Straight.com. Believe me, if I could have chosen between struggling to accurately type shit on a tiny, touchy keyboard while being jostled around or watching Joe Perry lay it down on "Train Kept A-Rolling", the iPhone would have stayed in my pocket.

      But rock journalism is a cruel mistress.

      I wasn't planning on taking pictures with the pesky high-tech device, either, but the ace reviewer seats I scored--row 13 on the floor, close to the catwalk where Perry and Steven Tyler would strut their stuff--put me right where the action was. I even e-mailed a couple of iPhone shots to the web editor who, much to my dismay, immediately posted them. Not that Mick Rock is looking over his shoulder.

      What I don't get is why, unless it's their occupational duty, people are so obsessed with recording the shows they paid good money to see with their own eyes. And I'm not the only one who's got a beef about it. In a recent story on the concert-taping craze in the Wall Street Journal, Black Crowes vocalist Chris Robinson complained about concertgoers who can't seem to enjoy a show unless they digitally take a piece of it home with them.

      "As a band we've been trying to string together these moments," said Robinson, "the kind of moments I've had as a music fan that have blown my mind. That's not happening when you're texting or checking your f---ing fantasy league stats. I personally think you should be too high to operate a machine at our concerts."

      Some rockers don't like the idea of as-yet-unreleased material being introduced to the world via crappy fan-shot clips. When I interviewed Ace Frehley before a 2008 show in Vancouver he told me that his set would include some KISS classics and material from his ’80s solo career, but that he wasn't going to preview tunes from his then-upcoming album--his first since 1990--because he thought they were special enough to wait for.

      "This album’s been so many years in the making, that I don’t really want to give any of it away," he said. "’Cause I’ll do a show and the next day it’s on YouTube.”

      Ian Montone, who manages such acts as the White Stripes and Vampire Weekend, told the Journal that his bands aren't thrilled about playing to a wall of cameras.

      "Having the first 20 rows of an audience standing motionless and acting as ersatz cameramen can be obnoxious to the artist, other fans, and takes away from the concert experience," said Montone, hitting the nail on the head.

      Since most music lovers have functioning memories, I don't understand why they feel compelled to let that concert experience suffer just so they can stockpile questionable footage. Are they afraid that they might catch Alzheimer's one day and not remember that Angus Young mooned them with his maple leaf-patterned gonch on the Black Ice tour?

      Come on, people: leave the recording equipment at home next time you go to a gig. Bring the phone in case the babysitter needs to know where the pizza money is, but forget about capturing the moment with it. That's what your mind is for.

      You can follow Steve Newton on Twitter at twitter.com/earofnewt.

      Comments

      4 Comments

      Steve Newton

      Oct 3, 2010 at 12:39pm

      what the hell? I posted this blog two days ago and not one person has commented with something like: "Screw you Newt, we'll videotape if we want to!" I guess that means they all agree with me. Who knew?

      0 0Rating: 0

      PeterL

      Oct 3, 2010 at 4:58pm

      As a hobbyist photographer, I take a ton of photos. Thus, I'll often take my point and shoot to a show. If the venue would let me, it'd be the ol' DSLR instead to get phtoos that look decent from an image quality perspective. With that said, I'll only take a handful of photos at a show nowadays for a few reasons:

      1. The band has a really swanky stage setup and I want a shot of it it from where I was standing. The fact of the matter is, that swanky stage setup will only exist for the duration of their tour and the next time the band comes around, it'll be completely different. So what's the harm in having a picture of this possibly grand thing that a bunch of designers and engineers created?

      2. When the band is really into their own music and they're clearly having the time of their lives, it's just nice to have a digital archive of this. Looking at past photos has a knack of conjuring up memories of the experience that wouldn't just randomly come up.

      3. Getting a good looking live concert picture is somewhat difficult due to a variety of factors, like the surrounding crowd, the lights, the hopefully moving musicians and such. It becomes an interesting challenge to me as a hobbyist photographer, as honing in the skill can help in other shooting environments as well.

      Other than that, yes, I think we should be busier rocking the fuck out versus watching the concert through an LCD screen. Live blogging with photos about how great a concert is as it happens doesn't tend to have much bearing on the folks who aren't there.

      0 0Rating: 0

      Carl Spackler

      Oct 5, 2010 at 8:32pm

      Yup the modern world sucks the big one. The 70's were the high water mark of western civilization.

      0 0Rating: 0

      Steve Newton

      Oct 5, 2010 at 11:02pm

      Spackler for Mayor!

      0 0Rating: 0