- It wouldn't be so bad if the picture of the singer being taken didn't invariably look like a fire on a faraway hill. Is that a song or an elephant being fisted in the back of a Formula One car while a Jumbo jet full of circus performers flies overhead? I can't quite make it out. So congratulations, you've only gone and spoiled the view of all those people stood behind you holding your iPad up so 184 people can watch a blurry and distorted 45 seconds of Lady Gaga from four miles away on the internet; your lonely footage will pray tumbleweed might stop by and give it a like one day, living in silence in some cyberspace equivalent of a grief hole away from the rest of the well-thumbed action the internet has to offer.
Another point he mentions -- that the mosh pit has gone the way of the dinosaur except in a rare few cases -- is as true as it is depressing.
Couldn't agree more with the no phone sentiment. I just saw James Blake this week and there was a sea of little screens floating above the crowd the entire show, filming the stage. Definitely ruins the moment as far as I'm concerned. But there are some people who are doing interesting things surrounding this issue. I recently saw Dan Deacon in concert. He has an app that you can download which turns your phone into a light show that is coordinated with the music. Everyone's phone glows and pulses in unison. It is emergent and beautiful. If anyone saw Aziz Ansari's standup special, he does this funny thing at the beginning where he reminds the audience to keep their cell phones off at all times. He then goes on to say that he knows people won't do that because they HAVE to take a photo. So what he does is say Ok, everyone get out your phones right now, it's camera time. Then he proceeds to pose in these funny ways while the entire audience shoots him. It's quite funny and seems to be effective too. And for anyone following him on instagram. He just posted this image... "Damn. Remember when people would just watch the Coachella webcast without having to film it on their stupid phones??"
Wow, you've posted a screenshot of a phone showing an instagram of a picture of a person taking a picture of a laptop displaying a webpage with an embedded video stream If this were reddit I would take a picture of my monitor and upload it to imgur and then someone else would print out a screencap to scan it
Here's to multivalence! Aziz just started posting images on his instagram feed actually. Before that, he had 40,000 followers and zero images. To me, that was one of the internet's funniest things ever.
I was at a CAKE concert at Brewery Ommegang last summer. Not only did John McCrea tell the audience not to record, but he actually specifically called out the two people who were willing to defy him at some point during the concert, embarrassing them into putting their cameras away. It was great! Having a hundred huge smartphones and iPads with the brightness turned up too high interfere with my view the whole night is a real annoyance. I went to a How to Destroy Angels show last night. I had a balcony seat, so I didn't have to worry about idiots obstructing my view, but I did have to put up with idiots taking flash photographs. HtDA uses very complex lighting sequences (it's really amazing), but whenever there was a dramatic darkness upon the stage, it was invariably interrupted by some imbecile who left their crap camera's flash on auto.
They are absolutely right with this. You have hundreds of people taking the same pictures - and for what? One of the best shows I ever went to, Jeff Mangum, had a strict no phones policy. They even escorted a couple of people out for violating that. You should be there to enjoy the music and performance, not to take pictures to add to your Facebook collection. The mosh pit is still alive and well at a lot of smaller shows! === Fun fact: Most contracts for music performers at college concerts include clauses barring them from encouraging mosh pits and other similar acts (if they happen they happen, but you can't incite them). They also bar physical contact between the performer and the crowd during the set (IE no surfing onto the crowd allowed). These rules aren't always enforced, but one more thing to keep in mind. Source: I've booked shows at my college and have had the opportunity to read through a couple of contracts.
That fun fact isn't fun! One of the coolest music moments I've ever seen was [Alex Ebert](www.allmusic.com/artist/alex-ebert-mn0001967279) in all his bare-footed glory walking around on the upraised hands of hundreds of swaying hippies. Physical contact should be up to the performer. And damned if I didn't touch Astronautalis a few weeks ago and damned twice if it wasn't the highlight of my hand's day.
I just realized I omitted a very important word in my comment. Everything in that fun fact pertains to concerts located on campus at colleges.
Well I agree completely that if you whip out your phone and start filming, snapping, focusing and zooming, you're the one that loses. Hands down. The payoff just isn't there because the photos and audio truly do look like complete shit, -not even worthy of a second glance years later. If you're at a show, save the photos for the people you're with in those in between moments. That's really the whole point. But I think it's your choice. I don't agree that you should refrain because of other people around you. It's the new normal for kids today and the only reason some find it annoying is because they remember a different cultural habit and like their old way better. Give me someone whipping their phone out for a few moments over that tall guy that just parked himself upfront of me any day. That tall guy has always been there and is never going away. Phones are far less annoying in my book, and people have the right...at least at most types of shows. On a side note, I was pretty annoyed at my fiancé at the Nick Cave show for poking me a few times and asking me to snap a photo for her while I was totally immersed. She finally got the hint when I involuntarily scowled at her. You are responsible for removing yourself from the moment, -I'm not doing it for both of us :p
You're wrong. I'm 19, and it annoys the fuck out of me. It isn't just "remembering a different cultural habit," it's actually quite distracting. It's not least distracting because of the brightness -- the venue is supposed to be dark except for the performance, and a bunch of huge smartphone screens with brightness turned up way too high ruin that.
As I alluded to, there are definitely venues and shows where this would be universally annoying. For most types of say, pop music concerts, I think that people in the aggregate are definitely less annoyed by the phenomena if it is the only norm they know. Especially some of the examples the author of the article cites. I'm sorry, but any show that has a mosh-pit isn't going to have people terribly up in arms about people taking pictures if those people have been seeing that as standard behavior from day 1 of their concert-going life, at least compared to people who have been exposed to and remember different aggregate behavior. Incidentally, this truth is exactly why this is a losing battle. The biggest offenders are younger people who don't see it as a big deal and don't have a frame of reference to compare it to because it's always been this way as far as they know. The number of people like you who are annoyed will sadly, never be large enough. Again, there are obviously exceptions. If you go see Sigur Ros, you're going to piss people off no matter what. I just saw Kris Kristofferson play an acoustic set at a venue where the manager threw out two sets of people for talking during the show. It all depends.
It was less than two years ago that I had my first experience with a mosh pit, and I'm 37. When I realized what was happening I was exhilarated, but it didn't last long. I was also an asshole and took some footage with my iPhone, but not much. There were no iPad videographers that I remember, though.
I wasn't aware there was a widespread occurrence of mosh pits outside of hardcore. Maybe he meant there are less at punk shows? I still don't think that is right. In my experience the people who want to mosh will be up front and the people with cameras will stand back. It's not like they are mutually exclusive. Anyways, when I first started going to gigs I would take a lot of photos and some videos. Afterwards I realized I was never going to look at the pictures or watch the videos since they were so crappy. In that sense the article is correct. It is a waste of time using technology at gigs and ruins the recorders experience as wel las others around them. Sometimes I'll take a photo at the start of a set to send someone if they want to see, but after that my phone goes away and I just enjoy the show. On a side note, I recently had an idea involving cell phones and concerts. I still think it's a good idea but this article gives me pause.In the 25 years I've been attending gigs, technology has changed a few things: most notably it killed off the moshpit (or at least confined it to hardcore shows) so concerned are people about losing their smartphones.