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Over the weekend I attended a concert—the Deftones opening for System of a Down—which I was hell bent on documenting, thoroughly, using my iPhone. All through the Deftones’ set, I snapped pictures and took video. Then it started to pour, with thunder and lightning very nearly cancelling the rest of the show, even before SOAD took the stage, and my phone was temporarily fucked via water damage, primarily in the camera functionality.
I put my phone away; took cover under a large tent away from the stage (lighting and other misc. electrical equipment deemed a safety hazard till the storm let up). SOAD ending up going on, and playing wonderfully, but I mostly kept my phone concealed for the duration of the event. Not because of the water damage, or the risk of further damage of some sort, but because I realised—despite having outrageous front row seats—I’d spent the majority of Deftones’ performance watching them play on my 3.5-inch screen, rather than literally above my head, close enough to have their sweat drip down onto my head. And the whole reason I was there was for the Deftones, really, in the first place.
Looking back on the photos, it’s exactly how I remember the concert being—but it shouldn’t be that way; I should remember their in-your-face closeness and the hugeness of the event. I might as well be looking at someone else’s pictures posted on Facebook.
There are plenty of occasions that warrant digital record: babies, birthdays, etc. But the whole point of seeing a band play live is seeing the band play live. I’d rather have no pictures at all.
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This may well be a killer feature of Google Glass and similar devices. A camera that doesn’t get in the way of your eyes.
At least you weren’t using an iPad
I’m definitely guilty of this — though I have got a lot better, as I no longer feel the urge to make shitty video recordings of the gigs I go to (which I would never watch back anyway…)
I did this when I went to see Paramore – very shitty recordings I ended up with. A blurry blob that was Hayley Williams in the middle, and instead of them, all you could hear was me singing along.
Plus the person(s) behind you couldn’t see past your phone.
That’s a problem if you’re down in the standing areas, yeah. I used my point and shoot which is a bit chunkier than my phone was at the time, so the effect would’ve been worse. Could’ve been worse, I could’ve used an iPad.
Haha, just imagine holding one of those up at a gig! That would be hilarious.
I have seen it so many times. Lots of people are doing it at the olympics too.
one of my pet peeves right there. Guy in front of us at my son’s gymnastics competition filming with an ipad…what a wanker
This is why I struggle to understand why so many people at gigs place a phone or camera between themselves and the band. The picture wont be great, the audio will be shit, and you’ll have to decide whether to keep your eyes on the band, or make sure you get a good picture.
You’ve paid money to be in their presence, so enjoy it by watching and remembering.
I usually take a few pics just to say “I TOOK THESE PICS!” then if i am desperately looking for videos of the gig, i’ll jump on youtube and watch everybody else’s clips
This is something I realised a while ago and cannot understand the urge that people feel to photograph or document certain things, instead of enjoying it. The example above is a good one and here are a few others.
Taking pictures of famous paintings at museums. Why in the world do you need a halfassed picture of La Gioconda (Monalisa) that you took. You can see much better ones taken by professionals, anywhere else.
At the Olympics when Bolt was running the amount of cameras from the audience shooting it was huge, I would there say that 90% or more did not actually see the race as they should, the BBC would have been a better option and guess what, there are much better pictures of Bolt on the newspapers, internet and magazines.
Edit: I would dare say
I’d guess for something like the 100m finals, to be able to say to people “Look at me, I was there – here’s the proof!”. I do agree though, I’ve been guilty of this myself and at the time I say to myself it’s so I can watch it again but I never do. I took a video of the Trinity fireworks show and the only time I watched it was to show my parents :/
I know it is always like this. Almost every member of my family does that, and I have done it once or twice in the past.
But it is really pointless and you don’t enjoy the moment as you should have.
Bah, I knew this wouldn’t be a UK tour. Thought I totally missed out on a great gig then!
Loved Deftones for as long as I can remember, and love System too, probably more than Deftones these days for some reason. Serj’s solo stuff is also very good, if maybe a little too vocal-heavy.
Anyway, I can’t stand trying to document my life instead of living it. Taking endless pics of my friends on nights out. Nope. Endless pictures of gigs. Nope. I prefer to experience things through my own lenses, my eyes, and commit them to my SD card, my brain. Not try and make some sort of futile effort to upload the entire gig to Facebook.
It pisses me off when people’s cameras and phones restrict my view of a live gig too – If I’ve gone to the expense and effort to be there, the person in front’s friends should not have a better view of the gig than me.
I always take a few pics ( < 10 ) per concert just for bragging rights.
It's not everyday you get to be in the same arena with AC/DC or Eddie Vedder.
But yeah, Videos are more or less useless. Some bands release the live recording of the concerts which are a great way to remember the night.
I am guilty of capturing video at a concert – Depeche Mode at the Royal Albert Hall 2 years a go when Alan Wilder made a welcome return to the band to perform Somebody with Martin Gore – something that will never be repeated I think.
I’ve also taken photos when I’ve been in the crowd and then posted them on the artists FB page or Amateur gig Flickr group. Other fans like that kind of stuff if the images are good. Sometimes, even the artists will comment/like them (which means a lot to me). One of my images is now the Facebook profile pic of one of my musical heroes Midge Ure.
Here’s a shot I took of Jimmy Somervile from the crowd (took with E-PL1) http://www.flickr.com/photos/leftofnever/5970995628/in/set-72157627270097694
Anyway, I digress – I won’t shoot for the whole of the concert – that’s just crazy.
What really annoys me/makes me laugh is people who take photos 10 rows back with the flash on.
I think this is because your sense of self revolves around facebook.
why on earth were Deftones opening? they’re by far the better band, SOAD never bettered their debut whereas Deftones seem to keep getting better each album
It’s really quite sad and I wish more people realised this, all I ever see these days is people snapping on their phones instead of getting involved. Yet another thing that detaches us from living our lives fully.
I used to do a bit of music photography in 2006/07, and the fact I used to go home and look at the photos and think, was I really there? and I didn’t feel like I was, it made me stop. I wasn’t really there, I was behind my camera.
I got a free camcorder from the purchase of a LG Cinema Smart TV. I was so excited that I took it out to see the Olympics football. It was one of the worst experiences ever. I almost dropped and broke it like 20 times. There were so many people pushing and shoving me. I will never take a digital device out again.