Coldplay, Cell Phones and Cameras
Not that long ago–a decade, maybe?–every single concert ticket contained a warning in big block letters: NO CAMERAS OR RECORDING DEVICES. Anyone who dared try to slip in even one of those disposable cameras (remember those?) risked being roughed up and ejected.
I even remember going to gigs in the early days of cell phones where signs admonished people for even thinking about bringing something like that to a concert. Many venues and tours insisted that they be banned or be confiscated at the door. No, really.
Eventually, though, the cell phone won. Now when you go to a gig, half the audience is watching the show through a tiny screen that they’re holding up in front of their face.
A couple of years ago, I went to a Green Day show on their 21st Century Breakdown tour. About halfway through the show, Billie Joe Armstrong got mad.
“Put down those fucking cell phones! You’re HERE! This is NOW! This is THE MOMENT! Don’t experience this later through a stupid little video! BE HERE! NOW!”
The dude had a point. People were so busy trying to capture the moment, they were missing it. These thousands Green Day fans were no different than those vacationers who miss their vacation because they’re too busy framing it through the viewfinder.
Naturally, Billie Joe was ignored and people went right on watching an amazing gig through a 4-inch LCD. And they paid money for this?
Billie Joe’s words came to mind last night as I watched Coldplay perform in the parking lot of MuchMusic on a promo tour ahead of their Mylo Xyloto release. Hundreds of people had waited hours and hours in the rain to get a good spot close to the stage. And what did they do when the band hit the stage? They watched the show through their iPhones and Blackberrys.
I get it. You want to preserve the experience so you can relive it later. But what exactly are you preserving? You have a shakey, grainy private video of the band onstage with the audio in mono, adulterated by crowd noise.
What about the emotional experience of a live performance? Did you preserve that? Or did you even have one because you were so busy trying to video the show?
(Full disclosure: I’m guilty of this, too. But I never video more than a minute or so of any gig and the number of pictures I take is small. I’d rather take in what’s happening around me. But maybe I’m just old-fashioned.)
I love technology. I love the democratizing power of it. I love how technology has been a boon to music. But for the love of God, people, I wish you’d put down your bloody phones and just get into the music fer chrissakes!
A professionally shot version of the show will be available on MuchMusic and elsewhere for years. Or are you telling me that you’d prefer your crappy little production complete with the drunk dude next to you who keeps going “WOOOOOOOOOHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO?”
Or maybe you do like the guerilla video. My recommendation is to let someone else worry about it. Just Google “Coldplay MuchMusic” and you’ll find plenty of bad audio and video.
The only thing more annoying than this, is seeing every single one of those badly shot videos posted with an obligatory "Sorry for the quality. Shitty cellphone video" caption.
I don't think people are recording it to re-live it later. It's being recorded to be shared on the various social media sites and emailed around so that they can show others that they were there and here's the proof! By doing this, they are keeping up their image of being cool and relevant.
Yes Cbab, I am always amused by the identical caption on each hideous video. What also makes me shake my head is the people that take photos (fully zoomed out from 300 feet back) over and over trying to get that one good shot of the lead singer mid-scream. What you end up with is a grainy, dark, and unrecognizable blob. They still get posted to Facebook nonetheless…..I say put the phone down and enjoy the show, you can take crappy video/pictures, but nobody can take your memories of the show!
I don't think people are nearly as concerned with preserving the moment as they are with being able to share it on social networks and with social contacts in RL as proof that they were there. People use their association with bands and music as way of shaping their own identity. I feel like being able to say 'I was there' / 'here's something I like' to social contacts is more important to a lot of people than actually being in the moment.
Or it could just be that Coldplay is dull.
Alan!
I hate the sea of crappy cameras flashing at concerts and DJ shows as well.
This story is made all the more poignant because you included your own low rez smartphone pic!
It's the pot calling the kettle overly-pixelated if you ask me….
🙂
alexd
TRIBE
The show was professionally shot in HD and available as a worldwide rights-cleared stream. It will live on MuchMusic.com/coldplay on-demand for a year available to the world in a gorgeous adaptive bitrate (almost) HD stream.
http://muchmusic.com/coldplay/
Share that online and tell people you were there instead of grainy, shaky, smeared, mono footage.
Sure beats watching the backs of people's heads in the parking lot via youtube….
Alan,
normally I agree with you but this time I can't. While I do agree that people who drunkenly hold their cameras over their heads to take random pic/videos is not only pointless but distracting, there are some bands who embrace this and when organized properly, the results are quite incredible. Check out some of the stuff that dedicated Nine Inch Nails fans have created from the "Lights In The Sky Tour" and even more impressive, the "This One Is On Us" project.
I don't ever take pictures and in a regular show, I do sometimes record a few songs. I've been part of a few DVD projects and the results are quite phenomenal. You get some great HD angles, some soundboard (or official) audio and concert DVD's rival professional ones…without people contributing to a bigger project, thousands (yes, thousands) of fans who weren't there wouldn't be able to experience it. It was great and everyone gets a chance to re-live it.
Of course, I highly doubt these tweens were organizing a DVD of the Coldplay show with footage from their blackberrys.
Just my 2 cents. Thanks,
-New Fashioned
About 5-6 years ago when I was smuggling my digital camera into shows, I was taking pictures for myself to review later. I wasn't sure I'd get to see as many concerts as I do, and inevitably, the picture may look good on the camera display but put up on the PC screen, it was blurry – so I took lots of pics.
I don't take nearly as many pics now, having aged and realizing that I'm not getting anything different from song to song other than the lighting.. Plus my new camera is better quality and the video doesn't have distorted audio from the bass anymore. I'll take a handful of souvenier pics for myself and record a song or two, but thats about it now.
What gets me is the flash on cameras.. the flash is only good for 6-8" max.. if your halfway back on the floor, the flash will light up the heads in front of you and darken the rest of the pic. Trust the technology and turn the flash off, the stage lighting will come through.. although you may end up with some blur due to the lens being open longer.
I take pictures at shows for the same reason I take pictures when I'm on a tropical island vacationing – to remember the moment. It takes me 5 seconds to do and gives me a talking point when sharing my experiences. Why it bothers people is beyond me. Not all shows are documented as well as the Coldplay one. Plus the POV of the picture puts me back to the exact spot I was standing in that moment.
To each their own. Both sides have a point. But arguing that they're annoying is grasping for straws. Get over yourselves and let people do what they want.
I hate those guys at gigs who don't take pictures. They really annoy me and I might 'blog' it to vent my views.
"But arguing that they're annoying is grasping for straws. Get over yourselves and let people do what they want."
It's not grasping at straws. It's annoying as all get out because my view of the bands I came to see is obstructed by dozens of glowing little devices destroying MY moment, and marring the stage image that some groups spend a lot of time designing. I'd equate it to being as unpleasant as being surrounded by chain-smokers.
Why is proving to/sharing with the world that you were somewhere doing something more important that actually being there or doing it?
Totally agree – when I go to a concert I want to enjoy the experience and the band performing and really enjoy the music. I usually will record a little video or take pictures during one song just to have a personal keepsake of the show. Why people think that what their eyes and ears see and hear will be exactly what their phone is taking is hilarious.
I totally agree with you! Thank you for bringing it up to the masses. There will always be someone with a better camera than you getting it anyway – let them and watch it later if you must! Live it now!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aTlfIDItzOc
I dont know, my cellphone takes some pretty good concert video, sound is pretty good. I've certainly listened to much worse bootlegged cassettes.
My issue with cell phones at concerts is less with the video and photo taking and more with it's replacement of the lighter. Maybe I am just showing my age but a sea if glowing cell phone light does not give the same ambiance of zippos and bic's.