From the wise words of Beyonce, “Put that damn camera down!”
As artists begin their summer concert series and music festival season comes in full swing, we are bound to see countless fuzzy pictures and shaky videos from concertgoers.
As an avid concertgoer myself, I have taken my fair share of pictures and videos, but looking back, I rarely ever look at all the footage I have. People at concerts often take the time to send their friend a video of their favorite song or post a never-ending Snapchat story that most people don’t want to watch.
It seems that the amount of phones in the air during concerts gets worse and worse every year, and for what reason? Is it because these people want to make sure they can remember every single second or do they just want to brag to their friends about their awesome time? Many artists travel all around the world to play for their fans and they want to be able to interact with the crowd and feed off of their vibes, not look out at everyone on their phones.
When you have to focus on getting good video footage of your favorite song, you can’t focus as much on the actual song. It doesn’t make sense to take your attention away from the performance in order to be able to watch it later with completely blown out sound. I see so many people get excited about a song coming on, and then the smile leaves their face as they pull their phone out and make sure they can capture the scene in the frame.
Even if you are enjoying watching the concert through a five-inch screen (which most of you don’t look like you are), the 10 people behind you whose line of sight you are blocking definitely aren’t.
Many concert ticket prices aren’t cheap, so we need to make sure we are getting the full experience and actually experiencing it with our own eyes, not through the tiny screens of our cameras and cellphones. We need to seize the moment, sing our hearts out and dance our asses off.
The professional photographers in attendance are going to take better pictures anyway because it’s their job and many of them are amazing at what they do. They are going to be able to get the perfect jumping shot or stage-dive, whereas yours would probably be a blurry mess. These photographers are here for us, they want us to use their pictures as the background of our phones and share them with our friends.
It might be cool to show people and say that you took the pictures, but if you had a fun time and you tell your friends about your experience, they will still be jealous, don’t worry.
Some phones are getting so large nowadays that if you aren’t one of the people in the first five rows, all you can see is a sea of screens, and don’t even get me started on people who hold up their tablets for an entire hour-long concert.
It is getting to the point where I would rather have an artist ban photos and videos entirely throughout the concert, like the policy the indie rock band Neutral Milk Hotel enforces. I wish I could have seen Tyson Ritter, the All-American Rejects singer, smash a fan’s iPad on-stage in 2012.
It is fine to take a photo, maybe even five, but please don’t take 90. I understand that you want to remember these moments forever, but getting a few pictures should be enough to help all the amazing memories flow back in.
Next time you’re at a concert, try keeping your phone or camera away and see how much of a difference it makes. It is much easier to dance when you have both hands open and aren’t worried about trying to hold them as still as possible.