Live concerts can be one of the most invigorating experiences in a person’s life.
Of course, when you first fall in love with a band, you begin to listen to all their songs; you buy album upon album to catch up with the current fans. Then the tour dates come out and the big debate starts: What location will you see the performance at? Do you buy tickets to be as close to the stage as humanly possible or take the seats that you can actually afford? When the tickets are finally bought, the waiting begins.
The day arrives and you are there in the seats and your band comes out to play. As soon as they enter, an iPad is held up in front of you and obstructs you from seeing the people you have obsessed over for months.
Now I am an Apple product lover through and through, but when there is something the size of a frying pan blocking my line of sight, that is where I draw the line.
Why bring something of that size into a concert in the first place, and then record the performance for not one song, but the entire set list? That video quality won’t win you any Oscars, and the likelihood of you watching your recordings probably doesn’t run past one or two times.
Steve Jobs did not make this wonderful creation of metal and manpower for students to hold up over their head and record an hour and a half of shaky footage with people screaming and the echo of songs in the distance.
It’s not a crime to pop out your phone for a quick snapchat video or a selfie with the band in the background, but to take out electronics and stick them in the air, viewing the concert through a phone screen, is not the optimal way to enjoy the moment.
Recording your favorite song is a must—you know live is often better when it is your favorite track. However, keeping your phone out the whole concert puts you in the mindset that you will have footage later, and consequently takes away from living the song out in the moment.
Concerts should be memories you cherish for as long as you can. We should strive to live in the moment as we create the scene in our minds of our favorite artists, all while also respecting the people around us so they can create a lasting memory, too.
