There once was a time when I’d look at a concert ticket for the words ‘NO CAMERAS, NO RECORDING.’ In that case I would either:
a) leave my camera at home
b) hide my camera in a black headphone bag under a pile of tampons at the bottom of my purse.
At the show I’d feel like I was a secret agent, running up to the stage, taking a photo (or twelve) with no flash and praying the film would turn out. I then went back to enjoying the concert.
Nowadays its not only challenging to look over the shoulders of giants, but also try to look past their cameras/ phones recording entire songs. At a recent folk show, the person in front of me not only texted through the entire set, but their iPhone lit up the room like a flashlight. I can only imagine what it was like to be the artist looking out into the dark crowd at what may look like the equivalent of ET’s glowing finger.
But why do we do it?
Do you film at concerts? Do you ever post up the footage?
When you have to update Twitter and Facebook, how many times during a show is acceptable? Can you wait until the end of a show without doing it?
And also, what is up with the chatter? Surely, I’m guilty of talking at the back of shows, or loudly greeting a friend, but if you push to the front of a gig, you should be there to watch. At a recent show I stood in front of two wine reps talking about orders LOUDLY. I shouldn’t know your wine order, really.
Is it rude to tell someone their drunk and loud? Their phone’s light is burning your retinas? What do you do? (I’m partial to the cold stare of death.)
Coming up, John K. Samson of The Weakerthans pitches us his idea for a CBC Radio 3 Concert Etiquette Guide.
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