*My plea to society to leave the gadgetry at home* by Chelsea Boudreau
I’m trying to remember what it was like to attend a concert without having my view blocked by electronics. I realized that I never had that luxury. Whether it was a digital camera quickly taking a couple quick snap shots at my first Backstreet Boys Concert, to tablets being pulled out to capture an entire performance on video. This has always been a struggle and annoyance.
Concerts are already hard enough for me to enjoy, especially at a general admission show when everyone is standing. I’m 5 feet tall and IF I’m lucky I’ll find the perfect window - and by window I mean a gap between two people’s shoulders. This will allow me to get a glimpse of the performer(s) on stage. Not only do I have to battle with my height but against everyones handheld electronic devices blocking my view. An iPad? Really? I mean they are mobile but not THAT mobile.
I really realized that this was a problem at a recent live performance that Coldplay put on for Much Music in Toronto, ON. So many people had cameras and phones in the air that I was forced to watch the concert through the camera screen of the person standing in front of me. If I were far away from the stage this may have been helpful however, I was close enough to see the blue in Chris Martin’s eyes when I could catch a glimpse of him.
I understand that we feel dependent on technology, heck I can’t leave the house without my iPod or Blackberry or else I feel lost, but I think we’ve lost some common courtesy along the way because we are so plugged in all the time. It’s not necessary to capture every song the performer is singing, you have their album at home and you’re more likely to listen to a properly produced version of the song than the shitty recording that you captured on your camera. Take a couple of pictures if you must but a great show will be remembered no matter what. You won’t need to open your Facebook account to show all your friends what a good time you had, you’ll be able to go into full detail describing the sights and the sounds regardless.
So get lost in the music, connect to the crowd and for the love of god put your phone down so I can see.
