If anyone has gone to concerts since the creation of the smartphone, or more specifically, since features such as “stories” were introduced on Snapchat, they will notice that it is simply impossible to look at the artist performing without seeing somebody else recording the performance on their phone. Whether or not that is actually legal without the consent of an artist is a completely different conversation. I have been to many different types of performances, ranging from large hip-hop/rap concerts to small alternative concerts, or even average sized symphonic performances. Speaking from personal experience, there is always someone on their phone recording the concert or “Facetiming” a relative so that they can be part of the concert experience too. I’m sure this opinion is shared, but this can cause frustration in scenarios when the person sitting or standing in front of you has been recording the concert for the past twenty minutes, and their phone is directly in your line of sight preventing you from seeing the central part of the stage.
Of course, in the age of social media, people want to update or brag to their friends that they are at a concert, but recording the concert for more than 10 seconds to put on your story is excessive. Not only is this potentially rude to the people around you, but it also isn’t entirely healthy, according to Sherry Turkle. Turkle believes that social media and technology is putting us in a position where we are using social media and technology as an actual separating factor from society. Social media seems to be prioritized over friends and even family. Social media oriented concert attendees enter a state of what Turkle calls, “absent but present.” Concerts should really be for sharing the experience with friends and family that are present, dancing, enjoying good music, and even crying (yes, some people get teary when they here emotionally moving music. Whether or not I am one of them is a question for later). Being too focused on the social media aspect can really detract from the overall experience, as well as cause sociological complexes. These can include the inability to have a real conversation, a lack of self-confidence, or feeling the need to constantly seek self-approval.
But back to concerts. This past November, I attended an AJR concert at the Ritz. For those who are unaware, AJR is an alternative/electro-pop type band. As to be expected, different crowds are drawn to different types of concerts. For example, just as a side note, I am 6’0 and was one of the tallest people on the ground floor of the Ritz. That doesn’t really relate at all, but I just thought it was interesting and somewhat strange. However, the crowd consisted of a more diversified group of people than you might see at a symphonic performance, and most of which were college-aged or younger. This AJR concert was my first concert in that music genre. The opener was an artist named Robert DeLong, and he performed using solely technological instruments, including some sort of laser-harp. In fact, his entire setup consisted solely of electronic devices such as loops, MIDI Pad controllers, voice controllers, Launchpads, and things like that. These newer advancements in technology definitely opened my eyes to the possibilities of live concerts, and to me were quite interesting. However, during the transition from DeLong to AJR, I overheard an audience member mention to his friend that he like “AJR’s minimalist setup.” AJR definitely had electronic components, but their stage had other live instruments and was overall less cluttered than DeLong’s setup. This audience member, clearly focused on the presentation, could have been bothered by all of the phone-recording as well, as he was clearly interested in the presentation of the concert.
While technology can be cool when it is incorporated into performances to highlight new advancements and create a unique expression, it can sometimes cause irritation amongst other audience members in other forms. While I myself will likely post a picture from the next concert I go to, it is important not to let technology overcome the audience’s perspective of the concert, and to encourage the storage of phones once a performance starts.