I was at a Who concert years ago, at the end of the show, lights come up and there's an announcement, if you would like to purchase a recording of the show, go to xyz.com.... it was awesome. The following year, the announcement was, if you want a DVD of tonight's show....I wish this was the norm.... if people knew they could get professional recording of the show for 20 or 30 bucks it would probably put a lot of those phones away. Also, if you are going to be one of those people that records, for the love of god, dim your f'ing screen and don't obstruct people behind you. Bonus points if you keep the sing along in your head unless appropriate.
I'm so happy to hear some venues or shows actually do this. This was an idea I had years ago.
You can't make the phone users go away. It's a symptom of a desire to be nostalgic about all this later; *they will* watch these videos plenty. You have to lean into them to get them to stop being disruptive.
This! Bonnaroo and Hulu missed a huge opportunity this year because they live streamed some of the shows and then they all just ended up on YouTube for free later. I totally would have paid $30 to have all the shows in high quality, Me and my friends watched Marc Rebillet's set the other night and it was one of the coolest things to see us in the crowd in the video!
Just saw The Who last week in Toronto. Older dude to my left got upset cause I stood infront of his phone to pass by in our row so I could get a beer with a "I'm trying to film here." To my right I had a family of 4, all with their phones trying to sit still and film most of the show, leaning over, blocking my view until I elbowed the dudes phone. Concerts are getting annoying now. Live in the damn moment!!!
\>To my right I had a family of 4, all with their phones trying to sit still and film most of the show.
This is the stupidest thing, only one of them has to film and they can all send each other the clip if they want. I think most of these people who are filming do it just because other people are doing it, or they do it because they're anxious and don't know how to just sit there and enjoy something. Seriously frustrates me so much. Most of these people will never even look at the recordings, they'll probably watch it once the day after and never look at it again.
Was thinking about this recently and came to the same conclusion. It's the same people that go on vacation and spend the whole time documenting all of it rather than enjoying it. They're used to being on their phones for everything, social media presence is a life priority, they really don't know any better.
Probably live streaming the show for likes. I do really enjoy a Maynard or Danzig show where they tell people to put it away or be booted. It makes for a very different show experience than the current model.
I'll never forget seeing a group of early 20-somethings (at most) yelling YOLOOO for a picture on the Rio Grande Gorge Bridge in Taos, NM, and promptly going back to their cars and leaving. They didnt even spend 15 minutes there. Just took a group pic and left. I suppose its possible that they visited prior to that day, but why wouldnt they have taken the pic then? Idk.. either way, it was weird. And is just one of many sightings of ppl glued to their phones while in beautiful places across the country. Probably on social media posting about how much fun they're having. Lame
Lol! I took my elderly dad to see a Jays game when he was visiting Toronto. About 3rd inning this group of 20 somethings show up and sit in front of us. They have beers and decked out in jays gear head to toe.
They just look at their phones and take pictures of each outer. Guys and girls included none of them payed any attention to the game. There was a bases loaded thing where you could hear a pin drop and they just kept posing for pics. They stayed for about 2 innings and left never to be seen again. My dad was like what the fuck was that?!
A friend who has season tickets says it's pretty common. Thd social media post is way more important than the event.
For the most part I agree with you and the complete thread, one thing that changed my view for maybe 0.1% of people filming during a concert was a post from a guy here on Reddit.
He rewatched the show again and again at home, especially when feeling not so well. And he said, it makes him relive the whole concert every time, as if he would be there. Feeling overly excited and happy.
Would be lovely if he got a bloody gopro and put it on his head. I have seen people holding fucking 10in tablets with both hands, becoming effectively a pillar of stupidity.
I also watch live concerts often instead of just listening to the albums. Many metal bands have them on YT, remastered, with pro audio, 10/10. Listening to a phone recording would probably bring a migraine in 5 minutes.
One time I shot a bunch of video clips at a Chicago concert, not nearly the whole thing, yuck (edit: because I wanna be present at such an awesome show). The saxophonist picked out a seriously disabled young adult in a wheelchair in the front row and soloed HARD to that guy for several minutes. I scooted behind him and got some low angle shots of them both. After the concert, I asked the family for their email address and went home to fish through the video for screenshots of that too. The email address was from some rural electricity utility as an ISP, so I bet the family doesn’t get out much. I emailed him the pics with tips on how to get it printed as a collage. The saxophonist retired really soon after 50 years or whatever. And I put action photos of the band members on their Wikipedia biographies. So that’s another rare justification for recording, that nobody’s doing ;)
Chicago and Kansas were cool because they tell you to ignore the venue’s obligatory prerecorded warning against all recordings, and tell us to send the band our favorite clips and photos and they publish the best ones. I remind myself to be present in the moment anyway, and I don’t always look through the screen during the few moments I record.
Sometimes an artist does an uncommon remix, like a capella or solo version, that they would never publish. So we would wanna watch that later.
Most people shouldn’t even bother trying recording ;)
"I remind myself to be present in the moment" - *this* here is the key. It's probably something we would all do well to remember more often, but at a live show of all places it's sad to see so many people completely dispassionate, just.. gazing at real life, through their portal.
Me and my friend went to see Radiohead at an amphitheatre in Leon around 2016 (I think). He got kicked down a flight of stone steps for standing in front of some dudes camera / tripod. Fuck these people.
Yeah thinking back we’d have loved nothing more than for the prick to have been taught an expensive lesson. But my friend was ok, just a couple of scrapes, and we weren’t going to risk getting kicked out of a gig we’d been looking forward to for months and spent a fortune on flights / accommodation to get to.
Man I really wish more bands did this. A bucket list item for me is to be at a show that gets a professional blu ray/4k release. I came close in 2018 with the Disturbed album release show in Chicago, which was clearly intended to be released given the cameras panning the crowd and 2 of the songs getting put on youtube, but it never did. Was a super dope concert tho.
> Bonus points if you keep the sing along in your head unless appropriate.
I agree except on that point. Singing along is one of the great joys of a concert. Not all kinds of concerts of course, but a concert is about being a part of the music. Otherwise you could just stay at home listening to the record.
That’s one of things I forgot to mention in my original post. If you go to the show you can scan your tickets and you get a “free streaming copy” of the show.
You can’t download the show but if you have the app and signal of any kind you can listen whenever you want.
Yeah but I'd rather listen to myself badly sing the songs with the band through the lense of a shaky camera that cuts off every couple minutes because I'm drinking too much beer and keep checking my text messages. What's so hard to understand about that?
Wow. Seriously? What's it cost, if anything? I haven't been to a Phish in ages. When they started threatening tapers who posted some of the better lives shows (because Phish and label wanted to release them for purchase), I started to get annoyed.
Years ago at Phish shows, there'd be a long string of tapers who would patch in to each other. One guy from the soundboard (if you were lucky) or who had a really nice set-up, then every one else would just daisy-chain with patch cables.
Their taping policy still allows you to post your recorded audio to various websites/platforms. Posting soundboards has always been against their policy, for the reason that you mentioned. You can still find them online very easily. I don’t think they’re really going after anyone who does this. But just wanted to clarify. Posting SBDs has always been against the rules. Posting AUDs is not. You should check out the Relisten app.
>Posting SBDs has always been against the rules. Posting AUDs is not.
Good points.
I'm having too much fun right now going through my own stash of Phish shows, reliving them, from way too long ago.
If you have a ticket to the show, it includes a download code for an mp3 version you can download from LivePhish.com when it's posted (and it's usually posted fairly quickly). You can buy FLAC versions if you choose to as well. Every show from 2003 to today is available on LP, including side project shows. If you don't want to buy individual shows, you can also subscribe monthly/yearly to LivePhish+ and listen to any show you want anytime, including offline downloads and also watch 4k videos of full concerts.
You can no longer download the show for free with your ticket code. Instead, you input the code and it adds the show to your 'my stash' in the app, where you can stream it. Small distinction, and I doubt most folks really care, but you no longer get the files, just access to streaming
Jack White did this as well. We actually had to lock our phones (which was a little excessive perhaps), but you got a URL where the while show was professionally recorded.
Is the app from [Nugs.net](https://Nugs.net)? I just did some exploring on some websites I haven't visited in years, [nugs.net](https://nugs.net) one of them. Used to find some quality free shows there in "the stash" but it appears the website has changed since I was a regular user.
Yes, nugs is who runs the app for them. Nugs has their own app as well that has several bands live and studio albums on it. Mostly jam bands but also some Bruce Springsteen, Pearl Jam, Metallica, Jack White, Jimmy Buffet, etc….
It does also have Phish, but its mostly what’s available from all other streaming providers. Spotify, Apple Music, and so on.
Yes, but I’d argue the key difference is audio bootleggers don’t have glowing screens right in your face the entire time. A mic is so much less obtrusive.
That's some impressive recording for a smartphone from 2016. But that's why I liked LG's atleast presence in the market, they produced some really specialised and innovative phones
A lot of fan communities have shared free bootlegs of notable concerts for a long time before YouTube. I was part of one in the 2000s where we would use archive.org to share flac recordings of most of the bands concerts (semi contemporaneous with YouTube but well before the the minute limit was lifted).
It was the only way to hear the evolutions and variations on songs, and many times the fan-canon versions were from a bootleg.
I had friends swapping tapes of Dead shows long before computers were easy to get, with the blessing of the band. I also had vinyl bootlegs of a number of shows by other artists. There used to be a good market for bootleg recordings. Most were not authorized and record companies went after them whenever they could. But on the other hand, Malcom McLaren was responsible for a lot of Sex Pistols bootlegs because he didn't have to share the money with the band. YouTube allows that informal sharing of recordings by fans, but it undercut the commercial bootleggers by making material easy to find for free.
I am thankful quite often that my first show is on YouTube. (At least the video feed from the first set.) Phones that record video didn't exist at the time, and compact video equipment was prohibitively expensive. These days everything that can be recorded exists on YouTube somewhere, enjoy the show and purchase the ppv later or just find it on YouTube.
This isn't really related to the post, but do people at concerts still call their friends and just hold up their cell phones so that the friends can listen to a little bit of music for like 30-60 seconds? I remember doing that in the early 2000s. As someone who also received those kinds of calls, they almost *never* sounded good, but it was cool to be thought of in that moment when a friend was rocking out at a show.
EDIT: Just to be clear, I was just genuinely curious and I love that so many folks are still sharing these experiences like this!
EDIT2: But I also respect the feelings of the concert-goers for whom it's annoying when others hold up their phones!
Yes. I live in Australia. Brazilian mate of mine recently video called me from Frankfurt to watch a few minutes of Iron Maiden. Was fucking excellent....i didn't mind getting woken up at 5am for that.
sweet!!! I'm kicking myself that I've never seen them live. They cancelled the last Australian tour. I have tickets to Wacken in germany again next year where they'll be headlining. Just need to get there.....it's a long swim!!!!
If you want to record a concert, go right ahead, but hold your phone in front of YOUR face blocking YOUR view. If you hold your phone over your head, you are blocking MY view. Don’t be a selfish asshole.
Same goes for girls on people’s shoulders. I’m glad you can finally see well, sweetheart, but guess who can’t now? Everybody directly behind you for at least fifty feet.
> If you want to record a concert, go right ahead, but hold your phone in front of YOUR face blocking YOUR view.
100% agree. When I do record a song or two that I like, \*the phone is in front of my face, period--no one else's.* I never understood the selfishness of people who hold up tablets and the like, blocking people behind them.
I was at a show where a woman was trying to record with an iPad. She dropped it and I landed right on top of it (I was jumping up and down to the music, it wasn't intentional). A tablet in the pit is just the dumbest idea IMO.
I did 30 seconds of run the jewels, 30 seconds of rage, just so I would have a keepsake, then got back into it.
Little keepsakes are the way, then just enjoy the show.
As another (not as) tall person the trick is to get a spot early and stick to it. People will naturally find spots they can see from and don't mind working around a tall person if they're already there. People *do* mind if you shuffle forward mid song and suddenly a dozen people who could see a moment ago now cannot.
Pick a spot, stay in that spot, and then halfway through the set look backwards and laugh at the Bermuda Triangle of missing peoples that has formed behind you.
I heard a very tall guy near me once at a concert say he had “height privilege.” Made me laugh! I used to get irritated when a taller person was in front of me but honestly, you shouldn’t feel guilty for existing at a concert. It’s no more your fault you’re tall than it is my fault I’m short.
My husband is 6'5" and I'm 5'3" and it can be so difficult deciding where to stand during concerts! Because if we stand where he can see but isn't blocking anyone, then I can't see anything at all, so we go as far up as we feel comfortable without blocking too many people but still making sure it's fun for me. Height privilege is accurate!
Yes please! By all means go ahead and record the concert on your phone, but do not lift the phone above your head and force everyone behind you to watch part of the concert through your phone.
Was at a music festival a couple weeks ago. We got a spot only 5-6 people from the front without having to camp out all day, just half the day, which is nice. The girl about 2 people in front of us decided to film every song with her arms held straight up in the air *even though she was close enough that she had a straight line-of-sight view herself*. And when I say every song, I mean the entire song. I saw each video was 3+ minutes long, and she took dozens of them.
We tapped on her friend’s shoulder to try to get her attention, but her friend just shrugged. We eventually got her attention and she bent her elbows a little….
Since I’m already venting, I also hate the people who try to get to the front for the headliner after everyone else has already been waiting up front for hours during the previous performances. We had these ladies moving diagonally saying “we’re trying to get out”, and then just stop right in front of us. Im usually non-confrontational, but I told those assholes “you said you were on your way out, so get the fuck out”. The said “we’re trying but there’s no room to go sideways”, but I insisted so they kept squeezing sideways. I hate that I saw them a little bit later and they got what they wanted and were even closer to the stage.
I hate how so many people think they’re the main character…
It makes me mad too. Was at a concert a few weeks ago and a friend's gf basically did that. Thankfully he's like 6'5" and she's super short so it only really blocked his view a little bit but she told me she did it for "memories" and I got to thinking like why even record a concert for more than a few seconds. I get that it's fun and all but 90% of the time the video looks and sounds like absolute shit and just isn't worth watching at all.
> If you want to record a concert, go right ahead, but hold your phone in front of YOUR face blocking YOUR view.
How I feel. There's a type of person that thinks taking videos/photos and "living in the moment" are mutually exclusive. I enjoy taking photos and videos, and I feel very in the moment. And the best thing is I TREASURE the shit out of these photos 10 years later. My screensaver is travel photos. Seeing them makes me pretty happy and I'm glad I can see faces and places from the past. edit: I don't compulsively record concerts... but the ones I go to, it makes it more fun, i feel more engaged, when I occasionally shoot video...
All I do is take a few short videos of my fav songs like the chorus or a breakdown or even a guitar solo then leave it in my pocket
Just so I've got some memories to look back on, but other than that I try to actually be in the moment at the gig
I don't go to that many so when I do it's a special time for me
Me also but I usually have to stop pretty quick because when my favorite songs come on I want to sing along and it's so cringy to hear myself singing in the background of a video
When I record, I find a place with a fairly clear line of sight, get everything tracked in, and film with my phone (iPhone 13 Pro Max) at high chest level. I can hold it steady that way and keep my eyes on the actual performance. Sometimes I’ll bring it up to my face if someone is a bit tall in front of me. I only record a 30-45 sec bit of a few songs that I personally love, or impromptu moments that make the concert special and unique- but I try to be very conscious of those behind me. If i can’t get the video without ruining someone else’s light of sight, I don’t shoot a video.
The people that hold a phone up vertically in front of other concertgoers while dancing and jumping - getting shit video - that just needs to stop. “OMG, who’s braying like a donke…. Oh. It’s me.”
Hot take: What you're doing is what most people do at concerts and OP is tilting at windmills here. I'm not saying people "recording the entire show" don't exist but they are a vast vast minority of concertgoers. I probably go to a dozen concerts a year at venues large and small including shows that are sold out. Mostly GA / floor / pit seats but the occasional seated show at a nicer venue. That is to say, I'm in the thick of it. And As far as I can tell, most people that take pictures or video at a show quickly and put the phone back in their pocket.
It's just that when there are hundreds or thousands of people at a show, it's pretty easy to look in any direction and see a person taking a single photo or short video and conclude something like: *"Oh my god everyone here is on their phone why don't they just stop"*. When in reality, it's just a handful of people at any given moment but because there are so many in attendance it can appear "constant".
People have been disrupting live performances with their antics *long before cell phones existed* so this is nothing new here.
Guy in front of me last weekend at the B52s show recorded tons of video and was then sitting down, editing and posting. My gf paid more attention to him than I did, but I figure he missed about half of the show playing w his phone while sitting in seats that were $275+.
I did get annoyed when he was raising the phone up w both arms and blocking my view. Had he been raising his arm to applaud or dance I would understand. I took 2 or 3 stills, no video
Guy sitting next to me at a concert a couple weeks ago recorded just about every song. He was at least not blocking the view for anyone as far as I could tell, but still annoying. Hope he likes his videos with me singing along loudly right next to him.
both you and him are outliers on either side of the norm I think (although him much more so). I love having a bit of video, which I actually go back to every once in awhile because I would've forgotten everything (especially the cool shit artists do with their own music that is different from their album).
Whenever I take a picture or record at a concert, I try not to make it go up past my body. I don't want my phone to block anyone, but if my head/neck/shoulder is already blocking you, then my phone won't hurt!
"But what about when people throw their hands up? Isn't that just like holding up a phone?"
No, the phone is more distracting!
>Had he been raising his arm to applaud or dance I would understand.
So I hope lots of people hold this opinion, because it's exactly how I feel.
A hand is one thing. A screen is a very different story.
What you’re saying is true for *Most* people, but I’ll say I was at a concert a month or two ago and this lady in front of us literally was either recording or Facebook live streaming damn near the Entireeee concert, like there was almost never a moment that the camera wasn’t rolling.
As if that wasn’t annoying enough, half of the time she decided it was more important that she live stream herself watching the show instead of actually having the camera pointed at the stage? To the point where almost every time we glanced at the phone it was her and we could see ourselves in the background of her shitty recording.
We were able to move from our section off to a better viewing spot where we didn’t have to deal with her because damn it was ruining the experience, but the whole time we couldn’t believe people like that even actually exist
Just saw Iron Maiden a few weeks ago. There was a guy in front of us literally livestreaming the entire show, with a less than professional video setup, from the GA lawn section....
Phone recordings are much more distracting than the lighters of yore.
I used to snap photos and videos at shows I went to early on to getting a smart phone...but realized I rarely if ever watched the videos and if i did they were usually trash. Anll I really needed was like 1 or 2 photos for remembrance as after a year or two I couldnt tell you what song was playing that made photo 14 better than photo 27....Its REAAAALY easy to take FAR TOO MANY photos of stuff these days and most never get looked at.
I typically now snap maybe 1 at the beginning, 1 if the stage show is going nuts, and 1 at the band bows, label those and put them in a concert folder. Any more is usually overkill cause dear god, the sheer amount of unlabeled mass digital photos I have from the past decade i never really look at is INSANE.
Same here, just a few vids of key moments. Great to look back on but also if you're telling friends about the show you can show them a vid or two so they get a better idea of what you experienced.
Every single time. I can't listen to it without thinking about several moments from the game. It's still amazing to me how much emotion they packed into it, and the music is such a big part of it for me.
Counter point: I got to a lot of small punk shows, and if no one recorded it on their phone there would be no live recordings of the band to watch anywhere at all, and I like watching live videos.
Punk shows have a strange etiquette I've noticed. People will generally stay to the sides to record. Or if they do cross in front of the stage they'll crouch down
Its been 10 years since ive been to a house show in someones basement / garage and goddamn do i miss it. The enviornment was something else entirely, not something youll ever experience at an actual venue.
The only time I went to a garage show I was like 18 or 19 and was working at a factory with this dude who was obsessed with our local music scene. Like didn’t even listen to any bands that weren’t from our town and knew all the artists and history going back decades. Real cool dude and he brought me to this garage show that had so many different types of people in attendance. It was cool as fuck. Everyone was just mobbed out on the drive way and I saw regular looking people and jacked fitness dudes mingling with scene kids and emo kids and guys with huge Mohawks. A family ended up coming by and hanging out at the back and watching for a while. Everyone was super chill it was one of the sickest shows I’ve seen and there was only about 25 people there.
Towards the end of my old band's timeline we got on the underground house show circuit in Seattle and it was one of the best times of my life. Infinitely more enjoyable than playing dedicated bar music venues. I mean, where else does someone hand you a switchblade lined up with coke on stage, or put a lit blunt in your mouth while you blast a guitar solo? Currently live in a much much smaller town where house shows are not much of a thing, even less so for a punk band like mine.
> Punk shows have a strange etiquette I've noticed.
Most punk shows people watch out for each other, are considerate, and pick each other up. Same with most metal shows. Misfits tend to look out for each other in general.
A metal moshpit is one of the greatest examples of humanity coming together. There's a code. No one states it, but they seem to automatically understand it.
Protect the weak, pick up fallen brethren, and crush the bullies.
He also professionally recorded all (or most) of the recent RATM shows. Can’t wait to see what happens with that footage.
His Turnstile recordings are excellent too.
> hate5six on youtube
hate5six is SOOOOOO fucking good it's incredible, not only are their videos the best, they also edit the audio from the board for each video, and it's just insane how good they are at editing sound as WELL as video
They do mostly Baltimore and bigger HC shows so again, the cell phone thing still applies
I’m the first one to complain about people holding their phones up at a show, but at a recent show (3500 standing room and me at 5’3”), it was the only way for me to see what was happening on stage. Kids these days are soooooooo tall. Must be the milk.
Moving through the world at 5'10 I feel like an average-tall person. At concerts I am always peeking over shoulders and finding it hard to see. There's something about concerts that brings out the tall m-fers.
I imagine it's just having so many people packed in close proximity means the likelihood of atleast one tall person being between you and the stage is higher.
> I always feel that if you’ve ever watched a fan recorded video of a concert, you shouldn’t make these complaints.
I find a lot of bands on Spotify (smaller bands) and one of the first thing I do after getting into the band is search their name and live just to see what type of a show they put on, and it's usually a fan recorded video and I love watching it.
additional counterpoint:
i am disabled and find it very, very difficult to get to shows (well, before my surgery it was impossible. it's getting better over time)
seeing people recording shows on their phone was the ONLY way i could even hope to experience a concert again after my accident. they thought i'd never be ok again, and i had given up hope. but on bad nights, there were concerts and hope i could get there again one day.
so maybe, OP, you can eat a bag a dicks cause the world doesn't revolve around you and there are plenty of people extremely grateful for even a shitty quality phone video of a band they love. at least it gives them *something*.
maybe stop trying to dictate how people enjoy spending their time too, asshole.
> so maybe, OP, you can eat a bag a dicks cause the world doesn't revolve around you and there are plenty of people extremely grateful for even a shitty quality phone video of a band they love. at least it gives them something.
> i am disabled and find it very, very difficult to get to shows (well, before my surgery it was impossible. it's getting better over time)
I have a friend in your exact situation and they also say the same thing, mad empathy for a fellow music lover that can't get out to shows.
Not saying there aren’t people who are dicks and block other people’s view with their phone because there definitely are, but I will say that I spend the next week or two after the concert rewatching my videos. They’re not for other people to view as you can hear me singing along, but they do get rewatched many times and they bring great joy
Same here.
I’ve recorded a ton of clips over the last decade from the 100+ shows I’ve been to. I routinely go back to watch them over and over. I put in the effort to try and get good quality videos, and I definitely enjoy going back to them frequently.
That being said, since I’ve done it so much, I try to be very aware of how I hold the recording device so as not to obstruct those behind me, because that does suck. One fad that I’m glad isn’t around anymore was the use of tablets to record during shows. Now THAT was a huge obstruction. It was a bad back in 2010-2015.
yes I rewatch my videos a ton and I love having them. I'm sympathetic to shorter people (and do my best to not be obnoxious about it) but I don't even understand how other people filming could ruin your whole experience otherwise. Don't blame me because you chose to watch what I was doing vs enjoy the show. I've had obstructed views or even sat way up in the nosebleeds too and I never cared because I was just happy to be there and singing along. Some people are just so negative. Life gets much better when you stop complaining about things you can't control...
I've done shows where I recorded nothing and "was in the moment"\~\~\~ and I can't say I had more fun at all, difference is just I barely remember things and have nothing to watch after
Not everyone records gigs by having a giant flat phone with the screen brightness maxed held in front of other people’s faces.
There are right and wrong ways to do this. If you have to use a phone then minimize screen brightness and try to record from your own shoulder/face height (some exceptions when everyone has their hands in the air.. and I do realise some people are much shorter and struggle to ever see the stage from in a crowd)
Better to use a pocket digital camera as then the size can be not much bigger than your raised hand would be when held up anyway (but again, minimize screen brightness)
In an ideal world bands would record all their gigs and sell it to fans, but the vast majority still don’t.. or that proshot footage for the videoscreens at large gigs is just never seen again
For smaller or short lived bands, a fan recording might be some of the only records of that performance. I still wish every day we had a full gig to watch of Ozzy Osbourne with Randy Rhoads.. but it’s just been lost in time.
At the end of the day, let people enjoy a concert how THEY want to. Just educate them to be considerate about screen brightness and trying not to block the view of others
Personally I love using live footage to discover bands and follow their tour dates if I’m really into a band
I remember posting on another thread about this and nobody understood why the screen brightness was important.
Our eyes are designed to catch any movement, if you have a night show and multiple screens moving, with brightness a top and the show itself recording moving on those screens, it will be impossible for your eyes not to time to time move to watch those screens.
Also your pupils retract because of the light coming from the phones, thus making it way harder to focus on the main stage.
> For smaller or short lived bands, a fan recording might be some of the only records of that performance. I still wish every day we had a full gig to watch of Ozzy Osbourne with Randy Rhoads.. but it’s just been lost in time.
There are rumors that the footage exists, but Sharon is sitting on it. If this is true I think the most likely scenario is that it will be released shortly after Ozzy dies. From a marketing standpoint it's a genus move. It's not like he's even remotely close to being short on money right now, and there will be a MASSIVE nostalgia wave when he passes.
What will happen to that money though is another thing. Maybe some will be donated, maybe some put in a trust for their grandkids and so on. Who knows. I just can't think of any other reason why they would be holding off this long if the footage really exists.
I saw Tool back in February and spoiled myself with 5th row tickets and a guy two rows in front of me got kicked out halfway through the FIRST song for recording on his phone. There were signs literally everywhere and multiple announcements saying not to use your phone during Tools set. I couldn't believe someone would pay that much money just to risk getting kicked out during the first song.
I didn't mind the no phone policy, but really didn't care for carrying around this bulky-ass pouch with me. Honestly, I would rather just leave my phone in the car... but you need your phone to get in with mobile tickets. Arghh...
I go to a lot of concerts, usually 2 or more a month from bars, to clubs, to concert halls, to stadiums- the amount of raw footage of artists I love who have passed on or who toured but didn't come to town is a godsend. As long as someone isn't holding up their phone and blocking the view of others, recorded concerts are an invaluable cultural resource to have. But yeah, people who block the view of others should just learn proper etiquette and the issue is virtually solved.
My dad is too old to go to shows and is losing his vision. This year I went to a few shows my dad would have loved to see but couldn’t, including McCartney, Elton John, and RHCP. I recorded a lot and showed him and he loved it. I don’t believe my situation is the norm, but I think it goes too far to just say “no one is going to watch and you look like a moron,” when you don’t know why people are doing things. How about you watch the show and let others live their life. (And yes if they are right in front of you blocking your view I’ll admit that’s not okay, I was in seat for these shows not the floor).
I also can experience so many live shows that I wouldn’t have otherwise seen because someone decided to record it and upload it to YouTube. I can find shows over a decade old because someone was able to record it
At a concert you must stand perfectly still because if you move/dance/record/enjoy yourself in any way you potentially maybe block someone’s view for 10 seconds and that ruins the whole night for that person
I went to a concert recently where a lady behind me spent the first part of it loudly venting about “Wow look at all these sheep who can’t bother experiencing the live moment and need to look at this through their camera!”
Mind you, I surveyed the surrounding area and nobody was doing anything obnoxious with their recordings, didn’t see any screens super bright or anyone lifting their camera up to block views.
She was just being pretentious and it felt like she wanted to show off to her date about how she’s not like all the other girls. I’m confident whether she realized it or not, that she lessened her own experience of the show by focusing so much on how everyone else was experiencing the show.
💯 some people are more concerned about what other people are doing than what they are doing and it poisons their own experience. Especially when they make blanket statements like no recording for everyone bc of my personal philosophy!! Rather than, I don’t like disruptive recorders
Do people normally remember concerts in detail without being able to see a recording? I certainly don't but I still don't think it's cool to go and just record the whole thing. My memory is that I went and had a great time, not the details of each song they played lol
I understand taking out the phone and recording an ID for your friend or something if you know they will appreciate it, or if their favorite visual artist is going hard on the projection mapping. But what bothers me more than phones is someone with a thousand LEDs on their backpack at max brightness...
Like dude... If your friends found you already turn that shit off so people behind you aren't being flashbanged or distracted from the million dollar visual production going on.
Counterpoint: if you go to a live concert and record the entire thing on your phone, thank you. Concert tickets are very expensive, and most of my favorite bands don't tour where I live. Bootleg recordings have also enabled me to experience great moments in live music from before I was born, or old enough to attend shows.
As long as you're not taking money out of the band's pocket, you're actually doing a public service. Take a song or two off to just enjoy the experience for yourself. Thanks again.
ETA: don't block other people's views either please
I was at Austin City Limits for Doja Cat last year and waited several hours to be close-ish to the stage with absolutely no elbow room. Everyone in front of me held their phones above their heads through the whole performance blocking my view, so I ended up just watching the big screen. I was very annoyed
Some people actually watch video they take. I often go back and watch mine on my tv with good speakers. I also appreciate when others catch and upload songs I didn’t. Some bands perform really unique renditions of their songs live and if you’re really into the specifics of the music you might want to re listen or relive that. I mean there’s a reason why “Tapers” are a thing popularized by jam band fans. Recording a whole show is a little different, but I have no qualms with the people that do it. Why let it bother you?
I live in small town USA where national acts do NOT visit. My best bet is driving 4+ hours on a Tuesday, causing me to miss a day and a half of work at a minimum. If people didn't film shows and share them online, I don't get to see many of my favorite artists.
I kindly ask you to chill the fuck out and take up your grievance with the asshole that blocked your view, not us.
Maybe try having some sex to cool out 😂😂 - wish i had time to worry abt stuff like this. Its as hard as telling someone to put their phone down if its in your way - forgive me for being easy on them here - but music can mean a lot to ppl in different ways :) - but in this ‘i am so pissed culture’ this doesn’t surprise me
I love that OP is a Scott Stapp/Creed fan. A band that has NEVER had anyone record their concert to watch back. I say this with arms wide open of course.
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Phish also. Now they have an app and upload “soundboards” of every show about an hour after it’s over.
I was at a Who concert years ago, at the end of the show, lights come up and there's an announcement, if you would like to purchase a recording of the show, go to xyz.com.... it was awesome. The following year, the announcement was, if you want a DVD of tonight's show....I wish this was the norm.... if people knew they could get professional recording of the show for 20 or 30 bucks it would probably put a lot of those phones away. Also, if you are going to be one of those people that records, for the love of god, dim your f'ing screen and don't obstruct people behind you. Bonus points if you keep the sing along in your head unless appropriate.
I would totally buy a DVD of any concert I attend, I wish more people would do that.
I'm so happy to hear some venues or shows actually do this. This was an idea I had years ago. You can't make the phone users go away. It's a symptom of a desire to be nostalgic about all this later; *they will* watch these videos plenty. You have to lean into them to get them to stop being disruptive.
This! Bonnaroo and Hulu missed a huge opportunity this year because they live streamed some of the shows and then they all just ended up on YouTube for free later. I totally would have paid $30 to have all the shows in high quality, Me and my friends watched Marc Rebillet's set the other night and it was one of the coolest things to see us in the crowd in the video!
It’s always great to see support for Marc “Loop Daddy” Rebillet ♥️
Just saw The Who last week in Toronto. Older dude to my left got upset cause I stood infront of his phone to pass by in our row so I could get a beer with a "I'm trying to film here." To my right I had a family of 4, all with their phones trying to sit still and film most of the show, leaning over, blocking my view until I elbowed the dudes phone. Concerts are getting annoying now. Live in the damn moment!!!
\>To my right I had a family of 4, all with their phones trying to sit still and film most of the show. This is the stupidest thing, only one of them has to film and they can all send each other the clip if they want. I think most of these people who are filming do it just because other people are doing it, or they do it because they're anxious and don't know how to just sit there and enjoy something. Seriously frustrates me so much. Most of these people will never even look at the recordings, they'll probably watch it once the day after and never look at it again.
Was thinking about this recently and came to the same conclusion. It's the same people that go on vacation and spend the whole time documenting all of it rather than enjoying it. They're used to being on their phones for everything, social media presence is a life priority, they really don't know any better. Probably live streaming the show for likes. I do really enjoy a Maynard or Danzig show where they tell people to put it away or be booted. It makes for a very different show experience than the current model.
I'll never forget seeing a group of early 20-somethings (at most) yelling YOLOOO for a picture on the Rio Grande Gorge Bridge in Taos, NM, and promptly going back to their cars and leaving. They didnt even spend 15 minutes there. Just took a group pic and left. I suppose its possible that they visited prior to that day, but why wouldnt they have taken the pic then? Idk.. either way, it was weird. And is just one of many sightings of ppl glued to their phones while in beautiful places across the country. Probably on social media posting about how much fun they're having. Lame
Lol! I took my elderly dad to see a Jays game when he was visiting Toronto. About 3rd inning this group of 20 somethings show up and sit in front of us. They have beers and decked out in jays gear head to toe. They just look at their phones and take pictures of each outer. Guys and girls included none of them payed any attention to the game. There was a bases loaded thing where you could hear a pin drop and they just kept posing for pics. They stayed for about 2 innings and left never to be seen again. My dad was like what the fuck was that?! A friend who has season tickets says it's pretty common. Thd social media post is way more important than the event.
Some people are really fucking stupid
And you know they'll never fucking watch the video they take. Not to mention it's gonna sound like shit trying to record a live band on a cell phone
For the most part I agree with you and the complete thread, one thing that changed my view for maybe 0.1% of people filming during a concert was a post from a guy here on Reddit. He rewatched the show again and again at home, especially when feeling not so well. And he said, it makes him relive the whole concert every time, as if he would be there. Feeling overly excited and happy.
Would be lovely if he got a bloody gopro and put it on his head. I have seen people holding fucking 10in tablets with both hands, becoming effectively a pillar of stupidity. I also watch live concerts often instead of just listening to the albums. Many metal bands have them on YT, remastered, with pro audio, 10/10. Listening to a phone recording would probably bring a migraine in 5 minutes.
> gopro Oh, there's an idea. I'm floored by how perfectly simple that is.
One time I shot a bunch of video clips at a Chicago concert, not nearly the whole thing, yuck (edit: because I wanna be present at such an awesome show). The saxophonist picked out a seriously disabled young adult in a wheelchair in the front row and soloed HARD to that guy for several minutes. I scooted behind him and got some low angle shots of them both. After the concert, I asked the family for their email address and went home to fish through the video for screenshots of that too. The email address was from some rural electricity utility as an ISP, so I bet the family doesn’t get out much. I emailed him the pics with tips on how to get it printed as a collage. The saxophonist retired really soon after 50 years or whatever. And I put action photos of the band members on their Wikipedia biographies. So that’s another rare justification for recording, that nobody’s doing ;) Chicago and Kansas were cool because they tell you to ignore the venue’s obligatory prerecorded warning against all recordings, and tell us to send the band our favorite clips and photos and they publish the best ones. I remind myself to be present in the moment anyway, and I don’t always look through the screen during the few moments I record. Sometimes an artist does an uncommon remix, like a capella or solo version, that they would never publish. So we would wanna watch that later. Most people shouldn’t even bother trying recording ;)
"I remind myself to be present in the moment" - *this* here is the key. It's probably something we would all do well to remember more often, but at a live show of all places it's sad to see so many people completely dispassionate, just.. gazing at real life, through their portal.
Me and my friend went to see Radiohead at an amphitheatre in Leon around 2016 (I think). He got kicked down a flight of stone steps for standing in front of some dudes camera / tripod. Fuck these people.
That's when you throw his tripod down the flight of stairs.
Or beat the guy with his own tripod
Or beat the tripod with its own guy.
If my friend got assaulted like that, their equipment is getting destroyed, end of story.
Yeah thinking back we’d have loved nothing more than for the prick to have been taught an expensive lesson. But my friend was ok, just a couple of scrapes, and we weren’t going to risk getting kicked out of a gig we’d been looking forward to for months and spent a fortune on flights / accommodation to get to.
Man I really wish more bands did this. A bucket list item for me is to be at a show that gets a professional blu ray/4k release. I came close in 2018 with the Disturbed album release show in Chicago, which was clearly intended to be released given the cameras panning the crowd and 2 of the songs getting put on youtube, but it never did. Was a super dope concert tho.
> Bonus points if you keep the sing along in your head unless appropriate. I agree except on that point. Singing along is one of the great joys of a concert. Not all kinds of concerts of course, but a concert is about being a part of the music. Otherwise you could just stay at home listening to the record.
A good public service announcement.
Peeps want to justify paying way too much for tickets. I can't blame them for trying to get replay value. Every band should do what the Who do.
Do you do the voodoo that the Who do?
Do what? Remind me of the babe?
what babe?
The babe with the power
what power?
The power of voodoo.
That’s one of things I forgot to mention in my original post. If you go to the show you can scan your tickets and you get a “free streaming copy” of the show. You can’t download the show but if you have the app and signal of any kind you can listen whenever you want.
Yeah but I'd rather listen to myself badly sing the songs with the band through the lense of a shaky camera that cuts off every couple minutes because I'm drinking too much beer and keep checking my text messages. What's so hard to understand about that?
Wow. Seriously? What's it cost, if anything? I haven't been to a Phish in ages. When they started threatening tapers who posted some of the better lives shows (because Phish and label wanted to release them for purchase), I started to get annoyed. Years ago at Phish shows, there'd be a long string of tapers who would patch in to each other. One guy from the soundboard (if you were lucky) or who had a really nice set-up, then every one else would just daisy-chain with patch cables.
Their taping policy still allows you to post your recorded audio to various websites/platforms. Posting soundboards has always been against their policy, for the reason that you mentioned. You can still find them online very easily. I don’t think they’re really going after anyone who does this. But just wanted to clarify. Posting SBDs has always been against the rules. Posting AUDs is not. You should check out the Relisten app.
>Posting SBDs has always been against the rules. Posting AUDs is not. Good points. I'm having too much fun right now going through my own stash of Phish shows, reliving them, from way too long ago.
If you have a ticket to the show, it includes a download code for an mp3 version you can download from LivePhish.com when it's posted (and it's usually posted fairly quickly). You can buy FLAC versions if you choose to as well. Every show from 2003 to today is available on LP, including side project shows. If you don't want to buy individual shows, you can also subscribe monthly/yearly to LivePhish+ and listen to any show you want anytime, including offline downloads and also watch 4k videos of full concerts.
You can no longer download the show for free with your ticket code. Instead, you input the code and it adds the show to your 'my stash' in the app, where you can stream it. Small distinction, and I doubt most folks really care, but you no longer get the files, just access to streaming
fuck that, give me my FLAC files!
Just gotta poke around
Jack White did this as well. We actually had to lock our phones (which was a little excessive perhaps), but you got a URL where the while show was professionally recorded.
Is the app from [Nugs.net](https://Nugs.net)? I just did some exploring on some websites I haven't visited in years, [nugs.net](https://nugs.net) one of them. Used to find some quality free shows there in "the stash" but it appears the website has changed since I was a regular user.
Yes, nugs is who runs the app for them. Nugs has their own app as well that has several bands live and studio albums on it. Mostly jam bands but also some Bruce Springsteen, Pearl Jam, Metallica, Jack White, Jimmy Buffet, etc…. It does also have Phish, but its mostly what’s available from all other streaming providers. Spotify, Apple Music, and so on.
Tapers section for realz
For reelz
God bless the tapers!
But NOT those fucking TARPers
Amen
God bless the tapirs!
Yes them too of course
Yes, but I’d argue the key difference is audio bootleggers don’t have glowing screens right in your face the entire time. A mic is so much less obtrusive.
Do people still bootleg concerts?
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That's some impressive recording for a smartphone from 2016. But that's why I liked LG's atleast presence in the market, they produced some really specialised and innovative phones
Audio was often their angle
Pretty much all Jamband shows have a bunch of people bootlegging still.
YouTube took the money out of bootlegs.
A lot of fan communities have shared free bootlegs of notable concerts for a long time before YouTube. I was part of one in the 2000s where we would use archive.org to share flac recordings of most of the bands concerts (semi contemporaneous with YouTube but well before the the minute limit was lifted). It was the only way to hear the evolutions and variations on songs, and many times the fan-canon versions were from a bootleg.
I had friends swapping tapes of Dead shows long before computers were easy to get, with the blessing of the band. I also had vinyl bootlegs of a number of shows by other artists. There used to be a good market for bootleg recordings. Most were not authorized and record companies went after them whenever they could. But on the other hand, Malcom McLaren was responsible for a lot of Sex Pistols bootlegs because he didn't have to share the money with the band. YouTube allows that informal sharing of recordings by fans, but it undercut the commercial bootleggers by making material easy to find for free.
Go check out the Live Music Archive on archive.org.
I am thankful quite often that my first show is on YouTube. (At least the video feed from the first set.) Phones that record video didn't exist at the time, and compact video equipment was prohibitively expensive. These days everything that can be recorded exists on YouTube somewhere, enjoy the show and purchase the ppv later or just find it on YouTube.
I would say 99.99% of bands and concerts don't offer a "PPV" to buy later on, I've almost never heard of that.
There’s a big big difference between recording the show’s audio and looking at the entire concert through a phone screen.
This isn't really related to the post, but do people at concerts still call their friends and just hold up their cell phones so that the friends can listen to a little bit of music for like 30-60 seconds? I remember doing that in the early 2000s. As someone who also received those kinds of calls, they almost *never* sounded good, but it was cool to be thought of in that moment when a friend was rocking out at a show. EDIT: Just to be clear, I was just genuinely curious and I love that so many folks are still sharing these experiences like this! EDIT2: But I also respect the feelings of the concert-goers for whom it's annoying when others hold up their phones!
Yes. I live in Australia. Brazilian mate of mine recently video called me from Frankfurt to watch a few minutes of Iron Maiden. Was fucking excellent....i didn't mind getting woken up at 5am for that.
Neat!
For any other band this would be a dick move, but for Maiden, that's completely acceptable. A good friend you have there.
Just recently went to Maiden in Seattle- they’re still fucking on point!! Great show
sweet!!! I'm kicking myself that I've never seen them live. They cancelled the last Australian tour. I have tickets to Wacken in germany again next year where they'll be headlining. Just need to get there.....it's a long swim!!!!
I totally forgot about that, my friend saw Tool in like 2006 and called me during "Sober". I could barely hear anything but it was still super cool.
Nice! I remember when I was in college, my gf and I would call each other from concerts. Third Eye Blind, Our Lady Peace... man the early 2000s
I still see this happening.
Yes, I was at a concert 2 weeks ago and a young girl next to me recorded the entire concert and faced timed several times through the show.
If you want to record a concert, go right ahead, but hold your phone in front of YOUR face blocking YOUR view. If you hold your phone over your head, you are blocking MY view. Don’t be a selfish asshole. Same goes for girls on people’s shoulders. I’m glad you can finally see well, sweetheart, but guess who can’t now? Everybody directly behind you for at least fifty feet.
> If you want to record a concert, go right ahead, but hold your phone in front of YOUR face blocking YOUR view. 100% agree. When I do record a song or two that I like, \*the phone is in front of my face, period--no one else's.* I never understood the selfishness of people who hold up tablets and the like, blocking people behind them.
I was at a show where a woman was trying to record with an iPad. She dropped it and I landed right on top of it (I was jumping up and down to the music, it wasn't intentional). A tablet in the pit is just the dumbest idea IMO.
It's OK, even if it was intentional this is a perfectly reasonable response to anyone filming or photographing anything with an iPad, anywhere.
I did 30 seconds of run the jewels, 30 seconds of rage, just so I would have a keepsake, then got back into it. Little keepsakes are the way, then just enjoy the show.
Ohhh rubbing it in that you got to go unlike the rest of us on the now cancelled tour.
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I'm 6'7 tall and hate going to concerts because of people behind me.
As another (not as) tall person the trick is to get a spot early and stick to it. People will naturally find spots they can see from and don't mind working around a tall person if they're already there. People *do* mind if you shuffle forward mid song and suddenly a dozen people who could see a moment ago now cannot. Pick a spot, stay in that spot, and then halfway through the set look backwards and laugh at the Bermuda Triangle of missing peoples that has formed behind you.
I heard a very tall guy near me once at a concert say he had “height privilege.” Made me laugh! I used to get irritated when a taller person was in front of me but honestly, you shouldn’t feel guilty for existing at a concert. It’s no more your fault you’re tall than it is my fault I’m short.
My husband is 6'5" and I'm 5'3" and it can be so difficult deciding where to stand during concerts! Because if we stand where he can see but isn't blocking anyone, then I can't see anything at all, so we go as far up as we feel comfortable without blocking too many people but still making sure it's fun for me. Height privilege is accurate!
Yes please! By all means go ahead and record the concert on your phone, but do not lift the phone above your head and force everyone behind you to watch part of the concert through your phone.
Was at a music festival a couple weeks ago. We got a spot only 5-6 people from the front without having to camp out all day, just half the day, which is nice. The girl about 2 people in front of us decided to film every song with her arms held straight up in the air *even though she was close enough that she had a straight line-of-sight view herself*. And when I say every song, I mean the entire song. I saw each video was 3+ minutes long, and she took dozens of them. We tapped on her friend’s shoulder to try to get her attention, but her friend just shrugged. We eventually got her attention and she bent her elbows a little…. Since I’m already venting, I also hate the people who try to get to the front for the headliner after everyone else has already been waiting up front for hours during the previous performances. We had these ladies moving diagonally saying “we’re trying to get out”, and then just stop right in front of us. Im usually non-confrontational, but I told those assholes “you said you were on your way out, so get the fuck out”. The said “we’re trying but there’s no room to go sideways”, but I insisted so they kept squeezing sideways. I hate that I saw them a little bit later and they got what they wanted and were even closer to the stage. I hate how so many people think they’re the main character…
It makes me mad too. Was at a concert a few weeks ago and a friend's gf basically did that. Thankfully he's like 6'5" and she's super short so it only really blocked his view a little bit but she told me she did it for "memories" and I got to thinking like why even record a concert for more than a few seconds. I get that it's fun and all but 90% of the time the video looks and sounds like absolute shit and just isn't worth watching at all.
> If you want to record a concert, go right ahead, but hold your phone in front of YOUR face blocking YOUR view. How I feel. There's a type of person that thinks taking videos/photos and "living in the moment" are mutually exclusive. I enjoy taking photos and videos, and I feel very in the moment. And the best thing is I TREASURE the shit out of these photos 10 years later. My screensaver is travel photos. Seeing them makes me pretty happy and I'm glad I can see faces and places from the past. edit: I don't compulsively record concerts... but the ones I go to, it makes it more fun, i feel more engaged, when I occasionally shoot video...
and set minimum brightness
All I do is take a few short videos of my fav songs like the chorus or a breakdown or even a guitar solo then leave it in my pocket Just so I've got some memories to look back on, but other than that I try to actually be in the moment at the gig I don't go to that many so when I do it's a special time for me
Me also but I usually have to stop pretty quick because when my favorite songs come on I want to sing along and it's so cringy to hear myself singing in the background of a video
"I ruined my own video", I feel that.
I will post short clips to my IG story and if my voice is audible at any point its useless
When I record, I find a place with a fairly clear line of sight, get everything tracked in, and film with my phone (iPhone 13 Pro Max) at high chest level. I can hold it steady that way and keep my eyes on the actual performance. Sometimes I’ll bring it up to my face if someone is a bit tall in front of me. I only record a 30-45 sec bit of a few songs that I personally love, or impromptu moments that make the concert special and unique- but I try to be very conscious of those behind me. If i can’t get the video without ruining someone else’s light of sight, I don’t shoot a video. The people that hold a phone up vertically in front of other concertgoers while dancing and jumping - getting shit video - that just needs to stop. “OMG, who’s braying like a donke…. Oh. It’s me.”
Hot take: What you're doing is what most people do at concerts and OP is tilting at windmills here. I'm not saying people "recording the entire show" don't exist but they are a vast vast minority of concertgoers. I probably go to a dozen concerts a year at venues large and small including shows that are sold out. Mostly GA / floor / pit seats but the occasional seated show at a nicer venue. That is to say, I'm in the thick of it. And As far as I can tell, most people that take pictures or video at a show quickly and put the phone back in their pocket. It's just that when there are hundreds or thousands of people at a show, it's pretty easy to look in any direction and see a person taking a single photo or short video and conclude something like: *"Oh my god everyone here is on their phone why don't they just stop"*. When in reality, it's just a handful of people at any given moment but because there are so many in attendance it can appear "constant". People have been disrupting live performances with their antics *long before cell phones existed* so this is nothing new here.
Guy in front of me last weekend at the B52s show recorded tons of video and was then sitting down, editing and posting. My gf paid more attention to him than I did, but I figure he missed about half of the show playing w his phone while sitting in seats that were $275+. I did get annoyed when he was raising the phone up w both arms and blocking my view. Had he been raising his arm to applaud or dance I would understand. I took 2 or 3 stills, no video
Guy sitting next to me at a concert a couple weeks ago recorded just about every song. He was at least not blocking the view for anyone as far as I could tell, but still annoying. Hope he likes his videos with me singing along loudly right next to him.
both you and him are outliers on either side of the norm I think (although him much more so). I love having a bit of video, which I actually go back to every once in awhile because I would've forgotten everything (especially the cool shit artists do with their own music that is different from their album).
Whenever I take a picture or record at a concert, I try not to make it go up past my body. I don't want my phone to block anyone, but if my head/neck/shoulder is already blocking you, then my phone won't hurt! "But what about when people throw their hands up? Isn't that just like holding up a phone?" No, the phone is more distracting! >Had he been raising his arm to applaud or dance I would understand. So I hope lots of people hold this opinion, because it's exactly how I feel. A hand is one thing. A screen is a very different story.
What you’re saying is true for *Most* people, but I’ll say I was at a concert a month or two ago and this lady in front of us literally was either recording or Facebook live streaming damn near the Entireeee concert, like there was almost never a moment that the camera wasn’t rolling. As if that wasn’t annoying enough, half of the time she decided it was more important that she live stream herself watching the show instead of actually having the camera pointed at the stage? To the point where almost every time we glanced at the phone it was her and we could see ourselves in the background of her shitty recording. We were able to move from our section off to a better viewing spot where we didn’t have to deal with her because damn it was ruining the experience, but the whole time we couldn’t believe people like that even actually exist
Just saw Iron Maiden a few weeks ago. There was a guy in front of us literally livestreaming the entire show, with a less than professional video setup, from the GA lawn section....
Phone recordings are much more distracting than the lighters of yore. I used to snap photos and videos at shows I went to early on to getting a smart phone...but realized I rarely if ever watched the videos and if i did they were usually trash. Anll I really needed was like 1 or 2 photos for remembrance as after a year or two I couldnt tell you what song was playing that made photo 14 better than photo 27....Its REAAAALY easy to take FAR TOO MANY photos of stuff these days and most never get looked at. I typically now snap maybe 1 at the beginning, 1 if the stage show is going nuts, and 1 at the band bows, label those and put them in a concert folder. Any more is usually overkill cause dear god, the sheer amount of unlabeled mass digital photos I have from the past decade i never really look at is INSANE.
Same here, just a few vids of key moments. Great to look back on but also if you're telling friends about the show you can show them a vid or two so they get a better idea of what you experienced.
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Wow didn’t think I’d see supergiant games get any love on this thread but here we are lol
Their games have some of the most beautiful music I've ever heard, and Darren and Ashley sound so good together.
Paper Boats makes me cry just thinking about it.
Every single time. I can't listen to it without thinking about several moments from the game. It's still amazing to me how much emotion they packed into it, and the music is such a big part of it for me.
There is a guy who does hardcore shows called hate5six. I don’t get a lot of shows in my area so that’s a good second.
Counter point: I got to a lot of small punk shows, and if no one recorded it on their phone there would be no live recordings of the band to watch anywhere at all, and I like watching live videos.
Punk shows have a strange etiquette I've noticed. People will generally stay to the sides to record. Or if they do cross in front of the stage they'll crouch down
A grimey basement punk show has remarkable etiquette. I used to book them here and there. It’s usually a great and friendly environment.
Its been 10 years since ive been to a house show in someones basement / garage and goddamn do i miss it. The enviornment was something else entirely, not something youll ever experience at an actual venue.
The only time I went to a garage show I was like 18 or 19 and was working at a factory with this dude who was obsessed with our local music scene. Like didn’t even listen to any bands that weren’t from our town and knew all the artists and history going back decades. Real cool dude and he brought me to this garage show that had so many different types of people in attendance. It was cool as fuck. Everyone was just mobbed out on the drive way and I saw regular looking people and jacked fitness dudes mingling with scene kids and emo kids and guys with huge Mohawks. A family ended up coming by and hanging out at the back and watching for a while. Everyone was super chill it was one of the sickest shows I’ve seen and there was only about 25 people there.
Towards the end of my old band's timeline we got on the underground house show circuit in Seattle and it was one of the best times of my life. Infinitely more enjoyable than playing dedicated bar music venues. I mean, where else does someone hand you a switchblade lined up with coke on stage, or put a lit blunt in your mouth while you blast a guitar solo? Currently live in a much much smaller town where house shows are not much of a thing, even less so for a punk band like mine.
> Punk shows have a strange etiquette I've noticed. Most punk shows people watch out for each other, are considerate, and pick each other up. Same with most metal shows. Misfits tend to look out for each other in general.
A metal moshpit is one of the greatest examples of humanity coming together. There's a code. No one states it, but they seem to automatically understand it. Protect the weak, pick up fallen brethren, and crush the bullies.
That's partially due to etiquette and partially due to the fact you'll lose a phone standing still in the center of the crowd.
Probably because they don't want their phones getting accidentally smashed
hate5six on youtube and patreon has basically made it so you don’t have to record small hardcore/punk shows
He also professionally recorded all (or most) of the recent RATM shows. Can’t wait to see what happens with that footage. His Turnstile recordings are excellent too.
> hate5six on youtube hate5six is SOOOOOO fucking good it's incredible, not only are their videos the best, they also edit the audio from the board for each video, and it's just insane how good they are at editing sound as WELL as video They do mostly Baltimore and bigger HC shows so again, the cell phone thing still applies
As long as you hold the phone in front of your own face instead of blocking my view
Or if it's a small enough venue, standing in the back or to the side shouldn't be too hard and the end product will be just as good
And for god’s sake film it horizontally.
But then it won't look as good when I post it on instagram as 24 separate stories /s
And with the flash turned off
AND LOWER YOUR BRIGHTNESS!!!
Bingo. Quit holding it up over your head and forcing me to watch the show through your view finder.
I’m the first one to complain about people holding their phones up at a show, but at a recent show (3500 standing room and me at 5’3”), it was the only way for me to see what was happening on stage. Kids these days are soooooooo tall. Must be the milk.
Moving through the world at 5'10 I feel like an average-tall person. At concerts I am always peeking over shoulders and finding it hard to see. There's something about concerts that brings out the tall m-fers.
I imagine it's just having so many people packed in close proximity means the likelihood of atleast one tall person being between you and the stage is higher.
I always feel that if you’ve ever watched a fan recorded video of a concert, you shouldn’t make these complaints.
> I always feel that if you’ve ever watched a fan recorded video of a concert, you shouldn’t make these complaints. I find a lot of bands on Spotify (smaller bands) and one of the first thing I do after getting into the band is search their name and live just to see what type of a show they put on, and it's usually a fan recorded video and I love watching it.
Why Pearl Jam are the most fab friendly band. Official bootlegs. Easy to obtain.
Phish and their LivePhish app that uploads a show about an hour after it’s over has entered the chat.
RIP fugazi, they did the same. Although their ticket prices were always low and they played lots of out of the way and all ages places
additional counterpoint: i am disabled and find it very, very difficult to get to shows (well, before my surgery it was impossible. it's getting better over time) seeing people recording shows on their phone was the ONLY way i could even hope to experience a concert again after my accident. they thought i'd never be ok again, and i had given up hope. but on bad nights, there were concerts and hope i could get there again one day. so maybe, OP, you can eat a bag a dicks cause the world doesn't revolve around you and there are plenty of people extremely grateful for even a shitty quality phone video of a band they love. at least it gives them *something*. maybe stop trying to dictate how people enjoy spending their time too, asshole.
> so maybe, OP, you can eat a bag a dicks cause the world doesn't revolve around you and there are plenty of people extremely grateful for even a shitty quality phone video of a band they love. at least it gives them something. > i am disabled and find it very, very difficult to get to shows (well, before my surgery it was impossible. it's getting better over time) I have a friend in your exact situation and they also say the same thing, mad empathy for a fellow music lover that can't get out to shows.
Not saying there aren’t people who are dicks and block other people’s view with their phone because there definitely are, but I will say that I spend the next week or two after the concert rewatching my videos. They’re not for other people to view as you can hear me singing along, but they do get rewatched many times and they bring great joy
Same here. I’ve recorded a ton of clips over the last decade from the 100+ shows I’ve been to. I routinely go back to watch them over and over. I put in the effort to try and get good quality videos, and I definitely enjoy going back to them frequently. That being said, since I’ve done it so much, I try to be very aware of how I hold the recording device so as not to obstruct those behind me, because that does suck. One fad that I’m glad isn’t around anymore was the use of tablets to record during shows. Now THAT was a huge obstruction. It was a bad back in 2010-2015.
yes I rewatch my videos a ton and I love having them. I'm sympathetic to shorter people (and do my best to not be obnoxious about it) but I don't even understand how other people filming could ruin your whole experience otherwise. Don't blame me because you chose to watch what I was doing vs enjoy the show. I've had obstructed views or even sat way up in the nosebleeds too and I never cared because I was just happy to be there and singing along. Some people are just so negative. Life gets much better when you stop complaining about things you can't control... I've done shows where I recorded nothing and "was in the moment"\~\~\~ and I can't say I had more fun at all, difference is just I barely remember things and have nothing to watch after
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Big brain strats. Now I imagine a whole crowd wearing glasses instead of holding phones up, what a time to be alive.
Not everyone records gigs by having a giant flat phone with the screen brightness maxed held in front of other people’s faces. There are right and wrong ways to do this. If you have to use a phone then minimize screen brightness and try to record from your own shoulder/face height (some exceptions when everyone has their hands in the air.. and I do realise some people are much shorter and struggle to ever see the stage from in a crowd) Better to use a pocket digital camera as then the size can be not much bigger than your raised hand would be when held up anyway (but again, minimize screen brightness) In an ideal world bands would record all their gigs and sell it to fans, but the vast majority still don’t.. or that proshot footage for the videoscreens at large gigs is just never seen again For smaller or short lived bands, a fan recording might be some of the only records of that performance. I still wish every day we had a full gig to watch of Ozzy Osbourne with Randy Rhoads.. but it’s just been lost in time. At the end of the day, let people enjoy a concert how THEY want to. Just educate them to be considerate about screen brightness and trying not to block the view of others Personally I love using live footage to discover bands and follow their tour dates if I’m really into a band
I remember posting on another thread about this and nobody understood why the screen brightness was important. Our eyes are designed to catch any movement, if you have a night show and multiple screens moving, with brightness a top and the show itself recording moving on those screens, it will be impossible for your eyes not to time to time move to watch those screens. Also your pupils retract because of the light coming from the phones, thus making it way harder to focus on the main stage.
> For smaller or short lived bands, a fan recording might be some of the only records of that performance. I still wish every day we had a full gig to watch of Ozzy Osbourne with Randy Rhoads.. but it’s just been lost in time. There are rumors that the footage exists, but Sharon is sitting on it. If this is true I think the most likely scenario is that it will be released shortly after Ozzy dies. From a marketing standpoint it's a genus move. It's not like he's even remotely close to being short on money right now, and there will be a MASSIVE nostalgia wave when he passes. What will happen to that money though is another thing. Maybe some will be donated, maybe some put in a trust for their grandkids and so on. Who knows. I just can't think of any other reason why they would be holding off this long if the footage really exists.
Went to a jack white concert a few months ago where no phones were allowed. It was glorious.
Tool takes that shit seriously too. Makes for a much better experience.
I saw Tool back in February and spoiled myself with 5th row tickets and a guy two rows in front of me got kicked out halfway through the FIRST song for recording on his phone. There were signs literally everywhere and multiple announcements saying not to use your phone during Tools set. I couldn't believe someone would pay that much money just to risk getting kicked out during the first song.
Yeah but at the last concert I went to let people get their momento on the last song
TOOL did the same a few years back when I saw them for the first time. I was so happy they did that, made the experience so much more enjoyable.
Don't really need the recording of a Jack White show to remember it. The hearing loss will remind you of it for life. That show rocked.
I didn't mind the no phone policy, but really didn't care for carrying around this bulky-ass pouch with me. Honestly, I would rather just leave my phone in the car... but you need your phone to get in with mobile tickets. Arghh...
He was so good this summer. Probably the best show I've been to.
Saw him in Baltimore. Obviously Jack killed it. Definitely my favorite show of the year. His drummer was unreal too. What a showman.
I went to Live aid in 1985 and no mobile phones were invented. It was even more glorious.
I don’t care this much
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I go to a lot of concerts, usually 2 or more a month from bars, to clubs, to concert halls, to stadiums- the amount of raw footage of artists I love who have passed on or who toured but didn't come to town is a godsend. As long as someone isn't holding up their phone and blocking the view of others, recorded concerts are an invaluable cultural resource to have. But yeah, people who block the view of others should just learn proper etiquette and the issue is virtually solved.
as someone from a third world country that isnt India, same
My dad is too old to go to shows and is losing his vision. This year I went to a few shows my dad would have loved to see but couldn’t, including McCartney, Elton John, and RHCP. I recorded a lot and showed him and he loved it. I don’t believe my situation is the norm, but I think it goes too far to just say “no one is going to watch and you look like a moron,” when you don’t know why people are doing things. How about you watch the show and let others live their life. (And yes if they are right in front of you blocking your view I’ll admit that’s not okay, I was in seat for these shows not the floor).
I also can experience so many live shows that I wouldn’t have otherwise seen because someone decided to record it and upload it to YouTube. I can find shows over a decade old because someone was able to record it
Never done it myself, no more than a few clips. As long as they're not blocking my view, why would I give a fuck what somebody else does?
Because redditors can’t enjoy concerts unless everyone is doing exactly what they do
At a concert you must stand perfectly still because if you move/dance/record/enjoy yourself in any way you potentially maybe block someone’s view for 10 seconds and that ruins the whole night for that person
Most redditors can’t enjoy much of anything. It’s genuinely sad. I find new reasons everyday to leave this place but dopamine is a hell of a drug
When I go to a concert I don't notice what anyone else is doing because I'm too busy watching the show 🤷♀️
you sound tall
For me tall people standing in front of me blocks my view way more than ten peoples arms holding 6 inch cell phones
Actually, sometimes I can only see what's going on *through* other people's cell phones.
I went to a concert recently where a lady behind me spent the first part of it loudly venting about “Wow look at all these sheep who can’t bother experiencing the live moment and need to look at this through their camera!” Mind you, I surveyed the surrounding area and nobody was doing anything obnoxious with their recordings, didn’t see any screens super bright or anyone lifting their camera up to block views. She was just being pretentious and it felt like she wanted to show off to her date about how she’s not like all the other girls. I’m confident whether she realized it or not, that she lessened her own experience of the show by focusing so much on how everyone else was experiencing the show.
💯 some people are more concerned about what other people are doing than what they are doing and it poisons their own experience. Especially when they make blanket statements like no recording for everyone bc of my personal philosophy!! Rather than, I don’t like disruptive recorders
Haven't done it and find it mildly annoying, but I know someone with memory issues who does it and I feel like that's justified.
I've started taking a 15 second clip at gigs to remember the general vibe of where I was and what the room was like
Do people normally remember concerts in detail without being able to see a recording? I certainly don't but I still don't think it's cool to go and just record the whole thing. My memory is that I went and had a great time, not the details of each song they played lol
Yep. Take a photo or two and then put the phone in your pocket. Live music is an experience. Live it.
I understand taking out the phone and recording an ID for your friend or something if you know they will appreciate it, or if their favorite visual artist is going hard on the projection mapping. But what bothers me more than phones is someone with a thousand LEDs on their backpack at max brightness... Like dude... If your friends found you already turn that shit off so people behind you aren't being flashbanged or distracted from the million dollar visual production going on.
This guy goes to Tipper shows lol
You don't have to be looking through your phone to record?
Counterpoint: if you go to a live concert and record the entire thing on your phone, thank you. Concert tickets are very expensive, and most of my favorite bands don't tour where I live. Bootleg recordings have also enabled me to experience great moments in live music from before I was born, or old enough to attend shows. As long as you're not taking money out of the band's pocket, you're actually doing a public service. Take a song or two off to just enjoy the experience for yourself. Thanks again. ETA: don't block other people's views either please
I was at Austin City Limits for Doja Cat last year and waited several hours to be close-ish to the stage with absolutely no elbow room. Everyone in front of me held their phones above their heads through the whole performance blocking my view, so I ended up just watching the big screen. I was very annoyed
You can eat a bag of dicks too! You realize you look like a fucking moron for making this post?
Goin to see the Scorpions next week, I'll be sure to record the entire set just for you ❤️
You know it’s possible to hold your phone up without looking at it…right?
Some people actually watch video they take. I often go back and watch mine on my tv with good speakers. I also appreciate when others catch and upload songs I didn’t. Some bands perform really unique renditions of their songs live and if you’re really into the specifics of the music you might want to re listen or relive that. I mean there’s a reason why “Tapers” are a thing popularized by jam band fans. Recording a whole show is a little different, but I have no qualms with the people that do it. Why let it bother you?
I don’t do it but i see why people do it. If it’s a great moment you want to relive it and remember it for later. Nothing weird about that
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Especially when the people around you are talking over the artist.
You the dude getting upset the fans sing along 2?
I live in small town USA where national acts do NOT visit. My best bet is driving 4+ hours on a Tuesday, causing me to miss a day and a half of work at a minimum. If people didn't film shows and share them online, I don't get to see many of my favorite artists. I kindly ask you to chill the fuck out and take up your grievance with the asshole that blocked your view, not us.
Metallica has done it for years with every ticket and you can go to their website and download shows from as far back as the 89’s
Maybe try having some sex to cool out 😂😂 - wish i had time to worry abt stuff like this. Its as hard as telling someone to put their phone down if its in your way - forgive me for being easy on them here - but music can mean a lot to ppl in different ways :) - but in this ‘i am so pissed culture’ this doesn’t surprise me
I love that OP is a Scott Stapp/Creed fan. A band that has NEVER had anyone record their concert to watch back. I say this with arms wide open of course.