Comments on: Band Of Horses Singer Not Too Thrilled With The Cameraphone Era

By: drjimmy11

drjimmy11 — Wed, 25 Jul 2007 12:35:46 +0000

"But then you had all these kids up front, that seemed so disinterested in the show and didn't look up at the stage or anything"

Dude.
YOUR FAULT.
YOUR FAULT.
YOUR FAULT.

if you cannot GET the audience interested,, particularly the hardcore fans the front, you suck. The end.

By: pwbk

pwbk — Fri, 20 Jul 2007 10:23:22 +0000

I’m sorry, but without all those camera phone people, no one would even know who Band of Horses is, and that club likely wouldn’t have been nearly as full. Instead of disinterested newspaper and magazine reviewers showing up at shows, you have bloggers showing up, who may or may not like the band, but will still show their fan base what it was like. At least by having it recorded, you’re getting yourself extra fans. Unless of course you flip out on camera at them. That might lose you some fans.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Fri, 20 Jul 2007 06:15:58 +0000

I take photos at shows for the sake of mementos. Add another 20 to my 32 years, and I might not care about going to clubs or theaters to check out a show. Plus, I’m hoping that with practice, I’ll be even half as good as Glen E. Friedman or Charles Peterson.

By: prolixrush

prolixrush — Fri, 20 Jul 2007 05:21:15 +0000

I buy Bridwell's argument, but if people in the audience are that distracted by cellphones/cameras, they seriously need to remember what life was like before the dawning of the age of (comparably considerate) hipsters. I'll take an easily ignorable glowing screen any day over beer down my back; cigarette burns; groupie bitches who wanna elbow past you for a better spot to flash tit; tall, inconsiderate assholes; drunk sorta-sing-a-longers who are louder than the band...

But at a truly great concert, none of this shit matters anyway, right? Including camera screens. It's all gravy if they're serving up filet mignon on stage.

By: Bob Loblaw

Bob Loblaw — Fri, 20 Jul 2007 03:33:03 +0000

@pwbk: Bloggers like to think people never heard about or went to shows in the days before blog. I call bullshit.

By: janine

janine — Fri, 20 Jul 2007 01:20:47 +0000

@prolixrush: First, I have trouble reconciling that people who likely have their entire music catalog held in a tiny ipod believe that music (particularly live music) is for looking at. Second, these people are disruptive in that they are impediments for any kind of energy to build for the audience or the performer. Bands are not performing in a vacuum.

@pwbk: I assume you're a blogger. Has anyone ever written you to say how your pictures really got them into a band? It was probably the review, right?

Sorry, but I really hate it when people treat live shows like a spectacle that doesn't involve them. I hate it a lot.

By: The HZA. [member of the zombie nation]

The HZA. [member of the zombie nation] — Thu, 19 Jul 2007 09:27:00 +0000

@Jay: I bought the 20 dollar Cirque CD myself.

Delirium was a really good show.

By: xtianrut

xtianrut — Thu, 19 Jul 2007 09:11:59 +0000

Gotta side with Birdwell on this one. The camera-phone-pit royally sucks. If you wanna watch the show at home, buy a DVD. Those lit-up phone-screen things are totally distracting.

By: the rich girls are weeping

the rich girls are weeping — Thu, 19 Jul 2007 09:11:06 +0000

@saturn: Ha! Good point. However, I'd totally rather see people interacting with each other in a social setting than watch scores of socially awkward people mitigate their experience of a show through a lens. I mean, is the prospect of having emotional engagement with the music that terrifying to people? If so, they all need to be in therapy. Stat.

By: catdirt

catdirt — Thu, 19 Jul 2007 08:57:38 +0000

‘canes is a funny venue, but i guarentee you that everyone there was there to see band of horses, because their “walk up” is approx. 0. so- band of horses singer- those are your fans homie- see: modest mouse.

By: saturn

saturn — Thu, 19 Jul 2007 08:48:54 +0000

The "good old days" weren't so great. Ever go to the Middle East upstairs in Boston? Before cell phones, before digital cameras, people would just talk. Loudly. With their backs to the stage. Wake Ooloo cut a show short because the audience was largely not paying attention.

But then I'm guessing that most of the Austrians who went to the debut of some new Mozart piece were there more to be seen than to hear the music itself.

Long story short: if the only people who paid to see a live show were people interested in the music itself, live shows would be totally unprofitable.

By: janine

janine — Thu, 19 Jul 2007 08:29:47 +0000

I’m with the guy in the band. He shouldn’t have apologized. I’ve had it up to here with the area in front of the stage, the place that should carry the most energy in the room, being glutted with camera people. Forget about whether you’re bothering the band, you’re selling your fellow concert-goers short.

By: Antiheroine

Antiheroine — Thu, 19 Jul 2007 08:22:03 +0000

I don’t know the band well, but dude’s got a point. It’s one thing to record events for video/blog, whatever, but it’s another to be more concerned with the recording than the actual event.

By: Jay

Jay — Thu, 19 Jul 2007 08:06:27 +0000

At the last big show I went to, they wouldn't let me tape anything at all. I was like, "Fuck you Cirque Du Soleil, now I'm not buying any of your $40 t-shirts."

But I had to anyway, you know, for my Mom.

By: ehague

ehague — Thu, 19 Jul 2007 07:57:07 +0000

The camera-phone: the mosh pit of the 00s.

By: Eamon

Eamon — Thu, 19 Jul 2007 07:55:30 +0000

I saw BOH at Langerado this spring. They put on pretty good show and were energetic and engaged the crowd. People had their cameras out that day, myself included and he didn’t seem to mind. Maybe it was better crowd that day…

By: Anonymous Communist

Anonymous Communist — Thu, 19 Jul 2007 07:52:32 +0000

I feel badly for this young man. It must be awful that people are willing to promote his band for free.

By: King of Pants

King of Pants — Thu, 19 Jul 2007 07:52:31 +0000

Thank you, thank you, thank you. And also, thank you.

By: brainchild

brainchild — Thu, 19 Jul 2007 07:38:54 +0000

i side with the guy in the band. unless the band is cool with tapers and people taking flicks… leave your cameras at home, and turn your phones off.