Digital Madness at the Pet Shop Boys

I usually leave concert reviews for my other blog but at the rate I am going I won't get to this one for a while. This is not really a review anyway but a moan of sorts.

So yesterday a friend and I saw the Pet Shop Boys at the Hammersmith Apollo. The show itself was great - Neil Tennant sang just like he does on the discs, the light show was simple and elegant but not too obnoxious, the dancers a bit corny but talented, and the music infinitely danceable as always.

Unfortunately where we were there was not much dancing going on at all. Primarily because almost everyone around us were trying to capture the show on their digital cameras and mobile phones.

At the risk of sounding like an old fart, when I was younger we had to smuggle in our regular film cameras, try to force our way to the front and then snap a few photos when we thought we might not get noticed by security. Trying to get away with the camera was a bit like the drinking, something that we were not supposed to do but it was cool to see if we could do it anyway. But none of us were obnoxious (or stupid) enough to risk taking more than a few choice shots and for the most part we spent our time at the concerts listening, watching and dancing, which is what you are supposed to do.

Last night these people had their cameras up for perhaps half or more of the time during the show. Which is annoying on so many levels. I am short to begin with, so it is hard enough to see over tall people standing in front of me. But at times I was actually getting a better view of Neil Tennant from the cameras. Also, these people are standing there the entire time with their arms up in the air holding the cameras and so in a close crowd, their pits were almost directly in my face. And when you are trying to dance in close quarters like that, it is more fun when everyone is doing it, because you then have room to move around. I kept bumping into the woman's arm behind me because she was holding her camera almost directly over my head. I have to admit that a couple of times I intentionally waved my hand in front of her camera to block her shot. I could not resist.

I imagine today these people are posting their pictures and/or digital videos all over the web, so perhaps PSB don't really mind because they get a lot of publicity that way. I can't imagine that any are really all that great though and the friends who didn't go to the concert probably are not going to want to look at these fuzzy, far away images of the band on stage.

I think that bands should go back to banning cameras (and now phones) so that we can all have a good time, and keep the images in our heads as memories, where they belong.