Take Me Out Tonight, Because I Want To Ignore Music and Just Stare at a Screen

Saturday night I went to the Johnny Marr http://www.johnny-marr.com/messengeralbum show at the Phoenix, a small, intimate concert hall, which I think is the best way to enjoy live music. Huge arena shows are something to experience, but if you really love live music, nothing beats a small venue.

  

Being rather short in stature, I climbed up to the balcony where I could get a bird’s eye view of the stage rather than the backs of a sea of heads. From my vantage point I could see the stage perfectly and the crowd of people below filming the concert on their mobile phones.

We’ve all seen YouTube clips of mobile phone recorded shows and shut them off as soon as we realized what they were. The sound quality is crap, and the video is a motion sickness inducing shaky, blur. Which begs the question, why would anyone buy a ticket to a show, take the trouble to get dressed up, go downtown and watch the entire concert through the tiny screen of their mobile phone instead of larger than life on stage in front of them?

Many people were not dancing because they had to hold their phones still, and with the task of recording, couldn’t offer much in the way of applause at the end of each song. I can’t imagine how the band kept their energy up and pulled off such a tight and fun show with so little feedback from the audience.

I’m sure those fans all went home raving about what a great show it was. If they didn't like the music they would have stopped recording the show so intently, but in the process of recording a very poor quality version of the evening, they missed out on enjoying what was actually happening live directly in front of them.

Meanwhile, up in the balcony, farthest from the action, people danced and sang, cheered, bopped and had a great time because the show was really entertaining. The new album The Messenger is great and I actually prefer Marr’s versions of The Smiths classics to Morrissey’s iconic whine – heretical statement, but that's the way I feel.

Here’s the one photo from my mobile that I had a taller friend take. It’s a terrible photo but a good example of the standard mobile abilities (and mine has a pretty good camera).

I don’t hate mobiles and modern technology; I just think they are overused. What should be a tool of convenience has become a life-support that most people seem to be unable to effectively live without. Which is ironic because it is exactly the living part they are missing out on.

I recommend any fan of jangly guitar hooks to check out Johnny Marr's new album The Messenger because it rocks, and if anyone finds the red “Johnny Fucking Marr” tour t-shirt in a women’s extra small, please send one my way because they only had tents available at the Phoenix