I went to go see the Avett Brothers at Hayden Homes Amphitheater in Bend, Oregon last night. It has been a couple of years since I have seen a show, and it was great to see live music again. I was a little spoiled growing up in Denver. I had the opportunity to see many shows up at Red Rocks Amphitheater and it was back at a time when concert tickets were more affordable. Now, I have a hard time justifying spending that much money on a show, but I am glad that I did to see the Avett Brothers. They were a lot of fun; they are great musicians; and I love the way they harmonize.
But after the show, I realized that I had only taken one picture during the whole show, and that was because I got a text from my sister right before the show started, and I wanted to show her where I was at the time. At first, I thought it was a little uncharacteristic of me. Every time I go to a new place, I take tons of photos, and I have to scroll through them to share the best one with you. But this time I only took one.
It was not like I did not see other people taking people who were taking pictures during the show. Hayden Homes Amphitheater is a great location with a pretty setting, especially when the sun starts to set. There were people posing as a group with the stage in the background. There were people trying to take good pictures of the Avett Brothers during their set even though I think they might have been too far away to get a good picture. There was even one guy in front of me that recorded the Avett Brothers singing all of “I and Love and You”. But I took one picture.
It wasn’t until after the show, and I thought about the guy recording a whole song that I contemplated why I didn’t take so many pictures. If I had taken pictures, would it have changed the way I enjoyed to show. Would I have been so busy trying to get a great picture, or record the music just right, that I would not have enjoyed the concert during their performance? Am I better off just storing this moment as a memory instead of collecting the memory on my phone?
I think that me just enjoying the show was the better option. By not worrying about taking pictures, I was able to really immerse myself in the experience, and get the most out of the concert. Yes, that guy who recorded that whole song is probably at home right now watching it again and is proud that at any time he could bring up that memory, but I don’t think he was able to really feel the impact of the song in the moment because he was too busy making sure he recorded the song just right. I will always be able to go back to that song any time I hear it again, and I will relive the feeling of the moment when that happens. I think that feeling is more important than the recording, and it is probably the reason that I did not even consider taking more pictures at the show.
Phones are great and have the changed the way we live, but they might not always be the thing we should go to when living an experience. I am glad that I put my phone down and enjoyed the Avett Brothers, and I hope that the next time you find yourself in a similar experience, you do the same thing.
John Collings 