For The Protection Of The Artists

I finished up the Montreux season on Saturday night with their last concert of the year, Seal. There was a Dutch sax chick as the first act who was really good (and my first almost-jazz of the year there), and then Jimmy Cliff. I'm not a reggae guy, but Jimmy and his band put on a pretty good show. Interesting to hear someone quoting psalms, talking about mother earth and then having us all sing one more chorus as a tribute to the ancestors... I guess he's got all his bases covered. And he was flat - like, almost a semi-tone - through a couple of the tunes, but any one with the courage to wear peach satin pajamas on stage gets an "A" for effort in my books.

Seal was good, and I have the pictures to prove it. But just barely.

Aaron and I were pretty close to the front... they opened the side doors before the back one, so there was a row of people in front of us, but that was all. I had taken one or two pictures of the sax player but the security woman jumped up to tell me to stop. I found it a little strange since, at that moment, there were a dozen photographers all milling about at the edge of the stage. As far as I can figure (and I've spent some time thinking about it, now), there are three possible reasons she could be so concerned about me:

1. My camera would be a distraction to the people around me. Fair enough... I've been to shows where the whole audience is glowing as people hold up their phones to get video of the show. But with the boys and girls with the huge lenses jockeying back and forth for position 4 feet in front of me, I don't think I was in much danger of being the biggest distraction there.
2. She's concerned about the livelihood of the photographers there to capture the show. I'm sure that they all appreciate her intense interest in their ability to sell exclusive pictures, and, frankly, I'm quite flattered that she's familiar enough with my work to be concerned that, with my 6 megapixel ultra-compact point-and-shoot, I'm going to give them some competition. Rolling Stone hasn't called yet.
3. People who are attracted to working in a security capacity tend to have a lot of issues. They are fascinated with little rules, and making sure they are followed. They like to be in charge. They like to look like they are in charge. They like to let everyone know they are in charge. They are much, much better at following instructions than they are at thinking about them. I wonder if some of them lie awake at night (should that be "Lay" awake at night? I don't mean to imply any inherent dishonesty) planning their ascension to the revered position of parking cop.

I wish is was otherwise, but from what I've seen of security people - and, over the many shows I've been to, I've seen a lot - the third reason seems to be the most compelling by far.

People are being crushed? There's not much we can do about that. The guy behind me just lit up his sixth joint of the evening in a non-smoking room? C'est la vie. But I'm trying to take a picture?

STOP THE SHOW!

Eventually, the security people moved away and we were able to get right up to the stage, meaning two things: first, I was close enough to finally get a couple decent shots, and second, that they were too far away to bother me any more.

Well, I was wrong about the second bit.

Partway through Seal, Aaron tapped me on the shoulder. I turned around.

"Put away your camera."

Now, I don't know if you know Aaron, but he is a laid-back guy. We've hung out for a while, and I think this was the first time I remember him saying anything near that direct. So I put away my camera. And 30 seconds later, the big chief security guy came through the crowd. He stepped up to a guy 3 feet from me (Sandro, who I had actually met in line before Norah Jones), and demanded his camera. He stood there, at the front of the crowd, and made him go through and delete each and every shot from the concert, and then he took him out. To beat him, probably, though I doubt we'll ever hear about it.

So I didn't take any more pictures. But it really bothers me: don't these people know that the hype for their festivals is fed by blogs and fan clubs? Nobody seeing somebody's cell phone video on YouTube is going to say, "well, that was good - I guess I don't even need to go see Seal, now that I've had that better-than-real-life experience".

Claude Nobbs, if you're listening: every other festival in the area allows people to take in (and actually use) small cameras. Maybe you should tell your security people to chill. Maybe they should think a little more about safety and spend a little more time handing out water and a little less trying to prevent buddy from getting a picture of Seal to use as the wallpaper on his cell phone.

Really.