The youth is starting to change, Are you starting to change? Are you? Together

Instead of adhering to the tradition of drinking at a pub on St. Patrick’s Day, I went and saw MGMT. In fact, I think it’s stupid that such a large portion of this country’s population makes St. Patty’s Day such a huge deal and an excuse to all go out and get drunk. Especially those that are nowhere near Irish. Why?! Why do they need the excuse? We all know everyone does it anyway, so why bother with the excuse, why the hype? It’s annoying on an annual basis. If you really wanted to go out and drink, wouldn’t you just do it anyway?

I must say, I feel so disabled without a press pass and the ability to take my dslr with me.

These were taken on our new point and shoot – the Canon IXUS 300 HS. It’s a cute little thing, but just so darn frustrating not having complete control over what I was doing, especially with the focus and all, grrrr. However, I’m actually really impressed with the quality – especially sound quality! – of the videos that I took. Unfortunately, I’m really really low on bandwidth so can’t upload any yet.

So here are the below-my-usual-standard photos, and now I know what it feels like to be in the audience with a point-and-shoot like everybody else:

Something out of the ordinary happened to me earlier today: I felt a tinge of excitement for the MGMT concert.  I say that because I usually feel none or little sense of excitement for a concert or event, I guess largely because I don’t want to build up any huge expectations in anticipation. Just in case things don’t turn out the way I’d like. What a pessimist I am. I’ve been known to come off as blasé about these things, which has pissed people off, in the cases where I had a press pass.

See, that’s the thing about me… I can’t live with, and I can’t live without. With a press pass, the gig becomes a job. And with a job, comes responsibility. Although I love every moment and flash of stage lights of it, I simply cannot relax until I get home and see how the photos have turned out. Yet, doing so gives me such a great satisfation. Because the challenge posed by concert photography is just so enticing to me, the satisfaction is incomparable. It’s like scoring a goal in hockey or football (where scores tend to stay low), as opposed to scoring points in basketball (where there is constant progress on the scoreboard). Actually, often if not all of the time, I already know how good of a set of photos I’ve gotten, and how big the set is, before I’ve even gone home and looked at my photos. In the split second just as the shutter closes and releases, I  just know how the photo will turn out. I’m sure most other people also get this sensation, in whatever fields they are skilled and comfortable with.

But on the flip side, I thoroughly love going to a concert completely carefree. No bag, ever. Crammed right up centre front, best views, best squish, etc… which I’ve done several times even when I had a photographic assignment, but it’s just not quite the same. The downside to giving up concert photography is that – as I discovered tonight, since I can’t remember the last time, if ever, that I went to the Powerstation without a press pass – I spend the entire evening going “If only I had my camera right now…” and I would see all these amazing things and angles that I wish I could capture.

For me, it seems to be about the thrill of the chase.

///

The setting felt familiar, like revisiting
an Old Memory.
I tried my best to not cast any visions of
how I want the evening to turn
but somehow it feels like it’s
Happened all before anyway.
The Powerstation, with the projected buzz
and pixelated technicolour;
the stage format
the way VanWyngarden and Goldwasser stood,
sang and played
Reminded me of Avey Tare, Panda Bear and
Geologist. Those lads and the
Space in their music.

The space left in my pounding head and
racing mind full of…
something indescribeable, but such spacious
thought-provoking feelings.

Tonight, MGMT made me relive
a more youthful, worrisome and carefree
Time of my life.
and it’s funny, in all facets of the word
because
I feel exaxtly the same
and care about the same things
All over again.

“The youth is starting to change”.

6 Comments

  1. Caity March 18, 2011

    Wow it looks awesome! I can only imagine the pressure of having to take the photos. I would probably feel the same way being torn with photo taking and enjoying the concert. I think at the end of the day, I’d choose to have my camera, too. It must be awesome to get to do that.

    Reply
  2. Justine March 18, 2011

    I don’t think I can deal with the burden of having to take awesome photos with a press pass.. with my lack of talent in photography, I think I’m better off being given a writing assignment. Other than that, your photos still look great anyway :) maybe just not the way you’re used to.

    MGMT is coming here next week too, my bestfriend gets to go.. when they were selling tickets 2 months ago I didn’t feel like going at first but now I really do but I guess the ticketbox train left me already :(

    Reply
  3. Charlotte March 19, 2011

    The film is rather good and worth a watch, even if its just to stare at Matt Damon’s face. MGMT remind me of summer, which I am desperate for. The photos turned out alright, even if you didn’t have your dslr x

    Reply
  4. Stephanie March 19, 2011

    I couldn’t imagine having to take good photos, but if you enjoy it, then it’s awesome for you! Also, I didn’t know that there were cameras that weren’t point-and-shoot. Goes to show how much I actually know about things.

    Reply
  5. Georgina March 19, 2011

    I always wondered how you felt about this. I think that it’s so important to enjoy being at a show rather than it being a job and responsibility – I feel like you need to be carefree. Anyway, I do love the photos you took with your point-and-shoot, especially the last one. :)

    Reply
  6. […] The Youth – MGMT After seeing MGMT live, this song has been further cemented as one of my favourite MGMT songs. The haunting whisper-like […]

    Reply

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *