Juicy July - 2019 - Rare blog post in which I am not smiling

Well, actually I was smiling for a while

because it was another concert night at the Mountain Winery and we were going to see Melissa Etheridge and Pat Benatar. 

Melissa Etheridge was first out and she put on a great show.  She is very talented and there are many of her songs that I like but don't listen to very often.

 I love when I get a shot like this where it's like she's looking straight at me.  We weren't sitting that close but I have a pretty good camera. 

When the performers play together like this I think that they are doing it on purpose so we can get a good picture.  

There was an intermission between the two bands while the stage was rearranged and then the lights went down.  A voice came over the loudspeaker and said it was a "Smartphone free concert.  No cell phones, tablets, picture taking or video recording during the performance."  WHAT THE HECK?

Now you know if you've been following my blog at all that we go to a lot of concerts and I'm definitely a picture taker.  Not to sell or profit off of by any means, just to add to my concert scrapbook album for our own enjoyment and memory keeping.

We have been lucky to have seen some pretty great performers and since a few of them have passed away (Prince, Tom Petty)


 

or said they are not touring anymore (Bob Seger, Adele, Elton John), having the pictures from the shows we've seen is even more special.

We have seen Pat Benatar before and there has never been an issue with taking pictures.  Even the fist bump that my husband got with Neil Giraldo was captured on film.

All of the previous shows have been good ones until last night.  It wasn't even just the fact that we couldn't take pictures.  There were a few songs they did that I was not familiar with and at one point they sent the rest of the band away and sang a couple sitting down in chairs which is not a bad thing necessarily but they used some pre-recorded music for a bit of that.  Really?  That's almost as bad as lip synching I think.  They even tried to do a slow version of "Treat Me Right" and it just didn't get me.   

You know of course there were people who were taking pictures anyway and I admit I tried to get a few myself. 

Actually got in trouble with the usher who was going around telling people to stop taking pictures.  She waited until I put my camera in my purse for goodness sake!  

But you know, we pay a lot of money for these tickets and while I understand that there should be no flash photography or cameras with long lenses that would obstruct the view of other concert goers, I never have my flash on and my camera is a small one that fits in the palm of my hand.  I just don't understand what the issue is.  At any rate, I was "fairly" good and waited until the last song before I snuck a few more pictures.  Obviously the quality is not as good but at least I have some for the albums.  I'm pretty sure we won't be seeing them again.

So, question for the masses.  What is your feeling about this?  Do you think it is fair to restrict picture taking at concerts?  Does it bother you if the person next to you is taking a picture or two?  Am I being selfish because I want help in remembering the events we see?  Love to hear your take on this.