Sunday, September 16, 2007
Austin Adventures
I just arrived home from one of my favorite events of the year...Austin City Limits (ACL). Three days. Eight stages. 180 bands. The festival gives me the opportunity to see amazing, well-known bands/artists like Muse, The Killers, and Bob Dylan, but it also exposes me to new, up and coming bands I have never heard of before like my new favorite, The Broken West.
The best part of this outdoor, hippie and college student infested festival is that my dad's company sponsors the event and I get sponsor's VIP backstage passes. I know it is kind of cheating, but when the day got too hot, I got tired of the crowds, and wanted a cold, free beer I would head to the backstage area. In the VIP area I would watch the concerts on a plasma big screen tv while listening to the band live.
I watched Bob Dylan this evening as he closed ACL 2007 and started thinking about how technology advancements have changed the way of seeing a concert. Ten years ago I would have never imagined being at a concert and watching it on a plasma screen while taking pictures with my camera phone.
It is not just the VIP area that is changing. AT&T's Digital Oasis allowed all concert goers to take a break from the heat, check their email, and watch the latest football games without even leaving the park. Who needs to leave the concert grounds for a break between shows when you can do all that in a tent?
I can't even imagine what the future holds in regards to concerts, but all I know is that people won't be "roughing it" like they did when ACL originally started 33 years ago (and I am totally not complaining).
On an updated side note, what is with the obsession with Bob Dylan? I could not understand a word he said/sang. My friend thinks he sounds like Satan with his raspy voice and I kind of agree. I know he comes from a different generation, but so do lots of artists that I love, love, love! I think at some point people need to stop worshipping him for what he used to be and start looking at him as he is now...a drug addicted, incoherent, diva of a mess.
Dylan's "people" told us backstage that we had to put away all cameras or they would be confiscated and we would be kindly removed from the concert per Bob Dylan's wishes. A member of security actually said, "You are lucky because at his Stubb's event last night he wouldn't even let in cell phones." Oh how things have changed. I know when Dylan started his career camera phones and digital cameras had to have been the least of his concerns. So thank you Bob Dylan for an unimpressive performance and taking away my chance to remember it by taking pictures. ¶ posted by Stephanie Lauren Kahan at 11:57 PM •
The best part of this outdoor, hippie and college student infested festival is that my dad's company sponsors the event and I get sponsor's VIP backstage passes. I know it is kind of cheating, but when the day got too hot, I got tired of the crowds, and wanted a cold, free beer I would head to the backstage area. In the VIP area I would watch the concerts on a plasma big screen tv while listening to the band live.
I watched Bob Dylan this evening as he closed ACL 2007 and started thinking about how technology advancements have changed the way of seeing a concert. Ten years ago I would have never imagined being at a concert and watching it on a plasma screen while taking pictures with my camera phone.
It is not just the VIP area that is changing. AT&T's Digital Oasis allowed all concert goers to take a break from the heat, check their email, and watch the latest football games without even leaving the park. Who needs to leave the concert grounds for a break between shows when you can do all that in a tent?
I can't even imagine what the future holds in regards to concerts, but all I know is that people won't be "roughing it" like they did when ACL originally started 33 years ago (and I am totally not complaining).
On an updated side note, what is with the obsession with Bob Dylan? I could not understand a word he said/sang. My friend thinks he sounds like Satan with his raspy voice and I kind of agree. I know he comes from a different generation, but so do lots of artists that I love, love, love! I think at some point people need to stop worshipping him for what he used to be and start looking at him as he is now...a drug addicted, incoherent, diva of a mess.
Dylan's "people" told us backstage that we had to put away all cameras or they would be confiscated and we would be kindly removed from the concert per Bob Dylan's wishes. A member of security actually said, "You are lucky because at his Stubb's event last night he wouldn't even let in cell phones." Oh how things have changed. I know when Dylan started his career camera phones and digital cameras had to have been the least of his concerns. So thank you Bob Dylan for an unimpressive performance and taking away my chance to remember it by taking pictures. ¶ posted by Stephanie Lauren Kahan at 11:57 PM •