Sea of phones

Ed Sheeran playing Leeds University Studen Union, joined onstage by rapper Mikill Pane. When I review the pictures I'm struck by the change in gigs that's been brought about by technology.

My first gig was Tangerine Dream at the Liverpool Empire, Easter Sunday (I think) 1978. I sneaked my Panasonic portable cassette machine in, underneath my big coat (you had big coats in your teens back then, mainly from the army surplus shops that were so popular then) and recorded the entire set. I don't recall anyone taking pictures. Being able to keep a genuinely unique memento of a gig was a very big deal.

These days everyone records everything. I never come away from a show without a high quality stereo video recording of at least one song along with a good set of photographs to remember the night by.

I estimate there's about 5 grand's worth of mobile devices in this image.

And, doubtless, the images and sounds of this gig will already have been shared with literally millions of people on top of the few hundred who were in the crowd.

I quite like that. I gues I'm still young enough to be excited by the 'democratisation' of the distribution and ownership of 'content'. It's put an end to the control of what I am allowed to enjoy by a tiny 'elite' of money-motivated idiots.

Postscript: About 20 years after my elicit Tangerine Dream 'bootleg' recording I happened upon an American fan of theirs on the internet. We corresponded briefly and I sent him a copy of my recording. His eventual response tickles me to this day. He thanked me and said "that's the best recording of that show I've heard so far".