Jeff Tweedy rant about recording at shows - Wilco at the Orpheum in Memphis, TN

[pallypoo123]

" u should just live your life":-)

[thingfishp]

He sounds pretty coherent to me. I agree with him and many of these comments totally miss the point. If you spend the night trying to capture the show on a shitty phone camera, you are not in that moment. My daughter's first show, when she turned 13, I had to tell to put the phone in her pocket and be at the show. She had met Jeff before the show, got some pix and autographs, and he closed the set with her request. Isn't that enough fetishism? We downloaded a good recording the next day.

[notbill2012]

Yeah, but Wilco allows audience recording so what's his point?

[atomicsmith]

He's not attacking "documenting" per se. What I think he's getting at is that live music really works best when the vast majority of the audience are so absorbed that they get down in the same groove as the band. Taking videos with your phone tends to take you and the people around you outside the thing that's happening right in front of you and prevent you from getting that absorbed.

[jwedens]

I wonder why Jeff and the guys from Wilco did 'Kicking Televison Live in Chicago' then?? or for that matter the other 2 or 3 dvds they have put out 'Documenting' Wilco... Great Singer, song writer, and musician... as a person hes nothing more than a self-important douche bag, that likes to toot his own horn and belittle the people that put cash in his pockets.. He is kinda like the alternative country version of Axl Rose...

[randeezydizzle]

i think all bands should allow audio taping of shows... what does it hurt? i see what he's saying about "imperfect medium" though... why distract yourself recording shitty iphone video when you can instead immerse yourself in the experience ya know?

[mjanovec]

Tweedy has been like this since at least 1995, when I saw him berate two younger concert go-ers in Minneapolis for looking like they were bored. (Funnily enough, I have the audio recording of that evening, because I'm one of those people who sometimes likes to capture a memory on tape.) Maybe Tweedy should stick to playing music and stop wasting time during his concerts being critical of his own fans.

[toekneeeyeoweme]

Get over yourself, Jeff... what a douche

[JL86d]

Jeff, I love you man, but posterity is good.

[mrscry]

Yay, Jeff! Jeff HATES cameras and all the picture-taking in the world... he's so right, I remember concerts and vacations in much greater detail when I'm not distracted by a stupid camera.

[timmcPherrin]

I respect Tweedy's argument, but I do think he is wrong about this. Some people enjoy filming a song or two at a concert. It's not just to "prove to people" that they were there. They want to document their musical experiences and events. It's meaningful to them, and as long as they are not filming the entire show (which is annoying to other people), I don't see why this is a problem.

[kevagonia]

this was filmed by one of the tools that ruins concerts for normal people

[MuddyG]

@kevagonia How do these tools ruin concerts for normal people?

[acmowery18]

He gave this same exact speech to someone at the Wexner Center in Columbus October 12th.