This past weekend, I was fortunate enough to be able to cover the Pygmalion Music Festival, which took place in Champaign-Urbana, Ill. I had applied for a press pass a few weeks before for The Daily Illini, and the organizer of the event granted me it (shameless plug: my coverage can be found at this site).
This is not the first time I have covered a music festival or concert. In fact, as of late, I have been making more and more plans for myself to cover music, through interviews, album reviews and concert reviews (I really tested this out this summer, when I sent away to record labels and band's managements for advance copies of albums. It worked 95 percent of the time).
This summer, one isolated instance got me thinking about the most objective way of covering a concert. I was in the photo pit for at set by The Roots at the Summer Camp Music Festival in Chillicothe, Ill. At the end of the show, the percussionist in the band threw out a drum stick. Another "journalist" in the pit caught it, so proud of what he did. I looked at him, and said "You can't do that, you are a member of the press." The guy looked at me, smiling and just walked away (My blog about it, including a few comments, can be found here. The subsequent blog post to clarify it can be found here).
It is kind of funny to read the comments now, but at the time they really did bug me. Looking back, maybe I did make a big deal out of nothing, but I still believe in what I wrote. That person catching a drum stick in the photo pit made him part of the show, which is essentially the same as being part of the story. As a journalist (with some exceptions, I know), we are taught to stay out of the story, as becoming it can alter what will happen.
As a music journalist (at least for concert reviews and coverage), I think the best way to approach it is to take a few steps back and just observe. Whatever happens will happen, and the reporter will be there to document it. The closer one gets, the better chance they have to get into the story. Doing something like catching a drum stick makes one a part of the story, which, for the most part, is not what the reader needs to know...It is a privilege to be able to cover these sorts of events, and the privilege must not be abused.
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2 comments:
I agree with you. An important aspect of journalism is the angle from which you capture the scene. I would think that while covering a show it would be good to take a step back and see how the crowd is reacting, etc. To take the drumstick makes you part of your subject, which isn't right.
Still, in the heat of the moment, it would be difficult to resist landing ?uestlove's drumstick.
I would love to get ?uestlove's drumstick too, and I would if I was in the audience as a fan too.
Also, I didn't spend all my time from the photo pit. For most shows you are only allowed in for the first three songs. A lot of times I didn't even stay in there for that long.
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