I was going to write this a few weeks ago, just after the royal wedding in fact but I forgot and wrote about something else instead, but I have just had something remind me to do it so here we are. 

Looking about on Facebook, which I spend far too much time doing, I came across a picture of people lining the streets to get a view of the newly-weds. This picture showed everyone present to be either filming or taking pictures of the event and a solitary elderly lady looking on without the use of any device. The caption was trying to give the impression that you miss out on the event or occasion if you’re glued to your phone. I’ve seen others make the same point, I’ve also seen people from my local music scene alluding to the same thing but I think they’ve got it wrong. 

I’m not big on picture taking, I generally can’t be bothered but I understand that this is the new way of documenting events, sharing your experiences with friends and of discovering new things. How many times do people say to you ‘You should have seen this thing’? Well, when it has been filmed, guess what, you can see it and be part of it and that’s a wonderful thing. 

Like Bob Dylan going electric, there will always be people of what I will call ‘The old guard’ for want of a better term that like things the way they were. I personally love it if people are filming at our gigs. If you’re compelled to do so then please do, and don’t be shy about sharing with your friends, let them get a glimpse of the experience you were having and maybe they’ll join you the next time. Surely this is the point of having our hands on this type of technology all the time and being able to share on social media. See something online and then make plans to meet up with people you perhaps don’t see often enough and share in the things you love and things other people love too.