I have a love/hate relationship with the screens at concerts.
What is the point, really, of going to a live show as opposed to just watching a video recording of it? You feel the crowd around you, you get that powerful live audio, but you also look around with your own eyes and get your own unique experience and visual memories. When you have the big screens, anyone who isn’t very very close to the stage will naturally focus on them for most of the show. That eliminates a significant reason to even be at the show in person. It’s almost to the point where it’s better to just watch a recording of the show at home.
On the other hand, at a big arena show, anyone who doesn’t pay a fortune on VIP tickets, or fight to get to the front, can’t see details of jack and/or shit. Ok great, you can see some tiny people moving around on a stage and you can see all the pyro and lights show they’ve created, but you can’t see the actual people that you have paid to see. You can’t see their faces. You can’t see the drummer going wild. You can’t see the roadies and stagehands doing work. If a special guest comes on stage, you won’t know who it is.
In this situation people also may as well stay at home and watch a recording. It’s also not egalitarian, creating a much better experience for people who pay more money to be closer. Obviously concerts are never going to be equal for all attendees, but there are ways to mitigate it. Such as having the long catwalk and secondary stage towards the middle of the arena, so more people will have a chance to be close to the action at least during some portion of the show.
The ideal scenario for me is first of all, not have a big arena concert. Not a fan. I pretty much only go to small/mid sized venues these days. Even if someone I really like is in the big arena, I’ll probably take a pass unless it’s just too exciting to pass up.
If you’re going to have the big arena show, there are a few things you can still do to improve the screen situation. One is to have screens, but not always show the band on them. You can show other kinds of imagery related to the music. Only show live camera footage of the band members and their faces when it is appropriate to do so, like when they stop to talk or go wild on a solo.
Also, it is possible to hang the screens in different locations other than right next to the stage. This makes it so anyone who is close enough to the stage that screens are not necessary won’t have any screens in their line of sight. Only the people seated far away enough to need a screen will even have one to look at.
Finally, there are some accessibility reasons to have screens no matter what. I feel like sign language interpretation and/or closed captioning should be required. You could create a special section at the show for all the hearing impaired people to be together and see the interpreter, but a screen is good too. Obviously such a screen would have to be visible to the entire arena.
