Yes, I do watch back those videos I take at concerts
Published on May 2nd, 2026
On any live concert footage you watch online, there's bound to be comments like this:
Look at all those phones! Just be in the moment, you'll never watch back those videos anyway...
Respectfully, I disagree. Let me start by saying I completely understand the annoyance from both the audience and the artist when all they see is people's phones. It's gotten worse over the years, and artists are rightfully moving more towards a no-phone policy at shows. I applaud that effort, though it would mean my concert log would become a bit less exciting...
The part of the argument that irks me most is that you're not going to re-watch the videos you take. I frequently do! When I'm listening to music, I love the fact that I can often pull up a video and experience that part of the experience again. It immediately transports me back to that moment and allows me to remember the show more vividly than if I'd just had my memory to go by.
This might start to sound "old man yells at cloud", but what I don't understand is people recording with/for fleeting stories or Snapchat. Those videos are gone within 24 hours! There's no way to re-live that moment unless you go digging in the settings (in Instagram's case, not sure about Snapchat).
Anyway, that's my take. I record parts of concerts to remember them later, and I do occasionally go back to watch those recordings later when I'm feeling nostalgic.