Anyone who's been to a gig in the last 15 years will be familiar with the irritation/anger/fury caused by fellow audience members who attempt to record all or part of the event on their mobile phones. Over time, I've grown reluctantly accustomed to bobbing and weaving my way through an evening, in an effort to catch a clear view of the stage through the sea of up-stretched arms. In one tiny venue a couple of years ago, I actually watched a long stretch of Courtney Barnett's set
through an iPad (
an iPad!) that was being held aloft by someone standing directly in front of me!
In another lifetime, I'm afraid I too was briefly guilty of straying into other people's sightlines, as I did my best to capture live snapshots for a fanzine my pal and I were busy dreaming up. All this was back at the dawn of the 1980's. Nothing ever came of the fanzine, or the photos. Until now.
Gang of Four in 1981, photographed by Yours Truly
