Great Metallica concert

Following up on the last post, the Metallica concert was great. I had waited for 20 years to see them live and it was great seeing them. I especially liked the fact that at the end of the concert the drummer spoke Danish. I have known that he was Danish for a long time, but never hear him speak. I have added some links to videos from the concert further down in the post.

I will follow up this post with a look at big concerts and security. 50 000 people had paid about 640 Danish kroner to see the concert. That means that the band gets 30 million for playing for 3 hours (if they only have 1/4 of it after expenses are paid they that is still a good hourly wage). On the other hand there is a lot that must function on time and without problem otherwise you have 50 000 angry people and a security nightmare. Therefore the security must be tight, but not uncomfortably tight. When looking at security we must think of potential threats, for inspiration on potential attacks look at Schneier and his movie plot contests.

In that respect we can start too look at their attempt at restricting sound recording equipment and photography. Some years ago it was prohibited with all forms of cameras and sound equipment. This is still not allowed, but they are starting to cave inn to mobile phones. They now said that mobile phones where allowed, but added "please do not use the camera function". I can tell you that this was totally ignored. At any time during the concert I could look around me and with a high probability see at least one camera phone up in the air. Most people looked like they used the video function to capture some moments of the concert, and after the concert I saw a good deal of compact cameras, probably smuggled in before the concert. So there their attempt at stopping sound recording and photography are totally not working. They should try to relax their requirements and wake up to the digital environment, but this is like the large music companies which are still working in ignore mode. To organizers of large concerts: Let me tell you once and for all, your attempts at blocking the future are not working (all links to youtube videos, for more search for Metallica and Århus).

On the other hand I would say from personal experience that a ban on cameras are probably useful in the sense that it is very annoying to see a concert where people take pictures with flash all the time, and if you allow cameras most people will forget to turn the flash off.