[This series is a play on ‘writer’s block’.]

Not too long ago, Adele told a fan to stop filming her saying “this isn’t a DVD, this is a real show.”

I wonder how she will react when she comes to Asia, where people are so dutiful in recording every concert moment, making sure they–or rather their gadgets–don’t miss a single one so that the rest of us not there could enjoy the blurry and jumpy, not to mention unnecessarily noisy, grand production aftermath.

I do realise that not everyone gets to watch their favorite artistes live, for various reasons from geography to okane.

But this obsession with “recording” something that we are supposed to be witnessing with our own eyes and not through an inanimate object’s power lenses has become unhealthy, that it ironically makes us miss the moment.

It’s not just true for concerts, but for every other moment that otherwise would have been poignant if we were not too busy making sure our gadgets were properly focused or recording.

This is what “Put Your Camera Down,” a 2007 song by the Japanese band Tokyo Jihen, is all about.

I stumbled upon the song while looking up Sheena Ringo’s discography, curious about her after watching the Rio-to-Tokyo Olympics handover, which she helped produce.

The song, known in Japanese as Senko Shojo (Flash Girl), was composed by Sheena’s bandmate Seiji Kameda. Kameda was inspired to compose it after seeing a young girl wearing a hooded jacket walking home and wondering about her life and future. Sheena wrote the Japanese lyrics while Robbie Clark wrote the English version, which I find haunting.

I am content with taking in this moment caught in time
I’ll forget about it soon enough but I don’t mind
When thoughts belong to yesterday, the saturation fades
I always am where I’m found

Today this moment deserves the ultimate intensity
I see no need to recharge for tomorrow’s happenings
Mistakes we made yesterday, they blur what should be clear
Refocus close on where you are

I am shining in this moment, frame your shot
With your senses open wide
Leave that camera at your side
Let me sparkle in this moment here with you
The only moment that we know is ever true

This very time outshines the bygone moments of my life
I don’t care if when tomorrow comes I change my mind
My pulse it pounds. My breath is near, the clarity is clear
While life is certain, why won’t you…

Let my shining light illuminate your shot
When it goes out it will be lost
We use up everything we’ve got
Let me sparkle in this moment here with you
The only moment that we know is ever true

Even if we’ve met the end I’ll shine with you

 

 

Adele’s reminder and Tokyo Jihen’s song are very relevant for us to keep in mind as fangirls and in our daily life.

Adele, just so you know, I have no photos nor videos to show of having watched Arashi two nights in a row at Kyocera Dome last year for their Japonism LIVE TOUR 2015, except for pre-concert and after-concert shots (including our view of the dome, which wasn’t much considering that on the first night, we were nearer the ceiling than the stage). We wouldn’t even dare take out our gadgets for fear of being kicked out, especially after paying a fortune for our tickets.

The only other thing I have is this post and I’m not good at writing concert reports, especially since I barely understand the language.

But it made it easier to open my senses, focus and soak in the moment instead of being too busy trying to take a blurry photo or a jumpy video that no one would appreciate anyway.

And well, I have the memories even if they are quite foggy now. But I shall relive them when my Arashi LIVE TOUR 2015 Japonism DVD arrives in two days.

Because what mattered there and then was being in the “now”, breathing the same enclosed air as Arashi, seeing them in the flesh and realizing that, hey, they are not figments of my imagination. They are real.

So next time you watch a concert, put that camera down and enjoy the moment. Then buy the DVD later. Don’t forget, recording or streaming during concerts is illegal; they make artistes lose revenues and put to waste their efforts in performing and putting up a good show.

Let me sparkle in this moment here with you
The only moment that we know is ever true

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