Phoebe Bridgers Turns Madison Square Garden Into a Phone-Free Living Room
What made what Phoebe Bridgers did at Madison Square Garden so special was that she managed to transform one of America’s biggest concert halls into an intimate place.
Phoebe Bridgers organized a non-traditional cellphone-free concert at the Madison Square Garden in New York on June 4. The performance featured a number of hits, minimalistic arrangements of tracks and some unreleased songs. It is worth noting that Bridgers’ music has recently become increasingly poetic and word-centered, which could explain the idea behind the surprise shows held by the musician.
Given the fact that Bridgers makes songs that are all about lyricism, silence, and subtlety, being surrounded with phones turned off seems rather appropriate.
There were no screens glowing in the darkness; there was nothing left to do except listening, looking and remembering.
A Big Arena Without the Usual Arena Noise
Converting such an impressive place as Madison Square Garden into a venue that is smaller than life was not easy at all. This is a place designed for hosting huge matches, rock concerts, spectacular shows, and arena music performances. But Bridgers opted for a completely different route.
In this case, intimacy served as the main idea, bringing the focus to voice, guitar performance, the atmosphere created, and the interaction between Bridgers and the audience. And the absence of smartphones made all this even more evident.
Because people could not record everything during the concert, Bridgers managed to build some kind of relationship with the audience, which made them involved in what was happening instead of recording everything and then sharing it through their smartphones.
It was especially true when it came to the new songs performed by Bridgers due to the fact that they were new to the listeners. Therefore, people did not have time to record anything and share this content with other people later.
A New Era Without a Hard Launch
The fact that this was also a soft reboot for Bridgers cannot be overlooked either.
Over the past few years, she has achieved success as a solo artist, gained mainstream recognition for boygenius, won multiple Grammy Awards, and become much more visible than the indie artist that most people would have known her as. It would have made sense for this concert to be a celebration of that.
However, instead, there was a certain sense of the upcoming performance taking place.
There were hints of what will come later with songs yet unreleased without making this a mere pre-announcement of things to come. She did not need to resort to any flashy display to signal change since all she had to do was allow the audience to witness it.
Courtesy of David Lee (Flickr CC0)This might very well turn out to be the smartest thing about the whole performance. In modern music industry practice, an artist heralds the beginning of a new era through publicity stunts via various marketing channels. However, Bridgers did the opposite.
The concert provided a temporary experience of the best kind.
Why the Phone-Free Rule Worked
However, the decision to impose the phone ban might become a subject of controversy as some concert-goers would still want the freedom of taking photos and shooting videos whereas others might see this as an encroachment because video taping concerts is quite widespread practice nowadays.
Still, in relation to the show by Billie Eilish, this decision was justified.
The shows presented by Eilish do not feature any visual element. On the contrary, they depend on small details, such as the quiet drop of a word, the suspense of delivery of a line, or the silence of the crowd that follows before they sing together. These elements cannot be fully appreciated when half of the audience is taping.
In this situation, the phone ban helped her emphasize all these details.
What is more, it allowed for creating an unusual atmosphere of uncertainty as today, fans could instantly check their timeline, compare setlists, or post information related to the concert.
Madison Square Garden as a Test Case
Perhaps the most interesting aspect of Bridgers’ MSG show would be how it would be applied to performances done by others.
The trend nowadays with arena shows is that they seem designed for consumption through social media. Large screens, crowd pleasers, surprises, and special effects almost seem designed not only for those who attend the show but for social media users watching at a later time.
Not Bridgers, however.
Rather than considering Madison Square Garden as yet another venue from which content can be produced for consumption on social media, Bridgers considered it as being full of people. There is no need to completely strip away technology and light effects in order to make the experience more personal.
A Night Designed to Disappear
Paradoxically, it may end up being even more memorable since fewer people will have gotten a chance to watch it again.
The concert of Phoebe Bridgers at Madison Square Garden was not destined for eternal life in vertical cell phone recordings; it was meant to be seen, discussed, and imperfectly remembered.
Imperfectibility was one of its key attractions.
In a world where practically everything is instantly documented, Bridgers staged a concert resistant to transformation into content. In one night, Madison Square Garden was less like Madison Square Garden than it usually is.
It was not a venue that tried to turn into a living room using staging tricks.
It was an artist who invited her audience to pretend that they were already living there.
By David Loran Jr
A successful Editor-in-Chief, journalist for over 6 years, writing about important topics that are going on within the U.S. and beyond.
Sources:
Pitchfork: Phoebe Bridgers Is Going on Tour
Featured and Inset Image Courtesy of David Lee‘s Flickr Page – Creative Commons License
