obsidian...
Yes, I have been talking to people and I feel the exact same way. Venues where up to the end of 2016 you could walk right into with your taping stuff 'recording and geared-up' with zero security at the door now have metal detectors, wands, pat downs and a sense of a take no shit attitude by staff. I was at The 1975 in Detroit the night of the Manchester attack @ Ariana Grande show and first I heard of it was when Matt Healy spoke about it after 'Change of Heart'. That show really had some intense energy from the band. They are from Manchester and it hit home for them, you could hear it.
A few days later I drove many hours to Hamilton, Ontario about a year ago to see Tool. To note, I did record IEM of this and had to physically go below the ground into the parking deck to figure out the signal during soundcheck then got promptly kicked out of that area by security. Anyway. Getting into the venue, I had 1 (DAT Sony M1), 1 RF box, plugs + headphones, DPA 4061 + battery box, and a Sony M10. First security sent me to second level security where a cop watched a higher-trained person do the check on me...gave my cover story, made it in. They wanded me and I got felt by security... I had a lot of stuff to sneak in. Helps when you are closer to 40 than 20. Went to a family bathroom and got my stuff organized then went to a bar inside the venue where I stayed until ~10 minutes before the show started (had 2 beers over 2 hours), went back to the bathroom, started my sources and went to my seat. Recorded a great performance. Mix sounded superb and the AUD was awesome. Long drive back home - got back at 3AM, up at 7, took kids to school, went to work, crashed at night. But I almost got popped at the door and I've been doing this a long time.
A week later, went to the Pine Knob or DTE (Michigan) as it is referred to now. My best buddy came from NY for the show. No problem with security as we have connections locally. We had row 7 tickets - closest I have ever been to Tool. Great performance. Thing is, saw bomb sniffing dogs, armed cops inside the venue (never see that @ DTE) and the 'security' were checking people out if they had pulled out their phone. Intense stuff. Keep in mind, these were events just a week + from the Ariana Grande performance in Manchester, England.
Since the Manchester attack, I have noticed a very real change. To all the tapers out there, keep on doing what you want but know that your hobby is now significantly harder. If you are not feeling it now, great, I hope that you never do. But the music business is a business. Businesses want to sell whatever product they offer in order to make money. That is the bottom line. Tapers are lower level annoyances in the eyes of many bands, Tool included, and until now getting your gear inside hasn't had to be like breaking into a bank. There are now several items in use that venues and promoters have at their disposal to use. Yes, they are for weapons and whatnot but some of this newer implemented technology will pick up whatever equipment you are attempting to covertly bring in.
In October 2017, the night of the Las Vegas shooting, I took my eldest to see Paul McCartney in Detroit, MI. So it was me and my son going through metal-detector-airport-security-style for McCartney. None of this would've rang off bells even two years back. He gets through obviously fine, I had DAT, scanner, IEM box, wires, headphones, microphones... taping stuff with me. I had several security staff come to me, wands, another pat-down. I make it through of course because hey I am with my kid right but for those that maybe are not as well prepared... good luck. At that McCartney show, I saw bomb sniffing dogs inside and outside the venue, unmarked security personal blending as attendees, armed police and at least one policeman w/what looked to me like an AK-47. But I don't know for sure. If I had my way, every American would have health insurance and people could have guns only if they passed yearly competency tests. So what do I know?
Maybe I am older, which I am, but the thing with taping these days is that I am glad I do maybe 90% of it remotely so I do not have to even worry about security anymore. Things are definitely different these days with taping.
Things have changed.
And I'm not just talking about the dumpster fire that is the United States White House under President Trump.