So last night, I was going to be stealthing at Bright Eyes, at the new (and pretty awesome) Westville Music Bowl in New Haven. In the days leading up to the show, I got somewhat anxious about taping, as it has been a very long time since I stealthed during a summer show. Between getting the gear past the door (full pat-down and metal detectors) and not having much clothing (t-shirt and shorts; it's hot!) on to support the gear and so on, I started to doubt my abilities. So I went to Guitar Center earlier in the afternoon and picked up a Shure MV88 iPhone mic. I've heard extremely decent results with this mic, and the Shure MOTIV app is actually pretty robust and featured. Bringing in just this mic made me more at ease with the whole situation and I thought it would be a more fun / lower pressure way to get the gear in and tape the show. I had a first row seat, dead center behind the GA pit, so the situation was fine for having the phone wrapped up in my hoodie on my lap with the mic in the windscreen poking out and up. I recorded the first two opener sets to get familiar with the mic and everything went fine and as expected. No problems. I'm a "set it and forget it" kind of taper; I set the gain levels pretty conservative, I start recording usually about 10 mins before I expect the band to start, and then I leave the gear alone. So I did just that before Bright Eyes went on, and it was an amazing show. I've seen Oberst solo, with the Mystic Valley band, with Dawes, and with Bright Eyes maybe almost 10 times, and this was the best I'd ever seen him. The sound in the venue was great, and again, I was in a primo spot to tape. The show ends and I pull out my phone to stop recording, and when I unlock my phone (a less-than-one-year-old iPhone 12 Mini), the "Save Recording" prompt is already up. For whatever reason, the phone lost connection to the MV88 6 minutes after I started taping, despite the mic being still firmly connected to the phone. I got 6 minutes of pre-show audience noise.
To say I'm disappointed is a massive understatement; heartbroken is more like it! But I'm trying to be mellow about it; just another lesson learned.
So what do you all think? Did I get punished a bit for essentially taking a shortcut? Are phones just too finicky/unreliable to tape? Am I the one to blame for my "set it and forget it" mentality? I welcome any/all thoughts! Needless to say, I'm returning the MV88 today.