Monday Morning Concert Pet Peeves

Last night Cheryl and I attended a concert at the newly remodeled historic Granada Theater in Santa Barbara. It is a grand auditorium, beautifully redone. In part we went to the concert to see what had been done to this hall. It took several years and millions of dollars to get it in shape, and it is beautiful.
We chose to attend last night's America concert. Although Cheryl was willing to go, I'm the bigger America fan. But she knew many of the songs and was interested. As expected the concert featured all the old standards like Ventura Highway and Tim Man, Sand Man and This is for all the lonely People. They also sang California Dreaming and Eleanor Rigby. They also included newer pieces. They did a nice job of mixing in old and new, though I think many of us were more interested in the old than the new. Indeed, when they ended the concert on a fairly loud and raucous version of Sister Golden Hair, the concert hall called for a return to the stage. And as they did so Dewey Bunnell and Gerry Beckley acknowledged that they had left out one important song -- their first and most important hit -- "A Horse with No Name." If you're my age you probably can sing this from memory, since it was on the radio non-stop back in the early 70s. And so they came out and gave us what we'd come for.
So, now that I've given you the basics, let me give you my pet peeves. We spent $65 per ticket -- a sizable sum for us. We don't go to many concerts, hey we don't go to the movies unless its a matinee. And so when we do, I want to get my money's worth. That is, I want to hear the group I've paid good money to hear, and not listen to people sitting behind me chatter throughout the evening. It may just be me, but it seems like every time I go to a major concert event -- whether the Beach Boys, Don Henley, and now America -- I end up sitting in front of chatter boxes. Not only that, but it seems like no one can sit still. Even last night -- at a venue serving beer and wine -- people were up and down all through the 1.5 hour concert. Some went to get refills, others apparently went to the rest room (I guess). This doesn't happen, ordinarily to me when I go to a jazz concert nor does it happen generally at the symphony (I do remember attending a concert at the Hollywood Bowl years ago featuring the works of Henry Mancini where our neighbors decided that this was a nice picnic venue and chattered through the evening). Most of these concerts have been outdoors, but this one was indoors. I told Cheryl that maybe I'll just have to limit my concert attendance to the symphony. But, I enjoy classic groups and want to enjoy them in peace. Unfortunately that may mean having to do this in the sanctity of my own home.
So here's my Monday morning question -- am I off base wanting to listen to a music group without constant chattering and the inability to sit still?

Comments

roy said…
No, Bob, you aren't out of line. For tha kind of money, you didn't pay to listen to two people gossip about a friend's boyfriend, the ups and downs of the stock market, or even what kind of guitar the performer is playing. It is disrespectful to the audience and it is disrespectful to the performer.

I think part of the problem is with the venues. I really think they should ask people to leave who are interrupting the experience of the concert for others. Try talking at the symphony and see how long it takes before the usher ushes you out the door.

All that said, isn't the Granada amazing? I played as part of the opening celebration and got a good tour of all of the facilities. It really is world class and the sound is astoundingly good.

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