Anne and I took Ryan to see Elvis Costello and The Police at the Hollywood Bowl last night.
We bought our tickets months ago, and got the best seats we could afford. We took the shuttle from the Zoo to the Bowl, and were in our seats about ten minutes before Elvis and The Impostors took to the stage for an hour-long set that was just fantastic. He didn’t play Lipstick Vogue, which is my all-time favorite Elvis tune, but he nailed all the other songs you’d expect him to play. Sting even joined him for Alison, which was pretty cool.
Did you know that Elvis Costello is 53? He was rocking it out like it was 1988 instead of 2008, and was clearly having a good time. Also, his keyboardist plays a Theremin. A Theremin! How cool!
He only played for an hour, and by the time he was finished, the Bowl was filled to its 18,000 person capacity as night fell.
The Police took the stage, and opened with a wonderful version of Bring On the Night that just sounded great. It started out softly, built to a powerful crescendo, and created a wonderful sense of anticipation for the rest of the show: The Police had clearly come to rock us.
I forget what they played next, but I recall thinking, "Man, they just sound awesome!"
This was around the same time that the woman behind me got on her cell phone and started calling everyone she knew to tell them how awesome Sting sounded.
I was annoyed, but thought I’d just wait it out. Once she went through a few calls to share her excitement with people who couldn’t be there, she’d quiet down, I figured.
I was wrong.
The calls quickly turned from "I’m at the concert and they sound awesome!" to "So, what are you doing this weekend? Oh my god did you see [some stupid gossip thing.]?!"
I paid $60 for my ticket, before the Ticketbastard fees. Surely this woman had spent a similar amount of money. She really wanted to spend the show shouting into her phone?
Two songs later, I couldn’t take it any more. I turned around and said, "Would you please try to talk a little more quietly?"
This is when I saw that she was near the bottom of one of these 32 ounce sangrias they sell at the Bowl. Perfect.
"Hold on," she said into her phone. "What?"
"I said, would you please talk a little more quietly? You’re really loud."
She rolled her eyes at me. "Whatever, dude."
Something in me snapped. Before I knew it, I said, "Hey! I don’t want to listen to your fucking phone calls. I want to listen to the Police."
Her eyes widened, like she wasn’t used to people standing up to her.
Did I mention that she was probably in her mid-40s? Yeah, that’s important. She was absolutely old enough to know better.
"WHAT?" She said.
"I paid sixty dollars to listen to The Police, not to listen to you."
"Well I paid seventy," she said, petulantly.
"So that makes it okay for you to be an inconsiderate asshole?" I said.
"Oh my GOD!" She said. I seriously felt like I was dealing with a child.
"Just be quiet, please," I said, and turned back around.
For the next twenty minutes, this woman loudly complained about me to her equally drunk, equally idiotic friends. She kicked my chair. She clapped her hands next to my head. She screamed like a teenage girl in a Beatles concert film.
In other words, this stupid asshole made about a third of her concert experience — seeing The Police! — all about trying as hard as she could to ruin it for me, because I’d asked — politely — for her to just be considerate of the people around her.
I ignored her the way you’d ignore a child who was having a temper tantrum and she eventually got bored and stopped. Just in time for the stoners to show up in front of me.
I want to break from my complaining about this crap for a second to point out that The Police put on a tremendous show. They’ve been playing the same songs for thirty years, but like Elvis Costello before them didn’t show any obvious signs of "we’ve been playing this song for thirty years" fatigue. They sounded great, it was clear that they were having a lot of fun and enjoying each other’s performances, and their energy was great. They were most certainly not phoning it in, and if we hadn’t been surrounded by assholes, it could have been one of the greatest shows I’ve ever seen.
So, the stoners. Yeah, that was awesome. I don’t go to a lot of concerts because the goddamn stoners drive me crazy, but these people — again, clearly in their 40s — were constantly sparking up like it was 1977 and we were at a Dead show. As they got more drunk and more high, they provided a nice balance to the asshole woman behind me. And by balance, I mean perfect equilibrium.
If I hadn’t been there with my wife and son, I would have left, because it was so irritating. It’s a shame, because it really was a fantastic show, even if they didn’t play Synchronicity II, which is my favorite Police song ever.
I’ve noticed something in the last few years: the older the audience, the greater the number of assholes. It seems like younger people are more passionate about the music and more interested in enjoying the performance, while the older audiences (around my age, I guess) are more interested in getting fucked up and acting like idiots who are, for some reason I have yet to comprehend, are entitled to be as obnoxious, self-centered and inconsiderate as they want.
At least the idiots weren’t there for Elvis Costello, so the entire night wasn’t miserable. I just wish people would be more considerate of others, especially when we’re all together in what is supposed to be a pretty awesome shared experience.
Your post reminded me of the time i went to see Heart at the Greek. I fully expected a kick-ass rock ‘n roll show, which Heart delivered. It was a pity everyone in my section treated it like a church service. They were all sitting down, and would yell and shout at anyone who wanted to get up and dance and rock out.
Funny, but I thought dancing at a rock concert was appropriate behaviour?
I had a similar experience, although with a slightly happier ending.
Several years ago, I went with a friend of mine to a Tori Amos concert. A few songs in, a couple behind me started chatting. Not about what was going on at the show, just… chatting. When the music got louder, they got louder – heaven forbid they should miss out on the conversation.
Now, I’m normally a very mellow guy. I have been friends with people for over a decade who have never seen me angry. However, I am also 6′ 2″, at the time weighed over 300 lbs., had a shaved head, and I think I was wearing my leather biker jacket.
At the end of one song, I snapped. I stood up, turned around, leaned over my seat, and the following exchange took place –
“Shut up! I came here to listen to Tori and not to you, so shut up!”
“Hey, man, we were just – ”
“SHUT UP!!!”
I then turned around and sat down.
I don’t think the three rows behind me even applauded after songs for the rest of the first set.
Not just concerts and movies — I was at a friend’s wedding in a big, old, Catholic church, the kind where you can hear everything. Confessions were scheduled for the church after the wedding was over, but some older parishioners were filing in near the confessionals, and one of them a few pews behind us started a conversation with another rather loudly during the wedding Mass! I almost turned around and said, “Sorry, is this wedding interrupting your conversation?”
There’s no excuse for blatant rudeness, but are there times we just don’t realize how loud we at such events? I know I’ve been guilty of this once, where I didn’t realize how loud I was talking and was asked to be quieter (at a Sting concert long ago, no less). I want to believe at least I was talking about the concert I was attending, and I had lost my virginity the night before — I’m sure I was talking overexuberantly the whole day 🙂
It saddens me that no one seems to come prepared for this.
You tuck a squirt gun into your sock. You prepare it so that a single squirt delivers about a thousand micrograms of street Acid. (Be sure to put it in a Ziploc bag or this can backfire!)
If you’re in luck, the fuckhead near you will self-identify during the opening set. Here’s the trick: you don’t want them to be able to finger you in the 45 minutes or so they have before the psychotomimetic drug takes effect. Get up like you’re going to the john, then come back a bit later in the row BEHIND the target fuckhead. It helps to be holding a cup of beer at this point. Feigning drunkenness, spill a bit of beer on the target’s left shoulder while simultaneously giving them several squirts from the gun on any exposed skin. Then fade back into the crowd for a few minutes before approaching your seat from the other side of the correct row, reclaim your seat, and sit down to await results.
Since you know the concert would have been ruined anyway, you can at least enjoy the psychotic breakdown experienced by the inconsiderate shitbag who WOULD NOT FUCKING SHUT UP. And now at least they are entertaining, in as much as they CANNOT shut up about the lizard monkeys eating their eyes.
It’s important to get your dollar’s worth when going out for entertainment.
http://thepolicetour2007.blogspot.com/
Hey Everyone… keep up on setlist and one local review per show. [i.e. an entry and setlist for each of the Hollywood Bowl shows.]
They rarely change the setlist. [Sting says if it ain’t broke…]
They changed two songs for this leg of the U.S. Dropping Synch II and Walking in Your Footsteps, and adding Bring On The Night and Demolition Man [cool!!!].
Bring On The Night
Message In A Bottle
Walking On The Moon
Demolition Man
Voices Inside My Head
When The World Is Running Down
Don’t Stand So Close To Me
Driven To Tears
Hole In My Life
Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic
Wrapped Around Your Finger
De Do Do Do, De Da Da Da
Invisible Sun
Can’t Stand Losing You [with regatta de blanc in middle]
Encore[s]
Roxanne
King Of Pain
So Lonely
Every Breath You Take
Next To You
I was at the H.Bowl Tues night, too… I smelled the pot… my $60 seats were in R2… way back there!
The $60 tix ARE the cheap seats on the Police tours. The nicer ones are around $95.00 and $225.00.
I go to several shows a year… some boneheads are always lighting up. Do that in the parking lot like the overgrown high schoolers you are. I don’t want to breathe shit that comes out of your lungs.
/end informative rant
To Todd: Please don’t lump all people of a certain (i.e., my) age group into “boomers” and blast us all for being obnoxious. I don’t even own a cell phone, for starters. I haven’t attended a concert since Elton John played Bloomington, IN (that would be ’73), and I taught my three children that it was _verboten_ to talk during movies, never mind *live* performances of any stripe. People of any age can and do misbehave, but please don’t condemn the group for the actions of the memorable few.
To Wil: I hate to say this (because I’ll be incinerated by loyal Wil fans), but you might have added some kerosene to the fire when you used the F-bomb. I’m not saying it wasn’t justified in the circumstances; all I’m saying is, if you want to create peace and understanding, there are a *lot* of other words that are more effective. Granted, most of them would not have been as satisfying to use in this situation, but by using the F-bomb, you gave Intoxicated, Obnoxious Lady license to be as immature and annoying as she chose to be.
And to everyone reading this post: All I’m interested in is peace and understanding and the further growth and abundance thereof. Please refrain from killing the messenger.
To “Mr. Wright,” who wrote, “This is a perfect example of why society should be more accepting of men punching some women in the face.”
Really? Seriously? Is this truly the path you which to tread? It’s a slippery slope–what you are basically advocating here is, “if I am bigger and stronger than and DON’T AGREE WITH YOU, I’m entitled to beat the crap out of you.” Really? Seriously? I’m thinking you might want to rethink that statement. And perhaps spend some time with a good therapist to help you address your hostility toward women.
My husband and I were just talking about how awful the audiences at the lease events at the Bowl are. They are drunker and more obnoxious than at other venues. We go to a lot of live shows.
We went to both Police shows. We got lucky with some really good seats for the Wednesday night show. The people behind us complained the whole time about us standing up. They were the only 3 people sitting in our section. I was at the R.E.M. show tonight and a fist fight nearly broke out in our section. It was scary.
All three nights, there was a din of loud conversation as background to the music. I just don’t get it. You pay really outrageous prices for these shows and then just act like an asshole.
I completely agree that the older the crowd, the worse they are. I went to a Loreena McKennitt concert, and for the second half, some 50-yr-old drunk retard sugar daddy and his young thang talked so loud I couldn’t hear the music. I finally lost it and told him to stfu, to which he had the nerve to tell me I was a bitch and ruined the show for HIM. lol
I hate people. I’ll probably never go to another concert again after that. And tickets were close to $100/each.
Concert idiocy knows no age limits. I’ve experienced morons from twentysomethings to well into their fifties. I refuse to see Dave Matthews Band in concert anymore because I can’t put up with the drunk/stoned/etc. college kids who honestly are not there for the concert – heck, I’ve had to move because of female baby-boomers who think the Beatles tribute band they’re seeing is the real thing, and are screaming like it’s 1964. And then there’s the Hanson concert I saw at the Chicago House of Blues in November 2003 – they were taping it for a live DVD release, and it was packed – I was up in the balcony, and there were three girls in front of me, talking loudly during any song that wasn’t “MMMBop” and shooting me dirty looks when I asked them to be quiet during a ballad. More often than not, though, I can experience a concert incident-free, and that’s awesome.
Wil, I feel your pain. A few years ago, I went to my first Sade concert. Drove three hours to see her perform, only to have the spectacular show marred by this drunken moron and his concubine. All he could do was yell about how much he loved Sade–yeah, well we all did, that’s why we paid the money to see her! A friend of mine, a far bolder person than I am, told him to shut the fuck up. The drunken moron then threatened to beat me up (of course)…and after the concert was over, he stood up and I began to laugh, because he was all of 5’3″. Needless to say, he scurried his drunken moronic ass out of the theater.
I have always said the “general public”, sadly, is full of mostly ignorant people. Therefore, when forced to participate in any event that caters to the “general public” you are looking at about 75%-80% ignorant assholes. And they tend to fuck up any good event. I avoid events with the “general public” as with age, I find my tolerance and patience for ignorance is INCREDIBLY low. Technology is a great thing, when used wisely and when it DOESN’T interrupt OTHER PEOPLE around you!
And yes, smoking anything in a group of people is exceptionally inconsiderate of those around you!
Omigod!! I saw this same show in Orlando a couple of weeks ago…and I had a really similar experience…watching all the late 40-somethings/early 50-somethings behave like poorly-behaved drunken monkeys. It was definitely an interesting night to watch the post-prime-primates come out to play. We had to boot a drunken group of late 40s something women out of our seats–they were totally crawling all over the place, stealing others’ seats in my section and arguing drunkenly that those were, in fact, their seats, when they didn’t have the tickets to prove it. That, and whenever my fiance’ got up, they threw themselves at him and begged him to buy them more beer. It was like watching a morality play.
Fortunately, we were alllllllllllllllll the way up…at the tippy top of the arena, so we had no one behind us whatsoever…but we were next to the stage, so technically, we had better seats than the folks who paid way more to be at the back of the floor and beyond.
But I will say, the best part of the night was getting my fiance’ to agree to come to yoga with me on occasion. Thank you, Sting!
If it had been me (and I suppose I could get away with it, because I’m little, female, and youngish–compared to this audience, anyway), I would have stood for the remainder of the show and shaken my ass in their faces to obstruct their view. Really, it’s a concert. Not the symphony.
Will – You could have turned around, complimented her on how nice she was to tell her friends about the concert, and asked to borrow her phone for a moment so you could do the same. Your options then become –either–
1) a loud call to a friend (real or not) to prompt her to see how it sounds to be her if she’s sober enough, or
2) a looooooong call that seems to frighten you, followed by a quiet and serious prompt of “If he calls back DON’T ANSWER WHATEVER YOU DO! I really thought he was taking his medication now…” as you return the phone.
It might not have been effective in silencing her quickly, but it would teach her to keep her cell phone put up.
🙂
I feel your pain, all y’all. I went to see Regina Spektor a few months ago. She’s big with the 14-25 demographic I guess, and they all had their phones out, taking crappy, low-res, flash pictures while she was playing. I couldn’t imagine what it must have been like, being a performer trying to connect with an audience, or even look in our direction, with a flash going off in your face literally every three seconds. It’s my own personal version of Hell, now.
I hate seeing touring acts when they come through Seattle. The crowds are not too antagonistic toward local bands, even the ones that get big. There’s that hometown pride, I suppose, that sense of camaraderie that supersedes bitter envy to some degree.
When tours come through Seattle, though, I feel sorry for them. The audiences here are downright vicious. When I saw Ben Folds, I honestly thought the crowd was trying to make him cry. He was in the middle of leading us in a singalong, perched on top of his piano conducting us, or trying to, because while many were responding properly, there were a number of shouts cutting across the music demanding that he move on to play other songs instead.
But opening acts suffer even worse. Typically you’d think an opening act would be met with polite indifference for the most part. People may or may not enjoy it or want to see it, but they understand the concept of an opening act. (I always think of Jack O’Neill in the SG-1 episode Allegiance, saying, “Explain to them the meaning of the word ‘temporary.'”)
I’ve sat through many opening acts, and some are good, some are bad, but they’re opening acts. When you see a concert, you know there will be an opener; it’s not like it’s some ugly surprise that your favorite band is not starting right away or playing three hours straight. And what’s more, the main act chose the opening act. They’re touring together; this band is something the headliner enjoys and thinks you may also. So when you try your damnedest to boo them off the stage, shouting, “You suck! Get the fuck off the stage!” you’re actually insulting the act you came to see as well. Not to mention making yourself look like a complete asshole.
There are other disgusting aspects to the crowd’s behavior (such as rampant drug use that has made me fear one of the jerkoffs behind me continually lighting their pipes would set my hair on fire or bump me with the red hot glass bowl they were holding out), but I think that sums it up. It’s just a shame that every time I see a show, I wind up going off on a rant about how much Seattle crowds suck.
google “cell phone jammer” and pick out a nice portable one. best two hundred bucks i ever spent.
Wil, I’m sorry you had such a crappy experience. My hubby (who’s about 6’3″) & I went to see Phantom of the Opera on Broadway a few years back; my hubby is very considerate of the people behind him no matter where we go. He scrunched down as far as he could in the tiny theatre seats, making himself very uncomfortable in the process. That didn’t stop the woman behind him, who was in her mid 60s, from kicking his seat & calling him an asshole. He explained that he literally couldn’t scrunch down any further, but she continued. Finally, he threatened to have her kicked out of the theatre; the people she was with calmed her down enough to make her stop, but it still ruined the show for my hubby & I.
We go to some concerts- I love the Moody Blues, and see them as much as I can. Anyone who’s been to a few Moodies concerts knows the “rules”: what songs you stand to, the fact that during most songs you stand only at the beginning & end, but sit in the middle, and what song you rush the stage to (right after “Nights in White Satin”). I always sing during Moodies shows, but not loudly at all- sort of under my breath so it feels like I’m singing along, but no one can actually hear me. I can’t sit still in my seat, but I make sure that I’m not annoying anyone as I sort of “seat-dance” (which is a very dorky phrase…) During the last show we went to, I was so excited when “I Know You’re Out There Somewhere” started (‘cuz my band covers that song) that I turned around & asked the people behind me if they minded if I stood during that song. They said not at all, and that all of the energy I was expending “seat-dancing” was giving them renewed energy! (People tend to think I’m younger than I am, and I think they thought it was cute that I was so excited about an “older” band.) So I stood for IKYOTS, as did many other people. My hubby, as always, remained seated.
Also- Meredith, I appreciate what you said about local bands. My band plays original & covers, electric & acoustic, at all sorts of venues. No crowd is as polite as a coffeehouse crowd. They really do pay attention and enjoy the music, and many people do come up to us afterwards to talk, and sometimes buy CDs or a t-shirt…
Last thing: someone posted, but I can’t remember the name now:
“I’ve sat through many opening acts, and some are good, some are bad, but they’re opening acts. When you see a concert, you know there will be an opener; it’s not like it’s some ugly surprise that your favorite band is not starting right away or playing three hours straight. And what’s more, the main act chose the opening act. They’re touring together; this band is something the headliner enjoys and thinks you may also. So when you try your damnedest to boo them off the stage, shouting, “You suck! Get the fuck off the stage!” you’re actually insulting the act you came to see as well. Not to mention making yourself look like a complete asshole.”
Hear, hear! As someone whose band has been an opening act for some national acts, I really appreciate that!! A few things, though- the acts don’t always pick their opening bands. Often, they are touring with an opener, but sometimes (if a local band is lucky) they have no opener, and a local band can contact the venue to ask if they can open. That’s how we got to open for Rick Springfield (twice), John Cafferty & the Beaver Brown Band (and will again this summer), Peter Tork from the Monkees, and Jefferson Starship (and one other one, but I can’t remember who right now!) So at the very least, even if you’re not insulting the actual band you came to see, you’re insulting the person who booked them. Last but not least- I know that the audience really came to see the headliner, not the opener. However, the opener wouldn’t have been booked if they weren’t a good match for the headliner. You may like them, so give them a chance! 🙂 When the opener is a local band, I can tell you from experience that they’re *very* excited to be there, and for them, it’s the biggest night of their lives so far. So unless they really do suck (and it’s not that you’re just anxious to see the headliner), please respect the fact that they’re trying to entertain you. They’re not there to piss you off; they’re trying to do what they love, which is play live music, and hopefully entertain you & even gain some new fans in the process.
So: be considerate of your fellow concert/movie goers, and give local bands a chance! 😀
-Alicia
[email protected]
http://www.thewagband.com
Been there, done that…on an airplane…with major jet lag…
When it comes to dealing with drunks, it’s best to follow this advice:
“Never try to teach a pig to sing. It’ll frustrate you and annoy the pig.”
[quote]I’m an American in Holland, and I go to more concerts than most. While LOTS of us puff up at shows here, this kind of stupid behavior is pretty rare!
Posted by: Todd | May 28, 2008 at 03:49 PM [/quote/]
A Brit in Holland here but pretty much the same story. I’ve encountered a few assholes at concerts but most were the younger crowd who overestimated their alcohol tolerance.
It’s shitty to hear your concert got ruined. Hopefully your next live music experience will be a better one.
Oh… and to all those who have said “cd’s sound better”, you’ve been going to the wrong concerts.
Wil,
That my friend, is hilarious! And I mean that in the most stoic of ways. What can you do? Remember people our age and some of our siblings up into their 40’s, only concern in the late 70’s and up into the 80’s, was getting high and getting laid, or at least pretending to get high and laid….
Wil.
I really feel for you I don’t understand people on cells in public places who think they own the place… here is my story and how I got even. I used to work at the Sun Times Office
and was in the womans bathroom minding my own business (In the stall) when I hear, “hello?” I answer yes? A woman replied, I am on the phone, not talking to you… okay fine. So I finish and flush the toilet. I hear this woman yell’ do you mind I am on the phone!” it’s the woman in the stall next to me. I go to wash my hands to get a few explicative that she is on the f*&^*&^ phone and do I mind? I am thinking your in the bathroom in a stall does my world end for you? Then I get an idea… for some reason the sensors are really sensitive in the washroom, if you walk in front of each stall they will flush, and each sink will turn on, so I start from the end of the washroom and walk in front of each open stall causing them to flush in unison…I Started from front to back so as each one is flushing I am getting closer and closer to the door to make my escape … wow was she pissed and I don’t mean literally. I know it was mean but what was I going to do, not flush the toliet and wash my hands because she was on the phone?
I think is the biggest problem with our society and it is the thing that irritates me the most and quickest. People ARE very inconsiderate of each other when they are in public. This goes from crying babie, misbehaving children, loud cell phone talkers, line cutters, I could go on and on. We have lost common courtesy.
We used to go to the Bowl a lot. Not any more. With the drunks and other assholes and idiots dropping wine bottles and the people who never shut up and the kids running around loose and screeching their lungs out, it long ago ceased being fun.
I did have one brief shining moment years ago when my daughter was still in grade school. Some asshole lit a cigarette after the concert was over and was holding it down by his side, I guess in an attempt to keep anyone from noticing he was smoking. The lit cigarette was about at my daughter’s eye level. I tried the polite approach first and said “I don’t think that’s a good idea.” “Maybe not,” bristled the asshole, “but it’s my RIGHT.”
At which point I made a fist and said “Burn my daughter, asshole, and THIS will be your right.” I was convincing enough that he squirmed away through the crowd, cigarette and all.
We only got tickets for one Bowl concert this year, hoping that Big Bad Voodoo Daddy’s audience won’t be a bunch of stupid punks.
Can I recommend the El Rey? It’s not the Bowl, but it’s indoors (hence, no pot), it’s intimate, and when I went to see Ben Lee, no one was on their cell phones. It was nice. Granted, Sting ain’t playing the El Rey anytime soon. But the number of jerks was at a pleasant minimum.
At hockey games (yes, they show up at hockey games too), we’ve been known to talk to the ushers, who will go and get security. If one gets too drunk or too stoned, it is grounds for them to eject you.
Luckily for the Paul McCartney concert I went to, there was none of that. Just some people using their cell phones to record favorite songs. And yes, Paul is still pretty awesome, and he was almost 64 when he did the tour. Lots of jokes about that. 😀
You know what? It would have really raised the bar ten-fold, but I would have reported the bitch to security or whomever works at the Bowl. You don’t have to put up with that crap.
At least the concert was great…what you heard of it!
🙂
Scott
I wonder if the trouble is that each of us desires a private moment in a public space.
Each experience shared here was an experience in how the individual was bothered by the individuals who surrounded them.
A public venue allows for very few private moments.
I am not sure age is the relevant number. It’s more likely the blood alcohol content that’s to blame. Younger folks probably find it easier to get weed and stoners just sort of giggle quietly to themselves rather than act like loud dickheads.
Set phasers on KILL, Mr. Crusher, target her cell phone… Did she recognize you?
I hear you and agree 100% Wil. The last concert I went to here in DC, a woman threw up behind us before the concert and got immediately thrown out, thank goodness.
The last time I walked thru Arlington Cemetery, there were people blabbing away on their phones. Show some common sense and respect people.
Assholes like this are all over the place. You’d think with the amount of bitching people do about the economy and high gas prices that they wouldn’t want to waste their money for a concert and/or movie/event and then not even pay attention to it.
First, Theremin, sweet! Studied it in one of my music major classes, but only saw it live once!
Second, sorry to hear about the rude audience.
Saw Robert Plant and Allison Krauss in Boston last night. Great show. But the chit-chatters were everywhere. I don’t know how many times I heard, from the dudes behind me, “I love this song!” at the beginning of a tune only for it to be followed by a song-length soliloquy about the quality of the pizza they had last night. Infuriating.
That’s why I loved seeing The Cure a couple of weeks ago. It was so damn loud that there was absolutely no chance of hearing a peep from anyone near me.
-S
I’ve noticed that there is an increasingly large class of people who don’t know how to “have” an experience until they get it validated by their friends. I was a high-school teacher for 20+ years, and (at least in that demographic) the ones who were least skilled in self-reflection were the same ones who needed to have their every thought validated by their acquaintances.
I suspect that “phone lady” was in that same group.