Thursday, April 5, 2012

Since when

I really enjoyed the concert last night. Bela Fleck played with the original lineup of the Flecktones and I was very impressed at how strong each musician was. All of them went all over the place with their instruments.

I went by myself to this, because I bought the ticket last minute and didn't bother making arrangements to find someone to go with. That's all well and good; I don't mind going to stuff by myself. But it seems people these days don't just go to a concert, sit down and enjoy the show.

The announcer came out right when the show was scheduled to start to introduce the band. Then another 10 minutes or so passed before they started. No big deal. What I was amazed at was the number of people who didn't take their seats by the time the band started. So it's dark and then people have to get up to let the late people in to get to their seats. Not to mention just being a distraction for the rest of the audience. Since when did it become OK to do this?

"No flash photography and no videos, please". Well, the two tipsy gals that sat next to me didn't hear that announcement because they were late getting to their seats. Of course they had to text or otherwise announce to the world that they have reached their destination, so they've got their cell phones out. Then she shoots some video. At another point, she wanted to take a picture, and the phone's camera loads up its flash. You know how that is, a bright light shining in the darkness. She gasps and hides the camera in her skirt, giggling. I later heard her say, "I'm not sure I'm going to be able to drive home". Ah, that explains a lot.

I felt like such a curmudgeon. Am I too easily distracted? Is it too much to ask that people who attend a concert sit down and listen to the concert? Sheesh. As a friend used to say, "You're not in your living room" meaning, there's (rightfully) different rules when you're out at a public venue. This wasn't enough to make me stop going to these kinds of things, but I feel like I need to start working on a polite way to say "Shut up and settle down!".

3 comments:

  1. A rubber mallet might make it through the discourtesy haze?

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  2. You have every right to expect people to shut up and settle down at concerts. If not for the other folks who have doled out major bucks to attend, then as a courtesy to the performer. I second the rubber mallet approach.

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  3. I have been a Bela Fleck fan for a long time. I don't think there is anyone who can touch him on the banjo. I saw him in concert not long after he had formed the Flecktones in the late 1980's or early 1990's. All of the musicians in the original line-up are great. As for the "tipsy gals", unfortunately, there is not a polite way to say "shut up and settle down!". The kind of people who display immature, boorish, uncouth behavior are not the type that take kindly to others asking them to politely refrain from their childish behavior. In most cases, it makes them even worse, causing a bigger distraction. And the way things are today, you piss somebody off bad enough, they might just shoot you. If the distraction is bad enough, go to management or security and let them handle it. You know what they say.."you just can't fix stupid!"

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Hi, sorry to make the humans do an extra step.