larryt wrote:I agree that some sort of hybrid seating/standing arrangement might be good, if folks would only honor it. At the recent Indy show, which was a general admission rib and music festival, reserved seats were available for $20 extra. I sprang for it and wound up on the front row, which was really cool until the music started and people with seats further back lined up against the stage. What was most troubling is that many seemed to be more interested in having someone take their pic with Joe in the background or just talk and generally make the scene, (or step on my wife's foot). It was almost as if at times Joe was looking past the front row for a connection with the audience because many of them weren't really engaged with the music, though I don't know how you can be that near Joe and not be totally caught up in the heat of the moment.
I'm a fairly fit 54-year-old who can and will stand if necessary, but too often I'm having to stand simply because others seem to be there for reasons other than soaking up Joe's genius. And that's fine--there's a place for everyone for sure, and pople process and enjoy concerts differently. But maybe, if you want to talk over the music, take pix, and hang out, do that away from the front of the stage so that those who came to zero in on the music can.
Blessings,
Larry
Larry....are you saying it was YOU making all that commotion at Ribfest, telling those couple people who were lining the stage directly in front of you to sit down? I thought whoever that was complaining and moaning and getting up to tattle to the ushers was far more distracting than any single person who was lined up against the stage. And it WAS only a single file line of lucky people, my 16 year old daughter and I included, who were up there. You didn't pay any more than I did, and those weren't "reserved" seats, they were general admission, yet this disgruntled concertgoer kept "yelling" that he paid for front row seats. And my first thought was...well if he was there so damn early, why didn't he claim his spot at the stage right away? Thankfully, I wasn't directly in front of him. We were to the far left... and yes, we ponied up for the seated area at the very last minute, not knowing we could have MUCH earlier, and we were THRILLED to still find room to stand at the stage's edge. That was the closest my daughter's ever been at a concert, and she's a diehard Joe fan now because of that whole experience. Turns out Joe was directly in front of us the whole time...but then again I knew he would be, because I've been to several of his shows and know how he works the stage. And yes, while you may have ended up w/ a couple people directly in front of your front row seat, I didn't see or hear any of them being distracting. You could have easily stood up too, and fit right in with that small group. I did see a couple people during Joe's portion and again during Buddy Guy who would walk up to get their photo taken w/ Joe or Buddy in the background, but those people were quick and no more instrusive than the professional photographers who paraded back and forth in that lane right in front of the stage, sometimes stopping right in front of me and blocking MY shot, (with my piddly, old, 3 megapixel Olympus! uh...the nerve!)
No one deserves to get stepped on or spilled on at any concert, but it happens. And obnoxious people are going to be ...um...obnoxious...whether they're sitting or standing. And like someone said previously, in seated venues, there's plenty of people who distract as they go for yet another beer and then need to make yet another trip to the restroom, inching past you in your seat, stepping on your feet or giving you a close-up of their back pockets. Hey, it's part of the whole concert experience. And I'm a "whole concert" kinda goer. So my feeling about the Indy Ribfest is, aside from Joe's stellar playing, Doug Henthorn appearing for "Tea for One," my daughter having a blast (in a very quiet, stand-still kinda way) and me getting some very good shots w/ my ancient camera, it was too bad that person in the front row spent so much time crabbing and didn't bother to just let Joe's music wash over him.
Great musicians have a language & vocabulary that transcends the usual barriers & touches us on a more primitive , basic & yet complex level....
...I'll always have London in my heart, and in my soul...