November 6, 2012
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| View from my seat - Leonard Cohen's opening song, "Dance Me To The End of Love" |
I posted the following Los Angeles concert report on the Leonard Cohen Forum
At 8 pm sharp, the show began.
Hundreds of people were still streaming in late.
Ushers were standing in the aisles while hundreds lined up on either side of them to find out where their seats were located.
For those like myself, these people blocked our view and although whispering, were still audible.
This was all visible from the stage.
The hustle and bustle to get to seats was still going on after two songs.
After two songs, LC stopped the show, asked to bring the house lights up so people could find their seats.
Sweetly made a joke, "I apologize for starting the show on time."
And added, now I can see your faces.
After a while he resumed the show.
But people kept streaming in late, it went on and on on and on....
To add to the latecomer chaos, people acted all evening as if they were at a sports game.
This is a very plush theatre, almost identical to Caesars Colosseum. Yet, there were comings and goings all night, movement that was clearly visible form the stage. There seemed to be people walking in the aisles all night, especially visible when the show;s lighting hit certain areas.
Of course if one person in the middle of a row wants to leave and re-enter, more of the row has to rise to let them pass.
At one point I was in tears, both for LC and for myself.
My son Leonard came with me for his first LC show ever and this was the spectacle he witnessed.
And if all this movement wasn't bad enough, as soon as Hallelujah was over, people began leaving causing more movement that never stopped.
I was at the 2009 show and I don't recall movement like this.
Then I remembered, I had a Pit seat in 2009, so I wouldn't have noticed
The movement all night was so bad I stopped trying to take videos.
I have zero complete videos. (Edit: I did get some videos after all, much to my delight).
Too bad, he sang "The Guests". I did try. I hope someone else grabbed it.(Edit: I did get that one)
As soon as I thought the coast was clear, people walked into the camera view.
I may upload the odd one for the record and /or do a compilation video when I return home from my next two concerts.
In spite of this chaos - Leonard Cohen put on a dynamic concert, "gave them everything he got", went far beyond what he had to.
He announced he would like to do the first song over. People cheered.
Even though people were leaving in droves, he announced he would keep singing to the edge of the curfew.
They still kept drifting out.
Finally, he held up the clock to show it was almost 11:45.
I was in tears by then. I was so rattled and so upset.
I will check my Sony stick for more details. But because of all the movement in my row, my handbag (where I hide the stick) was jostled several times so I may have nothing on it.
---Arlene
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| LA Times 1/4 page B/W 5.17.12 |
that is terrible and a total lack of manners, disrespect for the artist and a reflection on their mothers for not teaching them right. It must be nice to think you are so important that you can disrupt a concert any time you wish. I understand not wanting to get caught in traffic, that is why you wait for the last song and then wait some more then leave. Shame on them for their lack of respect.
ReplyDeleteI'm so sorry to hear that, why some people have such a bad behaviour?, why today nobody´s cares about other feelings and try to be respectful to the artist, the band, and the people who is attending the concert?.
ReplyDeleteI was very lucky, in the only concert I attended we were around 16000 people singing and clapping when it was time to, and keeping a respectful silence as the band was playing,my sister told me in a very low voice: " this is incredible it looks like we are in the church". A man who was sitting near us ,suddenly began to speak and the people around him told asked him politely to be quiet and he did it after saying he was sorry. I think that´s the way it should be, today this kind of spectacle is a masterpiece and deserves all our respect and admiration because, as The Man says they always done everything he got.
Thank you Arlene for the report, sorry you spent a not good night, hope the rest of the concerts will be better.
This was the way at Wembley too;people were awful.Arriving late,then leaving their seats every 10 minutes for more beer! Go to the pub, do not show such disrespect;do they not know how precious their tickets are.The show was ruined by such rudeness and by people who really just went for a night out,not to see our Man.
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