Rea-lly

On Thursday evening, D, D, N, A and I went to see Chris Rea at the Apollo in Manchester.  The Apollo is a small-ish venue, which always reminds me of the Muppet Theatre - all red velvet seating, drapes and gold decorations.  Chris set off with a few tracks from his album, Blue Guitars. At this point we realised we weren't true fans, since it was way too mellow for us, great as background music in the late evening, but not at full volume at 8pm.  Since the theatre was so small, the music was loud, and we didn't know the tracks to sing along to, D and I were murmuring (well shouting admittedly, but drowned out by music) when the woman in front of me turned round and said "Shhhh".  We were a little taken aback, since we could hardly hear each other we wondered how on earth she could hear us.  The music continued, each track contained long and intricate guitar solos on a variety of guitars and banjos - very clever, but I felt it lost appeal since it happened in every song and became predictable.  Eventually he moved on to some favourites, Road To Hell, On The Beach (Reggae version) and Let's Dance.  We were into the swing, enjoying it immensely by this time, and D turned to me, remarked she preferred this and I laughed.  At this point, the woman in front turned around and shouted "Will you be quiet, you're spoiling it for everyone!".  We were stunned - the stranger next to D was equally stunned and asked what the problem was; D's husband asked what the problem was but we weren't sure.  From then on, for the last 30 minutes of the concert we felt uncomfortable.  Overall I found the concert a little disappointing,  The music was good but there was no rapport between Chris and the audience.  He didn't speak between tracks other than to say thank you, and one very brief moment of encouraging audience participation right at the end.  Throughout, the woman in front sat stock still, occasionally tapping her knee in time to the music. I have to admit to occasionally tapping the back of her chair with my foot in time to the music too. I have been to a fair few concerts in my time, and have never known one where talking or laughing wasn't allowed.  We left the concert and went to the pub next door for last orders, and joy of joys, ran straight into Mrs. Silence.  Unsurprisingly, she and her husband were sitting in silence, and didn't speak a word for the 20 minutes we were there.  Next time we must remember to ask for seats in the Talking Section.

Comments

[Tony]

Yesterday Anne went with some friends to see The Hollies (that dates her—apparently there is only one of the originals left); I had pleaded that I wanted to wash my hair.
They and others in the audience were amused when a woman in their row not merely sang along but stood up and DANCED. Maybe their music was better than Chris Rea's, though he's of the same ancient vintage.

[Cal]

...or maybe just a better tempered audience? I wish Anne had been sitting in front of me!