Mop of Ginger, Live in Concert
We went to see Glenn Hansard and Marketa Irglova (b.k.a. those dandy musicians from the movie ONCE) at the Crystal Ballroom last night. They are awesome, and they performed awesomely, but my enjoyment of the concert was completely and utterly eclipsed by the shitty-ass venue. Imagine a giant gymnasium (that happens to have fancy chandeliers hanging from the rafters) packed to max (standing room only) capacity. Now imagine a teeny weeny 1' elevated stage in the most arbitrary corner of said gymnasium. I was standing completely upright for 3 hours amidst a sea of perfumey, horny and/or rude people, and couldn't see shit. It sucked, man. Some tall, bulky dude tried finagling himself into the EXACT space that I was inhabiting and then got all indignant when I elbowed him in the back. He played it off like he was just trying to go throw his cup away. Yeah, whatev, taint-face. Finally when my knees and lower back (and the little voices in my head telling me to bludgeon the PDA-happy couple next to me) couldn't take it any longer, we left. Leaving early turned out to be really fucking difficult because we couldn't seem to extricate ourselves from the crowd. It was borderless. You know how when you fly over a gigantic metropolis like Mexico City or Tokyo or (I imagine) Los Angeles, the development just seems to stretch on forever, as far as your eye can see? That's what this crowd felt like. Oh man did it suck! What a shame, too, because Glenn Hansard and Marketa Irglova rock. I feel like I might be an abnormally intolerant and/or misanthropic person because I had such a miserable time. Does anyone else have a concert horror story to share? Regardless, I will never go back to the Crystal Ballroom again. Ever. Unless Michael Jackson or Bowie play there.
posted by Sandy @ 6:45 PM
1 Comments:
I'm not a fan of crowded places in general, and am pretty good at finding spots in crowded concerts that will prevent me from being elbowed or sweated on by random people. Usually just standing a little off to the side affords you a better view than the people desperately jostling to get to the front.
The only bad time I can recall in recent history is when I saw Roots Manuva at the Empty Bottle and suddenly was attacked with severe stabbing joint pain in my knees and elbows, and there was nowhere to sit. Sitting on the floor of a dirty bar isn't my idea of a good time, but I had to crouch in a corner for awhile because the pain was so severe. That was more my personal problem than anything to do with the venue. Another time at a Nine Inch Nails concert, someone stepped on my face. But that was ages ago, and I would never venture anywhere near a mosh pit now that I'm old enough to know better.
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