ROCKING TO THE OLDIES WITH THE OLDIES

It was one of those spur of the moment purchases - discounted tickets to go see Chicago and The Doobie Brothers at a local outdoor pavillion.  As the day approached we kind of lost our enthusiasm for it, but off we went.

Going to  a concert to hear bands which had their hay days in the 1970's means that the majority of the attendees were not carded at the walk-up bars.  Even so, there were a lot of people there younger than Tom and me and those were the ones I noticed because their approach to attending a concert are decidedly different than ours.

We went early because we had will call tickets and thought we would just relax and have dinner.  Except that there weren't many choices of things to eat and no where at all to sit.  There were no fewer than 5 bars set up, but only 1 stand with junky food.  The concert started at 7 but crowds were filing in steadily until about 7:45. which meant a lot of hopping up and down to let people squeeze down the aisles to their seats.

It was very odd.  The atmosphere was more like a sporting event.  People were carrying on conversations shouted over the music.  The vendors who roamed the aisles hawking popcorn, lemonade and red ropes stopped shouting but kept going up and down the steps all through the performances - and so did the people going to the bathroom and for refills on the beer.

The last time we went to a concert in this venue, we were down in the floor seats.  It had an intimate feel and, if all that other stuff was going on up in the levels above, we were not aware of it.  It may be that times have changed  or it may be that people just don't get as involved with the band and music when they are up in the cheaper seats - watching the big screens is kind of like being home watching TV.

Otherwise, the music was good - though the productions were very, very choreographed.  No room for the relaxed, personal or improvisational.  Chicago was one of my all time favorites back in the day and they still had that great music and sound - even if some of the voices are not as good as the originals.

We had fun doing something we rarely do but we agreed we enjoyed  music in small clubs and bars much better.