Disney Hall is always a great treat except for one performance last year when I was up in the balcony and one old man 12 seats in had a heart attack and the emergency people did their best to get him out mid concert. Those wood floors are very noisy. I guess next to sex a good concert is the way to go. Tho it disturbs a lot more people. I do hope he was alright tho.

I remember Salonen had started a slow movement in a profound piece, and a cell phone went off. He stopped, and waited, then started again. I'm sure that person died of embarrassment.

I had an English friend say that he went to a concert in a great cathedral and middle row, no escape, the alarm clock he had bought on the way went off. Abject petrification as everyone, EVERYONE, turned and glared at him.

Once I was visiting LA and went to a small theater with really creaky floors, any movement was heard. The one man performance was someone recounting his cancer treatments in a famous NY hospital, serious stuff. Someone decided to leave first half and every movement was broadcast, I don't know how the performer kept going. In the second half I got a hot flash of sweat, and ache in my arm, I sat stone still not wanting to be like the previous attendant leaving, tho I felt like passing out. One friend later said that I was probably experiencing a heart attack and should have headed to the nearest emergency hospital ASAP. Next time I will.

Any other good tales?

I played bass in a School Concert for the Chase School in Malvern [a top State School], and completely failed to notice one old guy die in the front row about eight feet from me. The orchestra did not flinch at all, and it was only days later that I found out the old guy I had conversed with in the interval was the grandparent proudly watching his young grand-daughter play. A lovely way to go, and I guess it was more significant for the audience than us lot of hardened horrible players!

As they say, "The show goes on." And rightly so. The Saint John's Ambulance Brigade are at most concerts. They handled it very decently.

George

quote:

and completely failed to notice one old guy die in the front row about eight feet from me.

couldn't he just put his fingers in his ears?

When i was a kid my friend and i were dragged along to see the Sound of Music at Sevenoaks Odeon by our Mothers.
Two rows down on the left from us a lady oap had a heart attack and died.
That bloody film has a lot to answer for.

Last year, whilst attending the premier of a new Australian piece of music at the Opera House (OK, probably the concert hall, but to most people in the UK/around the world, The Opera House) as the concert started and progressed, I was aware of an annoying tss-tss-tss noise but couldn't work out where it was coming from. The seat next to me was empty.
It suddenly dawned on my that the guy sat next but one to me was listening to his iPod
I couldn't believe it at first but then watched his for a few moments only to actually witness him changing tracks/adjusting the volume or something.
It that point, I virtually ripped the earphones out of his ears and with eyes wide open, put my finger to my lips as if to say "shhhhh".
He did, thankfully turn off his iPod.

I still can't believe it to this day!

A few years ago I was listening to a well known string quartet (can't remember which) play some Beethoven in a local church as part of the Salisbury festival. About halfway through the first movement, the unmistakable chirp of a mobile phone began. It went on and on, and on, and on. Eventually, with the audience getting restless, the second violin (at least I think it was, can't have been the viola player - they never get phone calls), stopped playing, turned bright red, put down her fiddle and, apologising profusely, walked back into the dressing room to switch of her mobile phone. I bet her colleagues were a bit pi**ed off (other than the viola player of course who was just envious about the phone call).

Phil

A story my father-in-law recounted to me, he was Ministering a wedding when a father took his little daughter discretely out of the ceremony to use the toilet out back. A couple of minutes later they came back with the little girl skipping along singing, "Done a poo, done a poo, done a poo", much to the embarassment of the father and the amusement of the congregation.

lol jagster, kids can be so proud of themselves.

These are all fun stories. Something you experience live and not sitting at home.

I figured George would have a tale or two from performances.

On a pre performance talk they had a trumpeter talk about his career and getting to the LA Phil. He flew in from back east, and the next morning decided to go see Disneyland by bus. LONG WAY south. His test was set for 4PM. He didn't expect so much traffic going back. The freeway and roads were jammmed, He got off and started running teh last couple miles in downtown LA skipping thru cars and wrong way roads. When he got onstage, out of breath, he just started pouring sweat soaking his shirt. He knew he'd blown it so just played with abandon.

He got the job.

glenn - that was the trumpet player who retired, wasn't it? i like the story.

btw, sorry i missed the ojai m.f. w/ essa pekka. it must have been a long time ago, as i've been to most of them in the last decade.

perhaps it'll be his turn to do another soon....

my mother was a professional ballet dancer. on a tour of europe in the '50s, she was doing a pas de duex and just as her partner was supposed to catch her in some complex routine, a big piece of the set collapsed. he looked away just at the wrong moment and she hit the floor, cracking several ribs. they finished smiling, of course. unfortunately it was early in the tour and she did the whole thing with taped ribs -- always smiling, naturally.