davechan.com - a slice of dave

Saturday night

Warning! This is a long post...as usual, I've separated it into different parts. Enjoy!

The Morning After

I woke up feeling very happy after my casino winnings last night. Okay, so $75 wasn't much, but it's definitely better than a poke in the bum with a sharp stick! A blunt one might be fun, but a sharp one will draw blood. Aaaaanyway, moving right along....

Tonight was the Nigel Kennedy concert!!! I had been looking forward to this so much ever since I'd bought the ticket. To quote another big old fat guy, "I'm excited!".

I spent the day shopping with Joe, and I got home to prepare for the concert. That morning, I'd had a call from a friend, and I'd arranged to go and meet her after the concert so we could go party together. I said I'd send her a message when I knew about what time the concert finished. The concert was scheduled to start at 8pm, and so I thought it would be finished perhaps 10ish. This is a classical concert, and so there is a set programme. Also, classical concerts always start on time. I picked up a programme, and inside it said "The performance is approximately one hour and forty minutes long including a twenty-minute interval". So I messaged my friend to say it would be finishing at 10pm, but that we should meet at 11pm.

Fun with Tickets

Before all this though, I picked up my ticket from the box office. What had happened was that I originally booked to see this concert on Friday night, forgetting that the Christmas party was on that night. Hurriedly I called up the box office again, and managed to change ticket date to Saturday night.

Through a series of snafus (theirs, not mine) I wound up being called by the Sydney Symphony's box office manager, who apologised for the snafus, and offered to switch my tickets for the Saturday performance. He couldn't guarantee that the seats would be as good as the ones I originally booked, as the Saturday night performance was very full already, but I said that it would be fine. He actually mentioned two tickets, and I corrected him and said that no, I only booked for one ticket. I didn't give it a second thought.

So anyway, I rocked up to the box office and asked for my tickets, which were duly handed to me. I opened up the little ticket folder and found two tickets. Wow! Cool! But hang on, by this time it was about 7:40pm, and the performance was due to start at 8pm. I didn't know anyone who would be interested in going to the concert, let alone someone within 20 minutes of the Opera House on a busy Saturday night! I decided that I would give the extra ticket away. After all, I only paid for one ticket, so I was happy with that, and besides, I was so hyped about the concert that I really wanted someone to use this ticket, rather than letting it go to waste.

Heading back to the box office, near the concierge's desk, I found where the scalpers and hopefuls were gathered. I found an American lady who was looking for two tickets, but so far had only been able to find someone selling one (besides me). They were looking at taking my offer of a free ticket and buying one that a lovely old gentleman was selling. Unfortunately this would mean they wouldn't sit together though.

So I said to them, I don't really care where I sit, as long as the seat is better than the tickets that I had in my hands (I had paid for an A-reserve seat), I was willing to exchange my two tickets for the one. We hurried over to the old gentleman and had a quick check of his ticket. The first thing I looked at was the price, and it was indeed less than what I had paid. So I said no.

I had a quick think about it for a bit more, and thought what the hell, why not? These two ladies really wanted to go see the show, and I had a spare ticket for which I had no use. So I said okay, they bought the ticket from the gentleman, and I swapped my two tickets for their one.

I was feeling quite happy that I'd been able to make someone's day (well, two people's day) and to see that my spare ticket hadn't gone to waste. Okay, so the price on the ticket was less than what I had paid, but who cares, I'd still get a good seat anyway.

I ran up the stairs and into the concert hall itself. Wow, it is really awe inspiring. There is seating on all four sides of the stage, with the majority at the front of the stage and less at the back and sides obviously. I noticed though, that there were a series of microphones suspended not very far above the stage. Strange, I don't remember there ever being a need for amplification at a classical concert.

My seat was actually really really good. I was in the stalls, row M, seat 19. That's in front and centre and 14 rows back. Funny I thought, this is a fantastic seat, and yet the old gentleman had paid less than what I had for my ticket! I looked at the ticket again, and what I hadn't noticed was the letters "CONCESS" on the side of the ticket. This was a concession ticket! Which the gentleman (a retired doctor from Hungary) confirmed for me - he was supposed to be attending with his wife, who unfortunately was ill that night. Ah! It explains it. When I got home later, I saw that the seat I had in row M was actually 7 rows better than what I had originally booked for on Friday night in row T. The tickets I gave away were pretty crappy by comparison.

There is karma in this world :)

The fact that I had great seats were confirmed by the person sitting on the other side of me. She was on the council of the Sydney Symphony, and obviously must be given great seats. I was very happy.

Okay, enough about tickets. The show must go on...

Maestro, Music Please!

Well, no, it didn't. By 8:15pm everyone was wondering what was going on. An audible murmuring went around the packed hall. The council lady whispered to me, "He is getting away with murder, but he is the world's best violinist". There was definitely a hint of sarcasm there.

It wasn't until about 8:25pm that the lights dimmed and Nigel and the Sydney Symphony Orchestra walked onto stage, to rapturous applause. He is definitely the most un-classical looking classical performer I've seen. For tonight's performance, he was wearing street clothes. Not a tux, or even a suit. He was wearing a T-shirt with a shirt on top, cargo pants, and black lace up boots. Looking pretty grunge actually. And his haircut matched. His hair was shaved around the sides and back, and the long top bits were spiked up. Cool I thought.

Tonight was a night of Vivaldi. 4 Vivaldi concertos, intermission, followed by The Four Seasons. For the concertos, he and the Concertmaster (and lead first violin), Michael Dauth together led the rest of the orchestra.

The first concerto, in A, was alright. For the second one, in C, he called up the cellist, Catherine Hewgill, to perform alongside him and Michael. Maybe it was so everyone could see how hard she had to work. Because Nigel decided to fly through this piece, and it was obvious to everyone just how hard Cat had to work to keep up with him. She did, barely, manage to keep up, which is to her credit.

The third concerto was again pretty good, but Nigel really nailed the last one. Fantastic.

It was at this point though (or was it after the third?), that he decided to mix things up a bit. He introduced some music which was not in the programme. Um okay, cool, I thought, this should be interesting. And it was interesting. I can't remember what it was, but it wasn't too bad. I think it was some 19th century compositions.

My observations in the first half was that yes, Nigel made some great music. He also really loved to show off and over-emote. By that I mean seriously over-exaggerate movements. For example, he would be constantly wandering around the front of the stage, and very often would be in the face of the second violin of the 1st violins. I was starting to think maybe he had a thing for her.

The worse thing though, is that in addition to wandering around like a guitarist in a rock band, he had a propensity to lift his feet up in particularly anguished parts of the music. And for the really really anguished parts, both feet would leave the ground and he would quite literally be jumping up and down. The banging sound of his boots striking the wooden stage resulted in a series of dull thuds that was completely audible to myself, in the 14th row. God help those that were listening at home - the mikes I mentioned earlier were actually broadcasting the performance live to listeners at home. So if you were at home listening, and wondered what the thuds were, it was Nigel jumping up and down. At least it was in time to the music.

Anyhow, intermission came and went, and again the audience packed into the concert hall for the second half.

Finally I thought, we'll get to hear what I estimate about 75% of the audience had come to hear. But no. Not yet. Nigel had another treat for us. Bach inventions, arranged for violin and cello. Thankfully Nigel only subjected us to 4 of these short pieces, originally written for piano. I think the original is always the best.

Finally though, the first strains of Spring filled the concert hall, and a relieved audience relaxed to the fantastic music that was being made. For a few minutes anyway. Nigel and the SSO were blazing away, doing fantastically well, with rich full tones and a very happy rhythm going, until they hit a bit in the music where there is supposed to be a brief rest for about a half second or so. Which they proceeded to fill in with a very loud, "Hoi!", Latin-style.

Oh dear God I thought, what the hell??? Had I come to see a classical concert, or should I have prepared myself for some salsa dancing?

Thankfully the rest of Spring went according to script, and all was well again.

Until I checked my watch to see how time was going. Oh shit, it was almost 10:30pm!

The rest of the seasons flowed by merrily, and Nigel showed us why he is considered one of the best violinists in the world, with some brilliant passages. Mind you, after more than 10 years playing these concertos, you'd think he'd have nailed it by now. Still, he is good.

Just wish he's stop that bloody jumping up and down though.

Loud applause greeted the final bars of The Four Seasons, and deservedly so, Nigel directed everyone on stage to take a bow. Well, a few actually.

Nigel Kennedy. Brilliant performer and one has to admit, innovative in his interpretations. The SSO were faultless, and Michael Dauth, Concertmaster, was superb. I think I'll have to go watch Michael perform more. He is simply fantastic, and produces a very stately sound.

After the applause died down, Nigel asked the audience, "Do you all want to hear one more song before you go home tonight?" in his Cockney accent. The response was a resounding "Yes!". I looked at my watch. It was almost 11pm. NO!!!

I think I was right in thinking this, because Nigel and the orchestra then started off on our musical journey into Jimi Hendrix. An orchestral version of "Purple Haze". Hmm...

Nigel finally did what he wanted to do though, and that is, during the looooong performance of this song (I think it would have gone on for a good 15 minutes) he walked down from the stage and started greeting people at the front, and then wandered up amongst the audience. He duly returned to the stage, though, and himself and the SSO left the stage, while still playing "Purple Haze".

Well, I have to say, that was definitely an unforgettable concert! It was much like a rock concert, with Nigel as the frontman, except they were playing classical music. Nigel Kennedy is definitely a character, although right about then, knowing that I was late for my meeting with my friend, I seriously loathed the man. It was all his fault!

Posted by davechan at December 8, 2003 12:46 AM