The Pretenders & Blondie Concert - Over Zealous Security

Pay peanuts, get monkeys .. or pay a fortune for tickets and still get monkeys.

As i said in my initial post, the show itself last night was sensational. Chrissie had the crowd pumping with a fine performance of her hits, whilst Blondie mixed in some new material with the best of the old in ‘Atomic’, ‘The Tide is High’, ‘Rapture’ and ‘Heart of Glass’

In terms of the venue itself I have no issue with it, and have been to many great shows there over the years, with some of the more memorable being Midnight Oil, Rob Thomas, Savage Garden and Bryan Adams. Given its size, its the perfect venue to see some of the these acts in a 2000 seat venue, where you get a great view, rather than say for example a 16000 seat Sydney Entertainment Centre.

In terms of security, I previously hadn’t noted anything beyond what I’d class as reasonable. Sure if someone is standing in an aisle incessantly, is video taping or recording an act (which is listed as a no no on the conditions of entry), or rushes the stage, sure I’d only expect security to do their job.

When though someone is simply sending a text message, perhaps given the age the crowd last night maybe to a babysitter to check on the kids at home, or gets up for a brief time to dance in front of their seat to a favorite song, does security need to be so anal. I respect the guys have a job to do, which can be a difficult one at times, but there is a difference between addressing what is a potential problem, and someone simply having an enjoyable night out seeing a show they’ve paid good money for.

I didn’t get to Blondie amd Pretenders last night (past my bedtime plus my Zimmer frame was in the repair shop…) but previously I have seen George Thororogood perform there and he was great. I was close enough to touch him, not that I did or even wanted too and I don’t recall there being any over-zealous security guards.

Riotact has previously had concert reviews about the Royal Theatre being an enormous barn which sucks the life and atmosphere out of many performances!

That said, it was a good show last night (does anyone else here actually have concert review style comments, or just whinges and counterwhinges about security?). Both bands a bit more sedate than in their heyday, no surprise there, but Chrissie Hynde has still got the presence and the voice. Unusual to have a pedal steel player as part of the 5 piece band, it gave some songs a country tinge but in others gave a good howling slide guitar feel. Highlights included a rousing Middle of the Road and a lovely Hymn to Her, just Chrissie’s voice over pedal steel. Blondie did a lot of newish material, which is laudable at least in theory – a lot of the new stuff could have been off any Blondie album from last 30 years – but people were mostly there for the hits. Ms Harry ain’t as striking a presence as she was 30 years ago (who is?) but the voice was surprisingly strong and she was having fun. Clem Burke hyperactive on the drums, Chris Stein almost doing a Rick Brewster with stillness and stinging guitar lines, and 3 other generic competent players filling out the stage (some very 80s keyboard, even on the new stuff). Some self indulgent outros could have been trimmed, but otherwise they went off.

Seriously, who goes to a rock concert to sit down?

The first few dancers up the front were shuffled away by security. Thankfully, Chrissie Hynde wasn’t having any of that and called for everyone to get up. Without the crowds up and dancing the bands would have had little to feed off.

Security have always done this at the Royal Theatre, you’d think they would have learned after all these years….

Don’t get me wrong, I’m all for decent security at a concert. But hangin on the telephone like my cousin Maria did last night isn’t exactly tantamount to dropping an atomic bomb. It’s clear to me that some of these security guards have hearts of glass. One way or another, they’ll get their just desserts and I’ll stand by you if they ever try and stop your rapture.

I will now accept the trophy for worst post of 2010.

its not real unless there are photos

Makes an interesting contrast with the U2 concert in Sydney last night, where half the people around us seemed to watch the entire show through their mobile phones as they recorded it, and the crowd were even asked by the band to take out their phones and wave them in the air at one point…

Sounds like security were being a bit silly. Most of the concerts I’ve been to were a lot more relaxed than than, including big names like Metallica, Def Leppard and Van Halen.

For whatever curious reason, Canberra’s theatres are designed for theatre and stage performances (i.e.: plays, dance recitals). I remember back in the day we used to have kick-arse concerts at places like sports stadiums (indoor and outdoor). My experiences of music performances at theatre venues are all marred by theatre seating and lack of room to dance.