Music

There clearly comes an age (though at what point this occurs I am not exactly sure) that the notion of one’s bucket list and the contents thereof emerges as a key concept. In all probability this happens on a sort of sliding scale, becoming more and more important as the years pass by and as an increasingly unacceptable percentage of the items on that list remain unaccomplished.

I mentioned in a post earlier in the year that an unexpected opportunity had arisen to see live for the first time a favourite band of mine – Simple Minds. Now – that missive was posted all the way back in April, such being the nature of the modern concert going experience that one must needs book one’s ticket half a year and more in advance if one is to have any chance at all of attending said event (at a sensible cost!). Still – it gives one something to which to look forward.

Having gazed steadfastly in the aforementioned direction throughout the summer and well into the autumn (fall) a couple of Mondays since found me ensconced on the ferry to Tsawwassen on my way to Vancouver for the long-awaited concert. The Girl was not – on this occasion – with me. This was a considerable ‘bummer’ as all things are better and more fun in her company, but when I had booked the tickets back in April she was mulling other plans. I mentioned in a previous post that she celebrated but a month ago a most significant birthday and she had originally been planning a trip abroad with a friend (on which I could not go because of my teaching!). By the time that adventure had unfortunately fallen through it was too late to get a ticket for the concert.

I thus found myself alone (amongst three thousand other eager souls) in the splendid Orpheum Theatre in Vancouver on a rainy late-October Monday evening. The Orpheum – designed by Scottish architect Marcus Priteca back in the 1920s – is home to the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra and is a National Historic Site of Canada.

The Orpheum is considered to have excellent acoustics but, whilst that may be true for classical concerts, I was not entirely convinced from my seat underneath the overhang of the balcony. It may have been that the sound engineer had different ideas to me as to what constitutes a good sound, or it might be that the area underneath the balcony traps certain frequencies; in any case it became apparent even from the pre-concert melange of 80s hits that the sound (played at what was for me too high a level to start with) comprised a great deal of low bass and a superfluity of unpleasantly aggressive high-mids, with a considerable gap in between in which important details were lost.

I had, fortunately, taken with me my musicians’ ear protectors, which enabled me to enjoy the concert, though at the cost of feeling slightly  distanced from it throughout. Given the incredible quality of modern concert sound systems this was something of a shame – though I should say at once that the Minds were on excellent form and that they themselves were fantastic throughout. They played pretty much everything I was hoping to hear and it became clear that Jim (Kerr – founder member and vocalist) didn’t want to go home. Towards the end of an extended set of encores he enquired pleadingly of the crowd:

“Can we do one more?“.

Best moment of the evening? During the inevitable ‘Alive and Kicking‘ – as Jim conducted the eager fans in the extended “La, la, la…” singalong – he cracked everybody up by calling in broad Glaswegian:

“OK – now sing it in French!“.

Priceless!