Van Morrison was good but too quiet. From my vantage point at the back of the crowd, I could have used binoculars and a hearing aid.
“I hope he does Moondance,” my friend said.
“He just did,” replied the guy next to us.
A few minutes later I found myself thinking of the tune Cleaning Windows, and hoping he would play it. And then I realized that that thought was probably inspired by the faint strains of Cleaning Windows whispering through the loudspeakers. If I concentrated really really hard, I could hear it.
The Good News: There was much chaos and confusion at the front gate as people lined up for their admission bracelets. This chaos resulted in us being told to keep our tickets upon receiving our bracelets. Said tickets were listed on UsedOttawa.com this morning, and sold at half their face value, which means that four of us paid half price for our festival passes.
The Moral Dilemma: Should I feel bad about that?
I can see no reason why you should feel any moral dilemma. Score for you! (Especially since you couldn’t exactly hear the concert anyway.) I heard it was chaos at the gate – makes me glad I’m only heading out to one show this year. I’m getting too old for that scene!
I don’t think you should feel bad either.
I’m surprised, though, that it was so quiet there, since it was pretty loud at my house. From the top of the Empress Stairs, I think you’d just need the binoculars.
Did you have your camera with you Zoom? I heard they will confiscate cameras if they catch you with one. I don’t like to go anywhere without a camera.
It was hard to hear over the din of the people who WOULD NOT SHUT UP. ARGH!
I would feel no guilt if I were you. Share that bluesfest love. And bring a big stick to smack the chatty patrons.
I was there last night too, and it was brutal. If it wasn’t for Van Morrison being a good act, I’d be quite angry. We waited in line for 45 minutes only to be told to go to some other gate 40 miles away. And then they didn’t even check our bags!
And a group of women were blabbing loudly behind us the whole time. It was really annoying. The music was really quiet, like you said.
Then we waited almost an hour for an 86 to go by LeBreton.
They got a lot of bugs to work out of that location.
I think you totally deserve to milk as much money out of it as you can. I wish I could!
Thanks to all of you for absolving me from the moral dilemma. Life’s too short to try to muster up guilt.
Interesting Megan that you could hear it so well from there…maybe they had the speakers pointed the wrong way.
Robin, I have been taking my camera, and haven’t had a problem. They can’t very well prohibit cameras anymore since just about everybody has a camera in their cellphone.
Miss Vicky and Em, I confess to being one of the chatty festival-goers. Mind you, I tend to keep moving, so I probably don’t irritate anybody for long. Besides, I think the music should be played loud enough that it drowns out the conversation.
What did you think of Bob Dylan?