Opera, drunks and flash photography; the new James Taylor audience

(October 21, 2007)

So last night my husband and I went to a charity concert featuring James Taylor.

I love James Taylor...that man's voice is so damn sweet. And though he's getting up there in age, he still puts on a hell of a show.

I experienced my first James Taylor concert six years ago and remember having a great time! The audience was pretty tame as I recall... mostly baby-boomers with the occasional young person like myself here and there.

This time, the experience was completely different...

First of all, because we didn't shell out $100 bucks per seat, we ended up getting bench seats.

Good thing this concert was for charity because if not...I'd be complaining a bit more....

So there we were...sitting on uncomfortable metal benches, an overweight family sitting behind us with a kid who couldn't sit still and not kick me in the arse every time he moved his legs, an obnoxiously loud woman sitting next to me who seemed to think we paid $50 per seat just to hear her sing along with James Taylor in an opera-like fashion, a group of college kids two rows in front of us who had somehow snuck in a small bottle of liquor and passed it back and forth with each other while taking photographs of themselves even though flash photography was supposedly "strictly forbidden" and then last but certainly not least....the drunk loud-mouth a few rows behind us who seemed completely out of place with this crowd and didn't have any problem telling everyone so by yelling, "Come on! Wake up! This place is dead!" every time JT played a slow tune.

My....the "Fire and Rain" fan-base has evolved...