Friday, February 24, 2006

Money, Get Away

My last post I mentioned that on wednesday night I took the OFOMOL to see Coldplay for her Christmas gift. Let see...where shall I start. Well before we left I stopped by th ATM to get some cash (for beer or whatever, and in case they charge for parking) and we head off. It's about an hour and 20 minute drive from the EL. Traffic not a big deal. So we get in and fight traffic to the Palace of Auburn Hills. We pull in and they're taking money for parking. Good thing I stopped at the ATM. So I pull up and I innocently ask how much...the guy says "$15." I'm shocked. Fifteen f****** dollars. I make a comment to the kid that this is ridiculous. Then I ask what would happen if I didn't have the money -- he said he would have to call his manager. So this really pisses me off. I mean Iunderstand $5 or $10 at most, but $15, c'mon now! I'm not pissed at the guy who took my money, he's just doing his job, he has nothing to do with the prices. They build these suburban arenas with plenty of parking with the *assumption* that parking is free. I mean, we never had to pay at the Richfield Coliseum. So my pockets $15 lighter we walk in and I'm still peeved so we buy two beers. Another $15 for two high-quality Bud Light's and we are outta cash. So before we get to the seats, we've spent well over $100 on this concert -- tickets were $36 (honestly not that bad)....with those oh-so-gracious "convenience" fees that tacked on another $25 to the tickets. Seriously, how much does it cost to print two tickets and pop them in the mail for $0.37? We make our way to the quality seats in section 212 and sit down. Since there were people in our row and no one in the row beneath ours, I introduced OFOMOL to the American concept of stepping on seats to get to our seats.

So we sit down and a minute or two later, Fiona Apple comes on. I was looking forward to seeing her, as she has some quality songs in her catalogue. She played for a good 45 minutes and played her two biggest "hits" (Shadowboxer and Criminal) back to back about 3-4 songs in. I like her voice and she's got a nice raspy female jazz singer quality to her. She did "scream" a bit too much and got on my nerves occasionally. The audience did seem to enjoy her set...better then most openers. Then we get the requisite intermission and stage set-up.

Right at 9:00 the boys of the moment come on. They actually enter via the rear of the stage and due to the location of our seats, we were able to see them before most of the rest of the crowd. The other three (the band should change its name to Chris Martin....and those three other guys) start playing while Mr. Martin hides behind the stage and makes his grand entrance. The band put on a good show. I was actually surprised at the number of the songs I recognized. They took a risk and played which is probably their biggest hit, "Yellow" right at the beginning (I think it was the third song) which I applaud them for. Halfway through the set, a bench was setup in the front of the stage for an "acoustic break." They played two songs in homage of Johnny Cash -- including "Ring of Fire." Chris Martin's vocals aren't really suited for that song (not as low as Mr. Cash's) but I commend the effort. The band finished the first set at 10:13 and left the stage for 2 minutes and then came back for the encore. A two-song encore with a sparkling "Fix You" as the closer and they were done. Let's go over the figures here...spent at minimum $125 and we get an hour and a half performance. Not cool. Not cool at all. Even OFOMOL who had a really good time complained. Then you see the folks they shelled out $35 for a t-shirt and you feel bad for them. Yes, we were able to see one of the biggest bands out there, but did we get our money's worth? Umm...no. I've seen plenty of other big-bands (R.E.M., U2, the Cure, Radiohead) play well over 2 hours...sometimes over 2.5 hours. Now that is getting your money's worth. Hopefully these guys learn that the audience expects more as their career goes on.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Mr. Complaining, you forgot to mention one important fact: You had fun too! I could clearly hear your wonderful voice singing along with Mr. Apple, see your body dancing and hear you laughing about the screaming "he-is-so-cute" girls.

Anonymous said...

You're not allowed to complain if its a gift for someone else. You must be complaintless. Its the rule.