NewMexiKen and Donna spent a too warm but otherwise delightful evening at the Rio Grande Zoo Saturday. It was the first “One Wild Night at the Zoo” with nine different bands at times at seven different venues — plus we got to say hi to the momma giraffes.
The featured artist was country singer and Grammy-winner Kathy Mattea, who put on a wonderful show. I always judge how I feel about an entertainer if I think to myself, I want to see him/her again. Ms. Mattea certainly made the grade. Her voice is wonderful, the band terrific, her repartee with the audience seemingly genuine.
At one point Mattea quoted a friend who told her, “Music isn’t meant to be exchanged on pieces of plastic. It’s meant to be a shared experience.” (Paraphrased.) Ms. Mattea did everything she could last evening to live up to that idea.
Unfortunately, at these zoo concerts, there are any number of people who come to visit and not to listen. One guy near me never even turned his folding chair toward the stage. Others picked up their volume whenever the performer picked up hers. I try and be live-and-let-live, but there were moments when I wished I hadn’t sold Dad’s revolver.
Further, the major walkway near the zoo band shell is directly in front of the stage. Throughout the concert, whether a rocking number or a ballad, there is a constant stream of people walking across the sight lines between the performer and the audience. The zoo should find a better way before next summer.
Hah. I had a similar experience at a concert over at St John’s.
Two family groups plunk down next to us, both husbands grab beers, turn their backs to the stage, starting loud male-bonding rituals (yuck, yuck, yuck). The two wives sit and shout at each other over the exclamations of their husbands. A small army of kids are let loose upon the field, to run and crash into everyone and everything.
We picked up and moved elsewhere. My ears were getting demolished, and my toes weren’t faring much better.
At the end of the concert, the group hadn’t changed position or behavior. I noticed the kids had finally run themselves out of energy, lying as if shot with tranquilizing darts, limbs akimbo, asleep.
Astonished to see they brought a boombox with them!