What was your favorite venue and why?

[isabella]

Where is the best place that you ever heard a concert and what made that experience special for you and why?

For me , it has to be the Lunenburg Opera House in Lunenburg Nova Scotia.The building is very old and not much has been done to it over the years so when you enter it, you inhale a mixture of musty intensity, left their I am sure by nervous performers over the years before they took to the stage and left with their words forever dripping from it's ornate walls.There is a balcony and hard wooden seats which lend the listener to sit up and take notice to the singer and his music.When you enter the opera house, the walls talk,your shoes resonate off the hard floors and the very movement that your feet make on that floor, is indeed , music for there is rhytm to all things in life , if we take the time to listen.
Last year, I was most fortunate, to have emceed the festival there.I lead veteran and novice performers to the "green room" in the basement to warm up.Even the most seasoned of singers, talked to themselves down there and whispered the words to their songs to the audience of a tattered old couch and chipped teacup.
The acoutics are amazing making amplication mechanically unneccasary.I looked out onto that sea of smiling faces when I took to the stage and knew that that building had made each and every member of the audience immediately feel welcome.It is not unusal for performers to leave the stage during a performance and wander, singing up and down the audience encouraging participation.I love to sing but I dont anyone will ever pay me for the priviledge:}
The folk group Tanglefoot that I write song lyrics for was so taken with the place and all the unseen voices that drip down its walls, that they slept in the loft one night, just to see if the place was haunted.It is:}Yahoo.
All of Folks greats have played there and I am actively at work seeing if Gord will grae us there soon.It's the kind of intimate setting that makes performers playtheir sets and then the audience calls out requests and they are honored.I have seen many a 40 minute set stretch to two hours because the audience refuses to let the singer leave the satge.It's a magic place
How about you? Any stories to tell?

[Dan]

Best acoustics:
Kleinhans Music Hall in Buffalo, New York. It's where the Philharmonic plays. Gord used to two shows per engagement almost every year during the seventies to SRO crowds. Of course we would go to both concerts.

Most Intimate:
Melody Fair in North Tonawada, New York. This is a small concert theater in the round where the stage rotates. Gord and the band had to walk down the isle to get to the stage. You could reach out and touch him if you were sitting on the correct isle. I remember he kept on commenting how intimate a place it was and how it reminded him of playing coffee houses. Unfortunately it was during his less than coherent period (I always wondered what was in that coffee mug he had on stage!) and kept referring to the place as Music Fair instead of Melody Fair.

Best Comeback Place:
Chatauqua Institute's open air concert stage. Horrible seats..wooden bench seats but one of the most enjoyable concerts we ever attended. I beleive it was 1992 and we hadn't seen Gord for a few years. Sat next to a bunch of drunk Canadians who told us about the Waiting for You cd. First time we heard Wild Strawberries and Drink Your Glasses Empty. We were able to watch the band and Gordon warm up before the concert since we arrived early. A real great time except the Chatauqua Institute is a closed community and you just about have to have them measure your genitals before they let you in. They collected our tickets when we exited the grounds! I guess we were just too stupid to understand that place...but Gordon was grrrrreat!

Most Exciting Place:
Massey Hall in you guessed it 'TO'. Although the seats seemed to be made for midgets it was great to be in a place that was tied to Gord's early popularity. We sat in the balconey...it's all a big blur now but we were disappointed that we didn't buy tickets for the whole week of his concerts.

Worst Place:
Art Park in Lewiston, NY. This place is another snooty place. I call it Fart Park because of all the wannabe High Brows. The acoustics suck, it's like being in a stadium. The logistics suck, it takes an hour to get to the parking lot once you get within a 1/2 mile of the place then you have to walk a mile to get to the concert hall. They also sell lawn seats. Which is probably the reason the acoustics suck because the whole back of the concert hall opens up. Saw him there in August of 1998. First time we heard most of a Painter Passing Through and of course we couldn't wait to get the cd! He supposedly coming to Fart Park again August 7. Tickets haven't gone on sale yet...hope we get good ones!

Sorry for going on and on but...'I gotta press on now'

LAMS stay loose!

Dan

[Wes Steele]

Worst place I saw GL was "Nautica Stage" in the "Flats" district of Cleveland.

Right behind the stage (And I mean RIGHT behind) is the infamous Cuyahoga river. (rembember the river that caught fire?)

This may sound neat but there are iron ore boats going by while the concert was going on. It really was a total distraction. You may think it would be neat if he was singing "The Fitz" when a giant ship was going past, but it just didn't work.

Talking to Barry Harvey the following year (at a different venue), he mentioned we would not be back soon to "Nautica". He said it was too hard for "the boy" to tune his guitar competing with boat horns and whistles.

Isabella and Dan, this is a pretty interesting topic. It really should be on the general discussion side. I loved reading your posts.

Wes.....

[Dan]

Wes,

I like this topic too. Your post about the boats going by during the concert reminded me about the doors at Melody Fair in North Tonawanda NY. The theater is in the round and the doors at the perimeter of the theater open directly to the outside. (Your ticket admits you to the grounds of the theater.) The theater is only open during the summer and has no air conditioning so they leave the doors open during the concert. Since the concerts begin around 7:30 or 8:00 and it is still light outside, when they darken the theater for the concert and light the stage the light from the 4 or 5 open doors is very annoying. Causes a glare and a distraction to what is going on up on the rotating stage. I wonder how it looks to the performer on stage?

[charlene]

I guess it won't come as a surprise to anyone that I will say Massey Hall. The acoustics and feel of that hall are wonderful and that is true for anyone who performs there. I also have the hometown nostalgia thing going because Gord sang there first as a young boy, he calls Toronto home and Massey Hall is his "musical" home. I have to say that I have only seen him perfom 2 other places, both in Toronto. One was the Scarborough Town Centre mall and the other was Roy Thomson Hall which is home to the Toronto Symphony. The acoustics at the mall weren't great but I stood 5 feet away from him and his guitar, and at Thomson Hall it was definately bad acoustics (the symphony wants a new place because of the terrible acoutics) and Gord seemed lost, overwhelmed at times with the whole thing himself. It was really wierd seeing him there after almost 30 years of going to Massey Hall & I suppose I'd feel that way about any other place. I guess I am possessive of Gord, Massey Hall and Toronto and I like to think of them as belonging to me! I'll share them with you if you want!
LOL
Char http://www.corfid.com/ubb/smile.gif

[Wes Steele]

Charlene...

Years ago I read that Massey was rated in the top ten for accoustics in NORTH AMERICA!
Think about that everyone, Mexico, U.S. and Canada. Maybe that has changed but I thought that was great for a place that was built around the turn of the century.

Charlene, that is unbelievable the symphony wants to move out of Thomson Hall. You guys spent a mint to build that place. Too bad. I guess it goes to show you that things were built better years ago....a lot of years ago.

I like this topic you guys...and gals...

Wes

[isabella]

Glad to see the imput on this topic.Even old folkies like me have a story or two up their sleeves.I am in Canada for a couple of weeks doing a book tour and I am on a Gord alert.The man wont stand a chance if I find him.I think after all the tears I've cried and the memories the words of his songs have haunted me with, the least we could do is share a coffee and talk about old times...even though we have never met...or have we..in the lyrics of his songs?

Capre Diem...

[Bill]

Poor David's Pub in Dallas, Texas. Not for the acoustics (it's a converted store front), and not for the decor (very worn and grungy)...but it only holds about 200 people -- so you get to be up close an personal with the likes of Leo Kottke, Doc Watson, Karla Bonoff, Guy Clark, Jerry Jeff Walker, and a slew of up-and-coming talents. Townes Van Zandt used to play there, as did Stevie Ray Vaughn (who would just drop in unannounced).

[Rob Wells]

Guys,

I'm going to go with the Special Events Center at the University of Utah, In Salt Lake City. It's a gigantic arena but the acoutics are totally unreal. The place seats 20k. Has a multi-million dallor sound system. I've played it myself and couldn't believe the sound quality. I've also seen PP&M and John Denver there as well and everybody...I mean everybody raves about the place saying it's the best house they've ever played because of the sound system and the way the place is designed.

Rob

[isabella]

Hi everyone.Just back from the frozen tundra of Canada.Gord music was everywhere on the airwaves there.Ah, nirvana.
I have another best site..I was walking along the harbor front in Saint John New Brunswick early in the morning.The fog laid heavy on the land like wet mittens lay on an open oven door to dry after a day of sliding.From the swirling mists came the sounds of a man and his guitar proped up on the seawall.He was in Gord Glory, singing his heart out.The seagulls gathered with me to listen to the music of the mist and it was...heaven.The music carried far out to sea into the Atlantic and I wondered if any of my friends in the UK were standing on shore that day, listening for the whisper of gords words on the wandering wind.
Great to be home in Ireland again.

[Silver Heels]

quote:Originally posted by isabella:
Hi everyone.Just back from the frozen tundra of Canada.Gord music was everywhere on the airwaves there.Ah, nirvana.
I have another best site..I was walking along the harbor front in Saint John New Brunswick early in the morning.The fog laid heavy on the land like wet mittens lay on an open oven door to dry after a day of sliding.From the swirling mists came the sounds of a man and his guitar proped up on the seawall.He was in Gord Glory, singing his heart out.The seagulls gathered with me to listen to the music of the mist and it was...heaven.The music carried far out to sea into the Atlantic and I wondered if any of my friends in the UK were standing on shore that day, listening for the whisper of gords words on the wandering wind.
Great to be home in Ireland again.
I was on the north coast of Cornwall, listening to Gord's music on the car player.
Will that do? The sun was warm and there was a soft breeze coming in on the tide. It was bliss.
That wandering wind was coming right at me.

[sundownbuff]

It will be no surprise to you but I now think that the the Majestic Theater is my favorite venue. Being so intimate with the performers was wonderful. I know Gord put on a wonderful concert but the sound was so much better than the building in Troy. I believe the ceiling were too high in Troy. The Saratoga venue along with ArtPark and the Finger Lakes Performing Arts Center were pretty much the same. The music does not sound as pure with the outdoor venue.