On Saturday night, I went to City Winery Boston to see Gilbert O'Sullivan in concert. I am sorry to say that I did not have a particularly enjoyable evening.
However, let me be clear in saying that this is no reflection on O'Sullivan. At 76, O'Sullivan still has a good voice, is still sporting that perm and enjoys performing in front of an audience. Indeed, last year marked his first U.S. tour in over four decades. The tour had originally scheduled to take place in April 2020 but we all know what happened three years ago today. Anyhow all the more reason to see him live and in person.
The problem, however, lies with the venue and with the audience or at least a certain segment of it. City Winery has a banquet table setting. This wasn't so bad when I went to see Ron Sexsmith last month as I was seated right next to the stage although I was pretty much stuck there until the end of the show. I shudder to think would have happened had a fire broke out.
This time around I was further back from the stage and was in the middle of one of the banquet tables surrounded by some unpleasant people who insisted on talking during the show. The woman seated next to me at one point spilled some water on me. Although she was apologetic about it, the other couple had a laugh about it. Meanwhile, the woman's husband kept asking when O'Sullivan was going to play, "Alone Again "Naturally". By definition, an audience is an assembly of people who come to listen, and it was in short supply in my immediate area. It also didn't help I had to turn to my side to watch the proceedings and get a sore back in the process. Perhaps it wouldn't have been as bad had I sat closer to the stage as I did with Ron Sexsmith.
Nearly as annoying was a gentleman seated opposite me who made a point of asking me, "Do you think all these people came out to see Gilbert O'Sullivan?" To which I responded, "Why else would they be here?" Perhaps he was just making conversation as he too had come alone, but I thought it was a really stupid question and just didn't want to engage any further. There were some younger people to my right. They were fine. I stayed out of their business, and they stayed out of mine.
For the most part, I tend to go to concerts by myself. Partially because I don't really know people who share my interest in musical artists of this era and partially because, over time, I have come to prefer my own company. Just as I don't wish to intrude upon others, I don't want others intruding upon me. Because of the intrusions I experienced it impaired my enjoyment of the show.
In the future, I'll probably avoid City Winery unless I'm prepared to sit right next to the stage. To be fair, City Winery does have a smaller room called the Haymarket Lounge which I attended last summer for an evening of covers of Gordon Lightfoot and Jim Croce songs. The Haymarket Lounge is a more intimate space with cabaret style seating. Unfortunately, it's probably more fitting for a Gilbert O'Sullivan tribute act.
On that subject, it is worth noting that O'Sullivan remarked that after a recent show he overheard a conversation between two women. One said to the other, "I think he's a tribute act." To which the other woman replied, ""He's too young to be the real thing."
O'Sullivan performed two sets which caused some confusion which he later acknowledged at the beginning of his second set. During a show in New York last year, people started to leave after the first set and very nearly did here in Boston. But there's a reason why that happened. Normally when there's an intermission, the artist will say something like, "We're taking a break, but will be back in a few minutes." Instead, O'Sullivan and his guitarist Bill Shanley bowed to the audience as if it were the end of the show and didn't say anything.
For those who stayed, his two sets included a mix of newer songs such as "Take Love" (a duet with KT Tunstall), "Let Bygones Be Bygones" (a duet with Mick Hucknall of Simply Red), "Hablando del Ray de Roma", a song about his trips to the English countryside when he was a younger lad and his 9/11 tribute song "All They Wanted To Say". It naturally also included his hits from his heyday in the early 1970's - "Nothing Rhymed", "Clair" and "Alone Again (Naturally)" before ending the evening with "Matrimony" and "Get Down".
While I would recommend seeing Gilbert O'Sullivan if you have the chance just be warned you'll probably have to do it at a City Winery near you. O'Sullivan's upcoming shows on his U.S. tour in New York, Philadelphia, St. Louis, Chicago, Atlanta and Nashville are at City Winery. The only show not scheduled at a City Winery venue is in Cleveland where he will be performing at The Music Box Supper Club which by its name suggests banquet seating. More power to you if you can get down with that.
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