2008年 05月 27日 火曜日 16:14

Mon 26 May – Death Cab for Cutie, Tegan and Sara, Rogue Wave

The good points:
It was good to see Death Cab for Cutie live. The best of the concert was about mid-point, leading up to and directly following the acoustic "I Will Follow You Into the Dark", and immediately before and during the encore. Otherwise, it was a pretty average concert.

The location is another spectacular outdoor setting in Utah.

Tegan and Sara seemed to have a good following and got some of the audience dancing. I thought it was a mediocre performance of mediocre music. But, heh, they just might not be my kind of gig.

The bad points:
The weather. But, that comes along with the territory for an outdoor setting in spring in Utah. You can't do anything about that but layer up, bring your umbrella, and don't forget to wear your rubbers (as mom would say).

The venue management. Terrible handling of an event. The gates opened 2 1/2 hours after the scheduled start of the concert, and the concert started 3 hours late. Death Cab had to rush through their set to complete it before the "curfew" of 10pm (the venue is in close proximity to a residential area). Very little info was available about the venue beforehand, and the event staff was uninformed and rude when asked about the status of the concert. No traffic control after the event. There were many more glitches with the event, from a spectator standpoint - most of them would not be an issue from an experienced venue management team.

Rogue Wave was cancelled due to the late start. It didn't seem to be a big disappointment with the crowd. I'm sure it was for some, but wasn't for me.

Even the weather can't be an excuse unless it poses a threat to the audience. Enjoyable outdoor events are conducted in elsewhere Utah regardless of the season and the weather, and there are a number of venues in the area experienced at handling it without a hitch.

Overall:
A better than average concert, with a few high points. It was great to see Death Cab live. But, as far as the venue, I would avoid any concert there until the management gets their act together.