This was not my first concert, but was extremely memorable for the wrong reasons. It must be about 60 years ago but I still get a laugh when I remember it. In my mid-teens I took date to a concert at the Montreal Forum. This was the hockey rink the was built in downtown Montreal in 1924. It hosted the Montreal Canadiens, and, when there were no hockey games, other events such as pop music concerts, circus performances, and what not.
At all these events there were vendors going up and down the aisles selling refreshments, yelling 'peanuts, popcorn, hot-dogs'.
For some reason the Montreal Symphony Orchestra decided to stage a performance of Beethoven's 9th at the forum, probably as a community outreach to broaden their base. This was full orchestra, massive choir, the whole works. As you can imagine the acoustics in a 1924 hockey rink were nowhere near ideal for classical music. In spite of this the performance was great, orchestra, choir, and all, and there were no mishaps.
Those of you who go to classical performances know that at the end of a performance, especially a symphonic work, there is often a brief silence between the final notes and the audience's applause. Especially with a grand finale like the 9th symphony has, it's as if everyone wants to savour it briefly and let it die away gracefully before noise intrudes.
Except for one extremely loud vendor, who managed to insert, a split second after the final note and before the applause,
"PEANUTS, POPCORN, HOTDOG"
At all these events there were vendors going up and down the aisles selling refreshments, yelling 'peanuts, popcorn, hot-dogs'.
For some reason the Montreal Symphony Orchestra decided to stage a performance of Beethoven's 9th at the forum, probably as a community outreach to broaden their base. This was full orchestra, massive choir, the whole works. As you can imagine the acoustics in a 1924 hockey rink were nowhere near ideal for classical music. In spite of this the performance was great, orchestra, choir, and all, and there were no mishaps.
Those of you who go to classical performances know that at the end of a performance, especially a symphonic work, there is often a brief silence between the final notes and the audience's applause. Especially with a grand finale like the 9th symphony has, it's as if everyone wants to savour it briefly and let it die away gracefully before noise intrudes.
Except for one extremely loud vendor, who managed to insert, a split second after the final note and before the applause,
"PEANUTS, POPCORN, HOTDOG"
