2003-07-24 - 12:21 p.m.

I Was Mugged By The Dixie Chicks

The whole point of us (The Chick and I) going out of town wasn't really to visit our folks it was to attend the Dixie Chicks concert.

I don't know if I've ever stated this here but I've always figured that big arena concerts were a waste of time the majority of the time. This is due to my opinion if you aren't sitting a certain distance from the stage where you can actually SEE the performance you may as well be paying to sit outside the arena and list on outdoor speakers. That concept basically equates to me like listening to CD which I can listen to anytime at home.

There's also another problem with Arena Concerts. They've stopped putting the stages in one end and building and the seating in front of the stage. Now they (as they did at the Dixie Chicks) put the stage in the centre (that's not a typo I'm Canadian some words are re not er) of the Arena and the seating goes around. This translates into the fact the group doesn't face you every song. For your convenience, there are large video monitors for you to see what's going on when the band is on the other side of the stage and all you can see is their back or less. I find this crappy since if I wanted to watch a video monitor I'd watch their video on TV once again for much less money than the price of a ticket. When I'm sitting 11 rows from the floor level and paying $100 a piece for tickets I want to see the whole show in front of me.

In the Dixie Chicks defense, they put on a very good show (this coming from someone who knows a few of their songs and isn't a fan like The Chick is). As well, some of the stage effects were neat. Things kept popping up on stage (for example a windmill showed up centre stage and I never saw it arrive.) There was also an opening act, Michelle Branch. But it all comes back to the price of admission, $100.

Let me break it down for you. Michelle Branch came on at 8:30pm and performed probably about 5 or 6 songs (I'm sorry they all sounded the same. At first I didn't even know who she was because I had forgotten who the opening act was supposed to be. Thankfully she introduced herself after the second song.) So, Michelle was done by 9. The Dixie Chick hit the stage at 10 pm. One hour for an intermission, hello ladies and gentleman, that's just INSANE. They also only played for 90 minutes (including the whopping 2 song encore).

If paid say $50 a ticket I might have been more impressed. But at $100 each and $35 each for t-shirts (you gotta have mementos) it just doesn't add up to good value.

Not that I would stop The Chick from seeing other big name acts but I think I will stick to my thinking of smaller venues. I perfer seeing acts in venues that are under 2,000 in seating. You can see the whole show and find it's more intimate and the cost usually in the $20-$35 range.

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