Monday, July 11, 2005

The John Michael Montgomery Concert Review...

We just got home about an hour and half ago so thought I would write this tonight. This was the first time I had ever been to Detroit Energy Theatre which is almost two hours away from Toledo, it's north of Detroit. Their website doesn't give alot of information as to directions, but I did find directions, (we didn't get lost, not even once which is amazing) they also say coolers are allowed in if you have lawn seats (general admission) so we packed a cooler, and a picnic dinner. When we arrived however we were told we could not bring any type of beverage in, not even water. We could however bring in food, which meant a long walk back to the car to change things around in the cooler.

Once inside we found out why you can't bring in beverages, the drinks were pretty pricey. Thankfully none of us wanted to drink beer even though it was sponsored by Miller, ten bucks a beer.

The overall lawn layout isn't bad, they have over 8,000 lawn seats and 7,000 assigned seats closer to the stage, but the spot we ended up with being there an hour early was pretty nice. It's on a sloped area so it is a natural stadium type seating on the lawn which makes for a pretty good view though Aubrey was convinced she was sliding down. Lawn tickets if you are not lucky enough to win yours are 7 dollars plus a 3 dollar parking charge per ticket. Assigned seats were 29.50 plus the 3 dollar parking charge. It was obvious the majority of us there were lawners, as there were quite a few empty seats in that portion of it. The lawn area was pretty much full by the time the show started.

The ticket and the website did not list an opening performer, but there was one, Al Lopez who while I thought was pretty good for a country western singer, didn't get much audience love. He played for almost an hour, then for some strange reason there was another half hour of canned recorded music before John Michael Montgomery took the stage. The crowd went wild, yelling and whistling began the crowd came alive (and some of them freaked Aubrey out - lol). Amazingly I recognized some of the songs, after thinking about it, it was from my old Swanton days of line dancing. I hadn't realized he was the artist of some of those songs.

During one of the near to end songs Letters from Home, many in the crowd started flicking their bics which Aubrey thought they had flashlights, I explained to her it was lighters and it was one of those concert traditions. Disappointingly he only played for 50 minutes then it was over. Or so we thought. As we made our way out to the parking lot, 15 minutes later he came back for one more song.

The main purpose was for Aubrey though, and she enjoyed the concert very much in her own words "Except for the drunk crazy people infront of us". She got a John Montgomery Michael T-shirt that had his picture on the front and the dates of this tour on the back that listed the concert she attended, and thanks to being able to bring in snacks she managed to have a good time from a culinary basis as well. Though I did give in for the snow cone thing because it was over 90 degrees. I survived, and it was fun watching her experience her first "real" concert.

Would I go back to Detroit Energy Theatre as a paying customer? Probably though not for him again but they do have a good variety of performers, CCR was just there earlier in the week. I'd probably buy lawn tickets because that is a good deal and with the large screens and sound system it's really not that different from the majority of the seats that you would pay almost triple for.

As an added note, mapblast and mapquest suck. The directions they gave me to go there did get me there but it was pretty harrowing following some of the turns and road changes. Coming home straight down 75 took a few minutes more but it was a straight shot and alot easier to navigate in the dark.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

”ten bucks a beer.”
”Lawn tickets… are 7 dollars plus a 3 dollar parking charge per ticket.”

Why, those EVIL Capitalists… :-)

Seriously though, I resent and avoid venues that gouge, regardless of the entertainment. But, that’s me ;-)

Glad to hear that you enjoyed yourselves.

HT

Cyberseaer said...

Glad to hear that you had a good time. Yep, those are the prices and policies of seeing a pop star perform. I think that going to a concert and geting less that a hour for the headliner is BS, but that it how it goes.

PNC Bank ArtsCenter (formerly the Garden Arts Center) has summer concerts and the lawn seats are good even if you get the outer edges. I will pay the extra money to get an assigned seat to be under the roof, just in case of rain, cause the show continues on. I tend to not get anything to eat, but will buy a $4.50 soda once or twice. But I am a retard when it comes to artist crap. I buy the $15 program, the $10 key chain and life wouldn't be complete without the $35 tour shirt.

With ticket, parking, drink, and the extras I drop at least $200. That's why I only go to a concert once or twice every few years. If I bring my bride, it's another $100 or so. You go around once and I try to have a little fun every so often.

The one go thing about being a Rush fans is that when they tour now, it's about a three hour show with a 45 minute intermission. But I get my money's worth. The bad thing is that the next tour could be the last one since they are in their early fifties now, but they still may have another fifteen years or so. The Stones are touring this summer and they're like pushing sevety or eighty? LMAO.

Once you are in the walls, they have you and you must pay if you want the extras, like water. Always have a cheap dinner before and enjoy the show. Too bad you can't knock the drunken and the stoned, they put a damper on the show.

But in the end, you had fun with your daughter and I'm sure she had fun too. Plus she stayed up late with her mom and that memory is worth the cost and the frustration. The good will outweigh the bad and the bad will be laughed about in future times.

Unknown said...

HT, I feel the same way about those that over-charge but at least on the bright side by charging an extra 3 dollars a ticket for parking you don't have to pay anything additional to park. Most events charge an additional fee for their parking.

And they obviously make alot of money on beer at that price, if people didn't buy it? They'd lower it so, if the high concession prices help keep the lawn tickets down? I hope many drink up (of course yet responsibly - lol)

Me personally? I've never felt I needed a beer bad enough to pay the equivalent of a high end six pack for one Miller Genuine Draft.

And yes, Aubrey is still happy about it today, uncommon in the life of a ten year old, so it was well worth it.


:-)

Unknown said...

C, wow I feel like I got a good deal then, because the program was free and the T-shirt? Only 25 dollars.

Back in my concert days at the Sports Arena, you couldn't bring any drinks in. Yet that was the olden days when prices on everything were cheaper.

Which is why I think places like this are cool because the tickets are at least affordable. Most people can't spend 40 to 50 dollars per ticket to see concerts on a regular basis, but 10 dollars? That's the price of a first run movie.

So like I said, overall? I'd suggest it to my fellow Toledoans and they will now be more prepared so they know what they can bring in their coolers - lol

:-)

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