Fourth Row Curse

The best seats I have ever had for a concert were third row centre at Alanis Morrisette in 1996. Jagged Little Pill Tour. It was awesome. Tons of angst and thrashing around on the stage. She was a lot more sedate last year Since these amazing seats way back in the 90's, I have had good seats at a ton of shows, but never closer that about the 10th row. Except for Mika, I think we had 7th row for that one. I have also had what many would consider crappy seats - being the stage for The Police and second back row of a 15,000 seat auditorium for INXS (my very first concert!)

Twice in the last 2 years I have had 4th row centre tickets for shows at the same venue. The venue is The Orpheum, located in the heart of downtown Vancouver. It is without a doubt the most spectacular venue in the city. Architecturally, the Orpheum has lot of different influences - while it was built in the Spanish renaissance style, it also has Chandeliers of Czech crystal, British Heraldry, Moorish arches and Indian ceiling motifs. It also features grand staircases, spectacular lobbies, stacked foyers which assist in the illusion of spaciousness. It is opulent and old fashioned, and every time you step inside you feel like you are some old theatre in Europe. I love it.

The best seats in The Orpheum would have to be fourth row centre. Could you imagine it? So good right? Amy Winehouse early last year - fourth row centre. Monsters of Folk in two weeks - fourth row centre. Both of these shows were with my fabulous friend Nicole. We decided on Saturday night that the 4th row at The Orpheum is cursed for us. Because Amy Winehouse could not say no no no to the crack she cancelled her concert. Because Monsters of Folk are horrible at self-promotion, this concert has been moved to a smaller venue (this is actually a good thing as we had extra tix we were having trouble selling). Regardless, the 4th Row of The Orpheum is destined to be cursed for us.....

Last night we were not in the fourth row. We were in the rafters of the Upper Balcony for the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra. The VSO is a Grammy and Juno Award winning company and I was lucky enough to be invited for their Opening Weekend Concert Series. This was the Third year in a row I have been invited to this, and again it was great. The VSO has an annual attendance of over 200,000 performing over 140 concerts during the course of a season. I am by no means a classical music aficionado, but I always enjoy what I hear. Saturday there was a little Bruch, a little Tchaikovsky and an original piece by the resident composer - Scott Good - called Blues ’n Riff—The Spectacular Tale of Katy Caboose. Thankfully, that particular composition was not anywhere near as lame as it sounded. It was all good and fun and made me feel a little more cultured.... which is always a good thing!

XO