Dead Can Dance in L.A.

[tagryn]

Donna and I went to see Dead Can Dance at the Hollywood Bowl last night. They haven't toured, or even been together as a group, for about a decade, and I was looking forward to seeing them live for the first time. On the plus side, the music was very, very good. I imagine mixing for Lisa's voice must be a nightmare at first because of the sheer power she can project, and Brendan sounded as good as ever. They did "American Dreaming" and "The Wheat That Shakes The Barley", two of my favorites; I'd loved to have heard "Avatar" as well, but can't have everything. Donna's not a DCD fan, and she noted that Brendan and Lisa don't interact *at all* on stage, which she thought was strange for co-leaders of a group. I think it's an accurate observation, but just a reflection of their personalities. Have to say, I was *very* disappointed in the audience. There were a lot of call-outs between songs, it was stuff you'd usually hear at a Rolling Stones concert - eh, whatever. What bothered me was the shouting >during< songs, especially during some of Lisa's pieces. Case in point: during the dirge "Wheat That Shakes the Barley," right in the middle when the singer is lamenting that he'd just buried his true love, there was a sudden burst of "YEAH!" and "WOOOOHOOOO!" Really, really undignified and inappropriate - it only takes that 5% of poor mannered idiots to ruin it for everyone. The other thing that was very disturbing was the amount of incense/cigarettes/marijuana/who-knows-what-else that folks were lighting up during the concert. I guess it never occurs to those folks that there's other fans who may have asthma or other respiratory ailments & blowing so much smoke around can be uncomfortable or even dangerous. Or they don't give a d**n. Either way, there were more than a few fans in that audience who need to learn that a live concert >isn't< the same as sitting at home listening to CDs, and if they can't get that straight, do the rest of us a favor and stay home. The sheer lack of consideration was appalling, and I had to apologize to my wife for my fellow fans afterwards. This is harsh, but it was the worst audience I've seen at a musical concert. DCD deserves better. A- for DCD, F for the crowd.