Audience Altercations at Concerts

While nothing can really top the famous Rite of Spring riot of 1913, the buzz around Phoenix last week was about the fisticuffs that broke out at among some audience members at a symphony concert.

Perhaps it was the music – the Beethoven 7th symphony?

In any case, this incident reminded me of a few odd stories from my own past where an audience member has gone wild.

Blue velvet

At the Chicago Symphony, a tall man dressed in a powder blue polyester tuxedo seated himself several rows in front of myself and my date. He accentuated his tuxedo with a crushed velvet, frilled tuxedo shirt and a black velvet tie.

The man, while oddly dressed, seated himself quietly. We giggled a little at his strange apparel. (Who let this guy escape from a 1970′s high school prom?)

When Sir Georg Solti made his entrance, the audience applauded. When the applause died down, the oddly-dressed man sprang up from his seat and began screaming at Sir Georg in a tirade of jumbled words and phrases.

The musicians and audience froze in shock. The Maestro, not skipping a beat, walked offstage. The man continued his tirade as the ushers escorted him out.

The concert was Shostakovich’s 11th symphony.

Let me tell you what I think

At a benefit/fund-raising concert concert with a woodwind quintet, one of the audience members (with a drink in hand) decided to let the room know what he thought of them.

He stood up in front of the quintet (which was on a stage) and grabbed a microphone.

“You are all a bunch of cheap bastards!” was the gist of his tirade. This was his moment to really let people know what he thought. It went on and on, insult after insult, before someone finally took his drink and escorted him away.

Carmen, Full of Bull

I have a long audience riot story of my own, where the audience even shouted “KILL THE MUSICIANS!”  Here is part II where the riot ensues.

• Do you have your own audience freak-out story? Please share!