It took me ages to find something to do tonight - primarily because Time Out has once again fiddled with their layout, once again with disastrous results! Where before, I could search for a specific day, now it's "today", "tomorrow", "the weekend", or "next seven days". Disastrous, as you can imagine. So, searching last week for something for tonight, all I could do was "next seven days" - which meant I got a whole heap of dross that wasn't on tonight at all. Not only that, but they've changed their pagination - so instead of moving from page to page, all these unnecessary results are appended to the end of the page you're already on. Which leads to a very long page - and considering all the graphics they include, this page takes longer and longer to load. Oh, and every time you load more results, they bump you unnecessarily back up to the top of the page! Woeful.
Finally, I was searching again yesterday for something for tonight, so I could specify "tomorrow" and get just results that might actually be useful to me. As opposed to hours, it took seconds. And how delightful to come up with Carmina Burana! I've never actually seen it live, so that was a no-brainer. I picked a seat from the cheapest range, and got a central seat in the rear stalls of the Royal Festival Hall. From where the view is better than certain areas in this venue with higher priced tickets!
Thankfully, no apparent problems with the District Line going into town tonight. Except the usual unexplained delays, of course. I should have made it in comfortable time - but a 3-minute wait at West Brompton, followed by a 5-minute wait at Earl's Court, meant I was rushing as usual. I took the first train from West Brompton - despite it heading along the other line, to Edgware Road - on the basis that they all go through Earl's Court, and I just might get a train sooner from there than waiting for the next train into town from West Brompton. Because they come through Earl's Court from two other destinations as well, heading into town. As it happened, a train I could have taken pulled away from the adjacent platform just as we arrived at Earl's Court. The train I then got off sat there for several minutes - in fact, as late as it could, without delaying the train behind it. (You'd wonder what their reasoning is, sometimes!) And, as it happened, the train I got on to go to town turned out to have come from West Brompton. But I didn't lose any time.
I got to Embankment with under 10 minutes to spare - not what you want, when you have to climb a long couple of flights of steps - 42 altogether, I counted them - onto the bridge. It then takes about 5 minutes to cross the bridge (gasping for breath, if you're out of practice). I was stunned by the sight of the most gorgeous full moon, over the lights of the South Bank. Would have loved to have taken a picture.. but I didn't have time, and my camera phone probably wouldn't have done it justice. Anyway, clouds kept obscuring it. But it was a spectacular sight..
I finally made it to the Southbank Centre lobby, and had to queue. By the time I got to be served, it was about a minute to showtime. The blessed man who got me my ticket also directed me to the lifts. My saviour! They were on the green (bridge) side of the building rather than the blue, which was what I needed - but I correctly assumed that I'd be able to cross over at the top. And oh! what a joy to be whisked straight there.
My seat was indeed very central, and seats here are comfy, although the seat backs only come to halfway up your back. My only quibble was the guy two rows in front of me with an inconsiderately large head. Other than that, it was ideal. Maybe a bit squished, with people on either side - but the chap to my right mustn't have fancied the second half, because he left at the interval. This was nice, leaving me more room for my stuff. (I kept my coat on my lap throughout though - it was a little nippy.) Curiously, there was an elderly lady in the seat on his other side. I don't know whether they were together, but she did a good bit of looking around when he wasn't coming back. Hope he didn't abandon her!
I arrived with just enough time to get my coat off and my phone turned off before the conductor came onstage. There were an awful lot of people onstage - the London Philharmonic (whose base this is) occupied the lower half, with the Bach choir actually outnumbering them by a factor of two, on the upper level. The first half was actually liturgical music - quite nostalgic, it reminded me of Easter rituals when I was a kid.
They didn't get into Carmina Burana itself until the second half. Also characteristic of the second half was the entrance of the "young singers" - schoolkids, who are auditioned. I only realised this when I read it in a program over someone's shoulder. No wonder so many from our section were jumping up and down and waving at the interval!
Carmina Burana is quite a mad piece. Few pieces I can think of require - along with the usual orchestral paraphernalia - three xylophones and two grand pianos. It opens and closes with the oh-so-familiar strains of O Fortuna. And oh, with all those people on stage, can you imagine the noise..? Better, certainly for the dramatic climaxes of O Fortuna, to actually close your eyes and let it wash over you.
I had a slight cough, but luckily it only tended to affect me during the noisy bits. Pity the poor woman in the row in front of me, trying to stifle a cough during the quiet bits. And by the way, I don't blame the guy in front of me who was filming - normally I take a dim view of such things, but with kids there, he probably had someone in the show who was related to him. The lady in the row behind me who complained to him afterwards obviously felt differently.
Coming down the stairs afterwards, with everyone singing O Fortuna of course, I was glad I hadn't taken them up, there were so many. Unfortunately, that did mean I was unfamiliar with where to stop going down, and I overshot. Ah well. What a fantastic show.. and a well deserved, and prolonged, standing ovation.
Tomorrow, I get to go to the O2 for the first time - to see Ennio Morricone in concert. This is a rescheduled concert from December, when he was sick. Anyway, it'll be good to see the place before I go to see U2 there at the end of the year. With all the warnings against Level 4 (the upper of two available levels) for those who suffer from vertigo or fear of heights, I was spooked into paying £30 more for a seat on the lower level. We'll see. Note: AXS, the official vendor for the O2, is better to buy tickets from than Ticketmaster - AXS allows you a print-at-home option for free, whereas TM insists on posting them - for a fee. I must still figure out the best way to and from the venue..
And on Friday, I finally get to go to something that's been so heavily advertised - I'm off to the Pillow Cinema to see What We Do in the Shadows. Usually, when I see this event advertised, it's either something I've seen, or sold out. Or both. So it's a rare treat to have been able to get to something in it that I haven't seen. It's sold out now, mind you, as is most of the season, which runs until the 14th. This does sound like fun - you're advised to bring a pillow, but it's not compulsory. A blanket is also an option. "Seating" is on bean bags that sleep one or two - you have to reserve a whole bean bag - and you basically snuggle up in it as if you're in bed, and watch the movie! There's a drinks service to your bean bag. Takes place in the former Shoreditch Underground Station.
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