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June 8th, 2007
N'Telos Pavillion Harbour Center Portsmouth, VA
We went to this concert in June of 2007 and it wasn't a good experience. The instrumentation sounded very good (everything from Brass to Keyboard to Drums) but the vocals weren't clear at all. I couldn't make out anything. Don't know if that was just the voices being soft or the microphones not working right. To add to that, the people in the back of us were screaming and singing so loud the whole time they drowned out the band. To the couple behind us in Row R in the Right orchestra section Seats 10-20 range, you were very drunk, and you wooo! over 500 times... Literally every 5 to 10 seconds for the entire concert... even though NOTHING was to wooo about!. The woman, who was loud and obnoxious (she knew she was bothering people and did not care and stated so), THOUGHT she knew the songs but was off on the lyrics and obviously tone deaf. She was so loud... I did NOT pay 160 bucks to hear YOU all night. And to her and her husband who did the 'Woos' as well, you were rude. You physically caused me actual ear pain. Then they had the nerve to say the crowd sucks because they were sitting and not joining in! Well, those around these people could NOT enjoy their experience. I had to keep my left ear plugged and worry about the next moment the pain would come. Literally. I've been to dozens of concerts and this was my least enjoyable experience probably. The band before this group was so young to be playing such instrumental elevator music which was good for what it was (they played brilliantly) but the music itself was supposed to warm the audience up; not put them to sleep! BORING. If I wanted musac, I'd go to my nearest elevator. As for the event place itself. Ticket prices are higher now because the venue keeps blowing down every time there is a hurricane...and for that, you can only get in up to an hour early, with NO PLACE outside the gates to use the bathroom or get a drink of water. We left early figuring on heavy traffic and were there way too early and were literally suffering in 95 degree temperatures, no shade and mugginess. So please provide a restroom outside the gate and at least a water fountain! There is nothing close by to go to either. So going to this venue, please take your own water and umbrella, fan or something for shade; to keep cool. Only good thing about this day was free parking. Oh, the seating is VERY tight in the orchestra section unless you are the size of Nicole Ritchie or Paris Hilton... normal sized people or overweight will be very uncomfortable. Prices for food and drinks steep for what it is. 10.00 for a small mixed drink. 6-8.00 for a cup of beer. 5 bucks for s aoda. cheapest thing there is a pretzel or popcorn at like 4.00. Steely Dan was a good group and maybe still is in a recording studio, but not if you are interested in hearing words... that's my opinion on this day. Maybe I am not happy because of price, weather and drunk people behind me though, but for sure, they are NOT the best we've seen by far. Photos NOT allowed at this event and they checked for cameras and video equipment. We snuck a small camera in but it's not that good and we weren't able to get anymore than one decent photo (4 total but they all looked the same basically because we could not move around).
Above: The only good shot we got (not that great). It's of the entire band (no one missing that I can tell).
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