Queue Watch 2014

[french frank]

Perhaps predictably, Teamsaint's fine idea to create a useful thread has been met with thirteen useless replies. At least no one has yet complained of coughing in the queue.

He did, OTOH, sanction discussion of 'anything else of tangential interest, like who you met on the steps of the Bulgarian embassy'.

Your own experiences of recent promming would be helpful, though.

[Honoured Guest]

I found it stressful, trying to anticipate when I needed to arrive so as not to spend too long in the sun/rain/wind/cold/heat/etc.

So last time I booked in advance, which was also stressful. I especially wanted to hear just one piece in a l...o...n...g orchestral programme and couldn't face standing/queueing/dehydrating/etc. The concert sold out very early so I had to keep trying for returns, and ended up in a sort of large ashtray box. Everyone around me listened fairly quietly and politely until "my" piece started, when two nearby women started loudly conversing: "oh my god this is awful" etc.

My experience of the Proms tells me that there are many more external factors which can affect my enjoyment than at most concerts. I was tempted by one or two concerts this year but have not booked / will not attend.

[teamsaint]

Have the touts yet caught on the idea of buying up such cloakroom tickets from early queuers to sell at a premium to late-comers? Indeed, does anyone here know of a case or cases of indigents queuing early precisely to acquire such cloakroom tickets for profit?

perfect opportunity to test it out tomorrow night, Bryn
Can't think that the DSCH will attract an especially big early queue, but that raffle ticket,(which gives equal status in the Q for the later Prom under regulation 63, clause 4, subsection 8) could be like gold dust for the Pet Shop Boys. Hmmmmmmmm.....

I would PM Honoured Guest, big fan of the PSB's it seems......

[Bryn]

As it happens, I am indeed considering queuing for the early evening Prom. I wonder at what level I should price an early place in the Pet Shop queue?

[teamsaint]

As it happens, I am indeed considering queuing for the early evening Prom. I wonder at what level I should price an early place in the Pet Shop queue?

first law of negotiation, start high !!
Reckon there will be big queues tomorrow? its an early start too. Not sure whether to Queue for the arena or go for one of the remaining £13 Circle tickets.

[Bryn]

Best laid plans, and all that. A recalcitrant chesty cough has precluded my attendance tonight. I am having to make do the broadcast for the moment.

[teamsaint]

Best laid plans, and all that. A recalcitrant chesty cough has precluded my attendance tonight. I am having to make do the broadcast for the moment.

Hope you shift it soon. A bad cough Doesn't seem to stop some folk turning out....

Life and the early start rather scuppered me tonight,hope to report from the Daphnis and Chloe Q on Monday night.

Shame about tonight, Fausty sounded as brilliant as ever.

[kernelbogey]

What happened to the advice sticky?

I'm travelling up to London today to queue for tonight. What happened to that useful sticky - I think it was called Advice for First Time Prommers or some such - which explained all this arcane business of cloakroom tickets, how to have a pee when queuing, how not to get in a fight at the orchestra barrier how to recognise a reserved space in the Arena etc, etc? We provincials can suffer a bit of angst when entering those hallowed halls....

[teamsaint]

Here you go KB.

http://www.for3.org/forums/showthread.php?2923-Advice-to-a-first-time-Prommer

of course there is a completely seperate set of rules ( and sanctions ) non first timers.......

Enjoy tonight.

Lets hope its a good 'Un, hoping to be there myself.

difficult t know which set of rules to follow, as I will have a first time prommer with me....

[PhilipT]

Here you go KB.

Ah, yes. That is a couple of years old, and needs a bit of updating. There are more loos now, including a disabled loo, on the ground floor at Door 12 behind the Café servery; the shop has essentially gone; cloakroom tickets are now being issued earlier in the day than used to be the case, and programmes are available later (and harder to find because of the absence of the shop); the restaurant on the first floor at Door 12 has been revamped (it is now Italian-themed, and makes a fair stab at authenticity, instead of the slightly prissy 'light dining' of before); the system for allowing disabled Prommers to enter early has changed.

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

Second person spotted (getting out of a taxi) was composer Anthony Payne.

I wonder if he's thinking of having a go at that Last Judgement thingy.

It's funny you should mention that. As I was queueing up to have my score of the Elgar-Payne 3 autographed by him and Sir Andrew at the premiere, I tactlessly suggested there might be enough material to consider The Last Judgement. It was followed by an enormous groan. I apologised. It wasn't the moment.

[amateur51]

It's funny you should mention that. As I was queueing up to have my score of the Elgar-Payne 3 autographed by him and Sir Andrew at the premiere, I tactlessly suggested there might be enough material to consider The Last Judgement. It was followed by an enormous groan. I apologised. It wasn't the moment.

There's always one, innit

[Serial_Apologist]

There's always one, innit

More than one...

Speaking to a composer this last Sunday who was having a work of her's for violin, clarinet and piano performed for the first time ever, I remarked afterwards that Bartok's Contrasts had come strongly to mind. "I've never heard it, or heard of it" was her reply.

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

Oh, S_A! Never ever tell a composer that one of their works reminds you of one by somebody else - even if you mean it as the highest praise, all they can hear is "derivative"!

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

One "Last Judgement" that was completed was the painting by John Martin, now in the Tate Gallery, and part of a triptych. The three paintings, now acknowledged as masterpieces were sold in the 1930s for £7 and The Last Judgement was sliced into four to decorate some wall panels. Soon afterwards it was restored.

But what vandalism!