Empty seats at Proms

[PhilipT]

Having been able to buy a grand tier box seat for last Sunday evening (Mahler 8) three days previously, and assuming this to have been released by a private seat owner, I have read a bit online about the history of private seats.

The link to You and Yours on BBC Radio 4 above in Ferney's post is educative about this issue. About 1200 seats (out of 5200) are privately owned, and therefore tickets may be returned by their owners to the Box Office for resale; or, of course, to online resellers. The moral issues surrounding this are interestingly debated in the programme.

Should anyone be interested in buying a lease on a Grand Tier box, as I type there's one offered for sale here. A Euromillions Jackpot would cover that easily.

I'm surprised that there are any moral issues to debate, unless you count the time a Labour Government minister wanted to pass a law stripping the leaseholders of their leases so they could be re-sold. Those sensible Victorians had thought of that - the leases were granted under a Royal Charter. Tricky things to overturn, Royal Charters, especially when the current sovereign owns a double box.

[LMcD]

Very pleased to see what looked like a pretty full house at tonight's Prom.

[Lat-Literal]

One thing I find at this age is that in the approaching of events there is the sense that the experience will be similar to the more regular references in the home but this is not the case. For example, I half expected to be in a section of seats which was full of this forum's members, immensely knowledgeable and, not that this is quite the word, clubbable. What I found there were people on their own, couples, families, groups of friends......the real world albeit at the more refined end of it...…….and while that is fine, there is no way of telling to what extent people are true enthusiasts or simply enjoying a night out. It doesn't matter hugely when the main relationship is with the music and to a lesser extent the wider environment.

But I wonder if anyone knows from their many times of being there if it is often the case that groups from classical music appreciation societies are there and to what extent the RAH promotes that sort of concept? It is exploring other areas in a imaginative way. For example, Prom 59 - the Relaxed Prom - is designed for children, autistic adults, people with physical disabilities and other people accompanying them. There are even chill out rooms in case it all gets too much. It isn't just the Proms. I think if I were ever to attend a football match again, I'd be happy enough to be with the fans as I used to be but I'd really be hoping to be with people who can discuss it all in depth like those I listen to in the kitchen on Talksport.

[Stanfordian]

One thing I find at this age is that in the approaching of events there is the sense that the experience will be similar to the more regular references in the home but this is not the case. For example, I half expected to be in a section of seats which was full of this forum's members, immensely knowledgeable and, not that this is quite the word, clubbable. What I found there were people on their own, couples, families, groups of friends......the real world albeit at the more refined end of it...…….and while that is fine, there is no way of telling to what extent people are true enthusiasts or simply enjoying a night out. It doesn't matter hugely when the main relationship is with the music and to a lesser extent the wider environment.

But I wonder if anyone knows from their many times of being there if it is often the case that groups from classical music appreciation societies are there and to what extent the RAH promotes that sort of concept? It is exploring other areas in a imaginative way. For example, Prom 59 - the Relaxed Prom - is designed for children, autistic adults, people with physical disabilities and other people accompanying them. There are even chill out rooms in case it all gets too much. It isn't just the Proms. I think if I were ever to attend a football match again, I'd be happy enough to be with the fans as I used to be but I'd really be hoping to be with people who can discuss it all in depth like those I listen to in the kitchen on Talksport.

The Proms are being changed to be all things to all men and will most likely end up alienating the regulars!

[PhilipT]

But I wonder if anyone knows from their many times of being there if it is often the case that groups from classical music appreciation societies are there and to what extent the RAH promotes that sort of concept?

My experience is that things are totally the other way. When there is a large group of similarly-minded people who have never or rarely been to a Prom before it's because they have been attracted by a particular programme. Sometimes for obvious reasons (the "David Bowie" Prom; the siblings and parents and boyfriends/girlfriends who go to the NYOGB Proms), some times less so (Handel oratorios attract young men with dark hair in ringlets wearing yarmulkes, because they (the oratorios) are very faithful to the text). Word gets around on the relevant grapevine. But we don't see those people again.

The attitude of the BBC and the RAH is to attempt to widen the Proms audience as much as possible - any suggestion of appealing to a special-interest group would be met with horror, even though that is exactly what the "David Bowie" Prom did. Actually, the regular Prommers are a remarkably diverse bunch with one unifying common interest, but we are viewed as anything but diverse by the BBC and the RAH. The last thing they want to attract is more of us.

[LMcD]

The Proms are being changed to be all things to all men and will most likely end up alienating the regulars!

Ain't that the truth! (The same could be said of some of Radio 3's other offerings).

[BBMmk2]

Certainly some of the programmes seem quite inert!

[Nick Armstrong]

I wouldn't want to see a performance of the Symphonia Domestica whoever was performing it!

Oh I would! Is there one coming up in the Proms? Hadn't noticed!

On topic: loads of seats available (most returns) for the Minnesota concert on Monday (Gershwin, Ives etc) - two ideal seats just snapped up!

[LMcD]

I wonder whether there is any connection between ticket sales and the day of the week? For 'out of towners', getting home late might be less of an issue if the morrow isn't a work day.

[Beef Oven!]

Oh I would! Is there one coming up in the Proms? Hadn't noticed!

On topic: loads of seats available (most returns) for the Minnesota concert on Monday (Gershwin, Ives etc) - two ideal seats just snapped up!

What's the way to snap them up, online or going along on the night?

[Nick Armstrong]

What's the way to snap them up, online or going along on the night?

Online (to pick up from the box office before the concert): https://www.bbc.co.uk/events/e85d2m

[Beef Oven!]

Online (to pick up from the box office before the concert): https://www.bbc.co.uk/events/e85d2m

Cheers Cali

One further question.

I'm thinking about 'on the day'. is it best to go online on the morning of the day of the concert, or rock-up at the RHA a couple of hours beforehand and queue at the box-office for a physical return ticket?

[Lat-Literal]

Cheers Cali

One further question.

I'm thinking about 'on the day'. is it best to go online on the morning of the day of the concert, or rock-up at the RHA a couple of hours beforehand and queue at the box-office for a physical return ticket?

I would also like an answer to this question.

Plus any experiences of Cadogan Hall from perhaps people who have been there and also to St John's Smith Square.

Are they similar? When in work, I attended a couple of lunchtime recitals at the latter but I have never been to the first.

On ticket collection, I booked for RVW2 several days in advance - weeks - but on the afternoon beforehand I went to my local library and got a print out. This could be done presumably by people who book on the same day and have a printer at home as long as the option to print the tickets is ticked, saving the box office. But I am sure you know much of this anyway!

[Dave2002]

What's the way to snap them up, online or going along on the night?

They might appear at any time. I’d say generally - but not always - best to strike earlier. If you manage to get tickets for a few, then I have sometimes found it worthwhile to go to the box office in the interval to try for returns or cheap seats for later concerts. It might take a few days.

Also, just because a concert is marked as Sold Out, don’t assume that there won’t be any tickets. Persistence often pays off.

If you don’t want to prom, then turning up on the night may work, but is not guaranteed. Usually promming works if you get in early - though I don’t like standing for long periods now - either in the queues or promming in the arena - but I have been one of the first to be turned away for some concerts which I really wanted to get into - hoping right until the last few minutes before 7.30 pm that I might squeeze in, then returning to the station to wend my way home.

[alywin]

I've been to two Proms so far this year: the second night (Daphnis, Chloe, et al), and last night's (new Talbot guitar concerto, Nutcracker Act I). Both were walk-up jobs, don't worry about queuing, and there were loads of seats still available last night, and I think quite a few on the previous one.

A family member who lives up north wanted to come down for a weekend one, needing to be back in time for work on Monday morning, but either the timings were just plain weird (11 am for a non-"family" Prom and then 8 pm one Sunday?!), or the (Saturday) concerts were rejected for requiring hours and hours of queuing (I hadn't realised they'd be operating the same queuing system as last year, or we might have changed our minds). Lots of this year's programmes have been put together in such a way that I haven't found them particularly enticing, and I'd guess perhaps a number of other punters are feeling the same.