Boulder Theater
Boulder, CO
Words By J-man
Photos By Kevin Hahn
For any serious music fan, a special evening with a couple of musical legends performing as a duo, commands a certain level of respect and appreciation. The Boulder Theater announced such an occasion with bluegrass greats, Del McCoury and Sam Bush and music fans responded by selling out the venue. With the early event scheduled for 8:00 PM, folks turned out in advanced as to not miss a second of this rare treat. With the duo taking the stage about thirty minutes past the scheduled start time, it allowed folks to converse heavily, purchase several drinks and loosen up before the performance began. With folks in their seats, Del and Sam began.
Through traditional numbers like "Nine Pound Hammer" and "High On A Mountain Top," the duo pushed forth. The scaled down band forced Del to step up on covering a lot of the instrumental runs and bass lines as Sam fielded the melodies and a lot of the lead work. Several flubs and misses led Del to laughter and the crowd followed with accepting tolerance from the seasoned vet. As just about each number came to a close, the two gentleman would step up to the microphone to share stories from their extensive careers or to provide insight surrounding the history of songs and humorous antidotes. It was in those moments that the chatter from the crowd was most evident. Due to the drunkenness and belligerent chatter from the general admission balcony throughout the beginning portion of the set, we made our way down to the first level to the standing room only section at the back of the main floor. What we found upon our arrival was as much disrespect as we had seen on the floor above. Folks were talking loudly both during the music and during the banter, with drinks in hand and their backs to the crowd. I expected this behavior from some of the younger folks, but was overwhelmingly disappointed by the full on conversation from a lot of the older folks as well.
At times we could not hear the music over the talking, and whereas it would have been helpful to speak up and ask folks to keep it down, the problem was widespread through the Boulder Theater. As the show wound up, folks showed their appreciation for the duo and the special experience. Unfortunately, they did not give the deserved respect during the actual performance...
Kevin's Photo Gallery
www.delmccouryband.com
www.sambush.com
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