Fencing In Bob Dylan
At last night’s Bob Dylan concert in Prospect Park, the closing night of Celebrate Brooklyn and a benefit for it, too, the last longhaired baby boomers in the borough gathered to listen to the musical icon of their generation sing—though plenty of GenX and GenY-ers showed up as well. Only problem: those who didn’t wish…
At last night’s Bob Dylan concert in Prospect Park, the closing night of Celebrate Brooklyn and a benefit for it, too, the last longhaired baby boomers in the borough gathered to listen to the musical icon of their generation sing—though plenty of GenX and GenY-ers showed up as well. Only problem: those who didn’t wish to swing the $55 for lawn seats or well above a cool hundred for actual chairs found they couldn’t partake of extra-bandshell listening, as so many are accustomed to doing. One reader wrote in to complain about the high fence erected around the venue to prevent glimpses; sound apparently did not travel well beyond it. “Unbelievable: Dylan comes to Brooklyn & everyone who wasn’t in his fan club, a VIP [there were plenty of seats reserved for music biz types], or willing to pay $200+ wound up barely able to hear and completely unable to see the concert, thanks to a tall black fence completely surrounding the bandshell area,” he writes. “Considering that I’ve never seen this sort of setup at Celebrate Brooklyn, I have to ask: Whose idea was this – Dylan’s or Celebrate Brooklyn? Anybody have an answer?” Well, do ya?
Dylan photo by Alan Fleishman
You’re kidding, right?
How long have you lived in Brooklyn?
Every summer Celebrate Brooklyn does a few high profile benefit shows that aren’t free and every time they put up higher fences and post security. You might like it, you might now, but it is mos def *not* new.
They put up the fence for all of the pay-for concerts (“benefits”) and have done so for years. Yes, it’s obnoxious, in a public park for which We the Taxpayers pay. What was worse were the nazi attitudes of the cops not letting anyone stand in the road behind the fence.
Apparently this concert sold out quickly so not all of those who would have paid could even get tickets. Seems like they could not fence it in if they’ve already sold all the tix.
That said, I was outside, it sounded like crap (I’m told it did inside too) and I tired pretty quickly of the old fart”s croak. I discovered years ago it’s always better to spend your money on the records than on a crappy stadium show.
As someone who works in the music biz and was given free tickets to the concert, I was told the fence was there for security reasons.
I really don’t see what the big deal is.
You want to go to the concert so badly, buy a ticket.
Or work for pennies and get free ones…
I was inside. We just “lucked out” getting tickets though we still paid $55 because my wife is a huge fan and I’d never seen him. I’m sure the show would have sold out regardless of the fence situation. In fact I’d bet that many of the attendees had never been to the bandshell before and had no idea that for most shows you can see and hear pretty well from outside. That said, the free concert series must get money from somewhere so when they hold the occasional benefit I don’t blame them for closing of the views.
On to the show…. The sound was subpar at best and Dylan was barely able to croke through many of the songs. The crowd was generous, even through some of the honky tonk numbers that threatened to put me to sleep. Lots of pot smoke floating around and enough Budweiser to float a navy. Can’t they get some lcoal beer in there? We ended up leaving early and had a nice stroll home through the neighborhood talking about how we could have sold our tickets on StubHub for a couple hundred bucks a piece.
The fence caught me off-guard as well, but then again this is 2008 not 1978. Money and “exclusivity” rule the day…
if you don’t like it then you can just go get your MBA and get free front row tickets like the rest of us “VIP”s
OMIGOD! Let’s try thanking Celebrate Brooklyn for years of great FREE concerts instead of complaining that they put up fences around the BENEFIT concerts.
Actually, the Dylan concert was part of Celebrate Brooklyn, and was touted as the closing concert of the season. It was also a charity concert. So, I still say the fencing was not in the spirit of CB, and not necessary, as tickets would have sold regardless.
That being said, I’m not a Dylan fan, so I didn’t really care, it just seemed very “uncommunity.”
they have for years now erected the fence for all paying concerts – and all paying concerts are not part of CB