An open letter to Josh Groban.
I bought two tickets in March for your concert last month at Rogers Arena. They cost $232.50, and it was my birthday present for my husband.
We both looked forward to listening to you “live,” as we have enjoyed watching you on TV and listened to CDs.
As we are elderly, we don’t drive into town, so we had to take the bus from White Rock to Bridgeport and SkyTrain into Vancouver.
Your concert was to begin at 7:30 p.m. At that time, a man entered the stage and started playing the piano. We’re sure he is good, but we have never heard about him, and the sound was so terribly loud we had to cover our ears with our hands.
The noise lasted for one-half hour. Then we thought you would enter the stage, but you did not. There was a lot of noise from the loudspeakers for another half-hour.
Finally, you came! And the terrible noise from speakers all over the place made us cover our ears. It was painful, and it was impossible to hear any of the lyrics in your songs.
We were sitting up in row 22, and when there were three drummers performing, the floor was vibrating under our feet. We felt sick due to the devastating noise and had to leave before the concert was over. Others did, too.
We’re sure it was not your fault. Some technicians were obviously responsible for the overwhelmingly loud sound, but we felt “took” by the whole thing and thought you should know.
This kind of loudness is dangerous for people’s hearing. We’ve been to the arena before to see Andre Rieu and his Strauss orchestra, and that was pleasant, not too loud, sound.
We are so disappointed and feel all those dollars were a big waste of money and gave us painful hours with numb ears.
Note to Peace Arch News editor: J.G. may not read PAN, but he’s surely got people clipping for him.
Tore & Anne-Lill Christoffersen, White Rock
