Monday, August 20, 2012

An Evening at the Melody Tent

After having our tickets to see k.d. lang at the Cape Cod Melody Tent for months the evening finally arrived. The Cape Cod Melody Tent is one of only two continuously operated tent theaters in the round in the United states (the other is also in Massachusetts!). No seat is more than 50 feet from the stage, which rotates during the performance. I had been curious about the venue and excited about seeing k.d. lang in this intimate setting.

The beginning of the evening was a Keystone Cops sort of event. On the way out the door I reminded Shana to get the tickets, which had been mailed to us weeks ago. They were nowhere to be found, probably because they were "in a safe place". After running around the house sweating and pulling out our hair we stopped at the grocery store where our bank has a branch to get extra cash to buy fresh tickets but our bank is not open Sunday evening. I could not use an ATM because I have no idea where the card is for that account. I purchased our tickets by phone on our way to Hyannis. We were meeting a friend in Hyannis for dinner before the show, but until we left home we were not sure where we were going to go. The address we gave our friend for the restaurant we chose was wrong. When we did find the restaurant we found that we needed reservations unless we wanted to sit at a traditional Japanese table, which had legs about a foot long. We were to sit on the floor. Shana and I tried it with rather hilarious results, but in spite of being fairly flexible our friend just could not do it. We  got back in our cars and proceeded to another restaurant for Indian food. Our dinner was delicious, but the large amounts of fresh garlic in my order left me wishing I had a mint, or 200 mints.

Shana and I stopped at the ladies' room before going into the tent, but she did not know I had gone in. When she did not see me when she came out she thought I had gone to my seat. When I came out she was nowhere to be found. At last we got together and went to our new seats to watch the opening act. At the break we went over to the section where our original seats were languishing without us and settled in near our friend watch the main event, only about 6 rows from the stage.



k. d. lang was WONDERFUL. Her voice is impeccable, and in the intimacy of this small venue her joy in performing and connection to her band was clear to see. She sang some of her old favorites, and some songs I was less familiar with and every song sounded wonderful and fresh. I had wondered if singing Constant Craving and Hallelujah over many years would make them seem dull and rote to her, but her delivery rather suggested that there is always something new and thrilling to be discovered in these songs.  The band was excellent, and the devotion of the crew to the comfort of k. d. and the band was wonderful to see.

I'm not much of a concert-goer. Large venues and big crowds really leave me cold. I do like a smaller venue, and to see such an artist in such an intimate setting was a wonderful treat. One more item in the favor of this venue - too often live music in a smaller venue is too amplified to be enjoyed. It is too loud to be understood and I find myself more exhausted than uplifted. This was not the case here. The volume and clarity of the sound was perfect, and the lighting simple and effective. We will absolutely be  making plans to see more concerts at the Cape Cod Melody tent in the future.

Sadly my pictures are not good, but I was only hoping to give an idea of how the tent looks up close and on the inside before and during a performance.

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