A night at City Hall, Sheffield

Last night I went to see the Buena Vista Social Club perform live at Sheffield City Hall. The concert was FABULOUS - brilliant Latin American performers - all singing, all dancing and playing their instruments superbly. The hall, which I'd never been into in concert conditions, was rather spectacular visually: a large oval room with an impressive decorative ceiling...but it was the first time I've been conscious of really annoying acoustics! It may have been just where we were sitting (third row from the front on the side, so a brilliant intimate position with the musicians; it would have been a vastly different experience to be in the 'miles-away' seats of the balcony) but the buzz of the percussion reflected back so that it was as if someone was just playing a fraction of a second out of time, or a clock was ticking really loudly, out of sync with the music...and being latin music, there was a lot of percussion! Once I'd figured out what it was, it was sadly really quite distracting! Fortunately, it didn't however detract from what was otherwise a great night...but I think I preferred the acoustic condition in the much more intimate surroundings of Cubana, where we all went, with the musicians, to dance after...though I admit you'd be hard pressed to get 2271 people in the small club! It was a great night in the name of 'research'!