The curtain falls, the crowd stands, the curtain rises again.
The cast behind the curtain looks out on the crowd. They’ve come back on stage for one final bow, and to take in the crowd standing in the theater.
Except the crowd is not standing for an ovation. Well, most of them, anyway.
They’re standing because they’re already halfway up the aisle on their way out to the parking lot where, no doubt, another crowd of cars is waiting to get out.
Why are they in such a hurry to beat traffic they know they won’t beat, I wonder. Why don’t they wait and let traffic ease up? Why don’t they stick around, show a little appreciation to the performers and, who knows … something special may happen. Something unexpected. Amazing even. ֱ traffic being lighter, that is.
I wonder.
***
We have family history with the Montreux Jazz Festival in Switzerland.
Our stepmother-in-law famously stood up during Bob Dylan’s sold-out show there a few years ago and walked out. (“His voice is not good,” she said.) Our vaguely confused kids, who were with her on summer vacation, followed her out in solidarity. (Also because they needed a ride.) For the record, Bob Dylan kept playing that night at the Montreux Jazz Festival, without our stepmother-in-law and kids. The show must go on.
Another night, the kids were sitting behind a man celebrating his 75th birthday at the Montreux Jazz Festival … who turned out to be Quincy Jones. Quincy Jones! You can see their vaguely confused teenaged faces on the concert video tape whenever the camera pans to see the celebrated producer/composer/arranger’s reaction to the tribute performance in his honor.
And now we have another memory from Montreux, which inaugurated a franchise of the festival in Miami this year at The Hangar in Coconut Grove.
I surprised my wife, Cecile, with tickets for her birthday, and Jon Batiste’s performance that night was a gift. I’m on record elsewhere declaring it the “best concert I’ve ever seen.” That includes the 1981 Rolling Stones show at Kemper Arena in Kansas City, Mo. (Sorry, Mick Jagger.)
Just like that. Just for us. (Sorry, Mick Jagger. You didn’t do that).
They even brought out a birthday cake – albeit for Cory Henry’s 37th birthday, not Cecile’s. Still. We were birthday-cake adjacent.
Another unforgettable family memory, with the Montreux Jazz Festival. All because we weren’t in a hurry to get out of there and beat traffic.
The Miami franchise was such a good time, and apparently so successful, the organizers of the Montreux Jazz Festival have decided to bring it back to The Hangar in Coconut Grove in 2025. Which gives everybody a heads up, months in advance, that there could be a lot more to the show worth waiting for after the show. Even if it means you get into traffic later than everyone else.
If only all entertainers were as generous with their audiences as Jon Batiste and friends that night in Miami. If only South Florida audiences went into shows this season feeling the same way.
I wonder.
– mgauert@cityandshore.com
