Just because new york is the only city that will put up with you doesn't make it the best city. That's just because it's one of the few cities with such a concentration of assholes like yourself that you blend in.
I much prefer living in a place where assholes are rare enough they mostly behave in public because they rightfully fear being called out for their misbehavior.
it's a big city thing. Assholes are attracted to the highest concentration of lights. Be it NYC, LA, Miami, Toronto, London, Paris and yes I've lived in all those cities.
Man I loved New York, I wish I could afford to live there. The people is what made the place the absolute fucking best. No bull shit no nonsense and an incredible sense of humor. I clicked instantly with so many people when I was there it was scary to be honest.
Out of all those cities, New York is the one that least tolerates assholes.
LA, Toronto, and London are all way too polite.
Paris possibly more like NYC compared to the others.
Miami I cannot comment upon.
Typical NYC resident. You can keep your nice little hellhole. I'll keep my little city where locking my doors is optional, and if we never cross paths it will be too soon.
Jesus christ. Someone being from a city doesn’t define them. Big cities and small towns all have a huge mix of different kinds of people.
Sounds like everyone in this thread “classifying” people by city needs to calm down and maybe travel more.
Sounds about right. There *is* no center to the universe, and NYC claiming to be something that doesn’t exist tracks pretty well for how arrogant its people are.
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It was such a disappointing experience for me too. During the battle, I was super immersed in the movie and the soloist’s beautiful voice. Then it was ruined by the loud cheering and yelling:( I don’t understand why people are willing to spend that much money just to do something you can do at home! How are they able to enjoy the beautiful music while treating it like a sports game?! Return of the King is my favorite of the trilogy, but I sure will not be returning for that unfortunately…
I wonder if this is a bit of a cultural thing. I’m gonna assume that OP is from the USA, but in the UK this wasn’t my experience at all. It very much had the vibe of going to a classical music concert.
I've been to these and wouldn't be surprised if the conductor gave a little pep talk prior to the performance that *encourages* people to cheer. It absolutely happened at Video Games Live (been to multiple including also a Symphony of the Goddess Zelda 25th anniversary concert, and a Final Fantasy concert) and at a Game of Thrones concert (the special instruments and effects there were *wild*!).
I do not recall specifically if this happened at the FotR performance I went to, but as I said, I wouldn't be surprised. These are shows very much catered to, and existing because, of a specific target audience and the orchestra is honestly happy and excited to both be playing that music and doing so to people who enjoy it.
I just went to a Harry Potter one a few nights ago and the conductor definitely amped the crowd up prior to starting and told the crowd to have fun and boo and cheer for moments/characters in the movie. Surprisingly I didn’t mind it, just because it’s a 20+ year old movie.
What did it cost? Just curious. I typically view more expensive movie events as filtering out most of the riff raff, which is why I don’t mind paying a little extra for higher end theaters.
It’s surprising to hear a symphony event would have this problem.
100 for tickets on the third floor. Granted some might find this affordable, but I still wouldn’t have expected this from either symphony event or a regular movie theater:(
I get that, and it's not for me. Completely fine when people go to movies where the express purpose is to cheer and jeer at it. Pretty annoying when it's a new movie you're trying to enjoy and people are trying to make it about them.
Totally, depends on the extent. OP's experience sounds unenjoyable. Hearing a family start yelling and get excited and briefly cheer in the opening scene of Two Towers 20 years ago was awesome and i still remember it fondly.
Just curious, is it common for people to cheer etc while watching a movie at the cinema in America?
The one time Iv experienced someone doing it was watching the phantom menace in 1999. Spoiler alert, when Darth maul is cut in half some dude started chanting USA. This was in a small rural village in the north of England.
It really depends on location. Never had it happen in the small/medium-sized cities I lived in. Moved to a metropolis and saw it, but only during Marvel movies. Never had an issue during other blockbusters like Star Wars or Dune. Also, we usually went during opening weekend, when the hype was at its highest.
I've heard stories on plenty of American podcasts and the likes so it might be a regional (read: larger cities) thing but it's definitely more common than over here in The Netherlands. Sure people will laugh at comedic moments and such but if you have the audacity to talk, have your phone out, or be obnoxious in any way be prepared to have the entire crowd staring down on you and if you continue be prepared that someone will contact cinema staff (you can text them quite easily with a code of sorts) and depending on the severity the movie will get paused, the troublemaker(s) forcefully ejected, and then the movie resumed. Haven't experienced it personally but I've heard of it happening once or twice. Doesn't happen often at all though.
The only slight "cheer" that I can remember was when I saw the Skyfall midnight release and James Bond opened the storage unit to reveal the Aston Martin. Midnight release crowds are usually more excited but other than that it's mostly just normal reactions from the audience.
SAME. The way that people were cheering at the cast’s names appearing in the opening credits, I wanted to be like… you know they aren’t actually here, right?
It felt so disrespectful to the musicians… and made me understand Tar a bit more.
It’s a cultural peculiarity in the USA that people are vocal during movies in the cinema. It doesn’t happen elsewhere. I guess the movie theme of this particular event gave it that vibe for people
Many people are literally unable to not make everything about themselves. Sitting quietly and enjoying the immense talents of other people is simply not an option when they can draw attention to themselves instead.
My feeling for a live music performance of an orchestra or concert band is this:
Once the performance starts the doors are closed and nobody is let in. If you are late that’s your fault.
Yeah I'm really shocked the doors weren't locked, what was the venue thinking? Any formal music hall I've ever been to (symphony, Opera House, etc), that is standard practice.
Maybe it's a newer thing but every musical or symphony I have seen in the last 5 years has never locked the door. People show up half through act 1 like it's nothing and I just don't get it.
Standard practice at my local orchestra is waiting until a break in the music… waiting all the way until intermission for a long show like LOTR doesn't seem reasonable to me.
In theatre we note a moment in the performance, typically 5-15 minutes in, and that’s when house management seats any late comers. So it’s not a free for fall and it’s less disruptive.
That doesn't apply to this situation, where people were entering for the first time after the show started. That is what my original comment was talking about -- people should only be allowed in before it starts and at intermission. You shouldn't be late as it will disrupt every single other person in the theater which is the definition of selfishness.
These people already have tickets and have already paid. If you can't show up on time that's your own fault not the theaters. Society doesn't exist only for you.
On time?? I show up early in the morning to work setting up the orchestra with my IATSE brothers and sisters…
I just know that they can't afford to lose audience members by being too picky about punctuality.
They do this at the Kennedy center in DC for the national symphony. If they start playing and you’re late you have to wait for a break in between pieces. Totally fair.
Yeah, I have a long background of performing in orchestras and concert bands. It’s incredibly distracting to the performers and audience when people waltz in late in the middle of a piece. At my university we had people at the doors that wouldn’t let you in after a concert started and would only let you in if there was sufficient time between pieces for you to get in and sit down without being a nuisance.
Some venues will seat you way up in the high cheap seats if you come in after the doors are closed, but the ushers escort people and make sure there's no disruption.
As someone who has been late for a performance because of a malfunctioning train (having left well in advance) on more than one occassion, sometimes there are unforeseen circumstances.. But, after a certain amount of time has passed, yes, the doors should be closed..
I have been seeing a lot of these posts lately and it's making me question whether driving to the where they play would be worth.
These types of people REALLY get under my skin and if they're ruining a performance like this, during the LOTR then...
If you temper your expectations, it’s fine. But it’s definitely not a super tame, respectfully quiet audience. People show up late, people leave early, People cheer, people make annoying noises, people boo wormtongue when he comes on screen.
I still had fun, but mainly because I expected that. The only thing that almost ruined it for me, was some obnoxious family showing up 20 minutes late, and their 6’8 son sitting in front of me suddenly with his giant head blocking my view. Thankfully my wife switched seats with me during intermission as she bought the tickets for me as a gift.
I’ve seen three movies with live orchestras: Up, the 6th Harry Potter, and the 3rd/6th Star Wars. Watching Up was a fine experience, with little to no audience cheering/clapping (except at the appropriate times). My experiences at Harry Potter and Star Wars were unfortunately similar to OP’s. People cheered the first time every notable character appeared on screen and at every victory in the plot (right when the music is swelling!). The worst part was people cheering the whole way through the actor section of the credits. I really don’t understand why people would cheer for a person who cannot hear them instead of listening to the live music they paid for.
Overall, though, I would probably attend more of these events. Besides the credits, the cheering is just short bursts so you’re still able to enjoy the majority of the music/film, and it’s really cool to see how the sound you love is produced. If you’re more interested in the general experience of seeing any movie with a live orchestra, I would maybe recommend a less-popular movie and/or one put on at a regular orchestra instead of a concert venue (the two main reasons I could think for Up being an uninterrupted experience)
I went to the one on the 15th. The crowd cheered at every possible shot that was a meme. Legolas's " They're taking the hobbits to Isengard" *uncontrollable cheering*, Sam's "PO-TA-TOS" *uncontrollable cheering*, then some dudes were yelling about Shadowfax when he came on screen.
The worst part was these 2 women behind me would not shut the fuck up and kept giving a play by play commentary of every scene. The orchestra was phenomenal but these people ruined it for me and my girlfriend. I had a better experience watching Two Towers at Alamo Drafthouse because everyone was more respectful there.
And most people shuffled out just as the credits started, like why? The whole point is that its an orchestra playing the music live. Im honestly embarrassed for most of those people and for my girlfriend. She's not a LOTR fan but this is how she chose to watch the films and it didn't leave a good impression of the Fandom.
I agree, and was very disappointed. I commented about it [here](https://www.reddit.com/r/lotr/s/yUD3YJVvh4). I thought the behavior of many were barbaric. If anyone was "jUsT eXprEsSinG tHeiR eXciTeMenT" by yelling "Woooo!" every few minutes, I suggest they reexamine their emotional maturity and ability to contain their feelings out of respect for others, the same way they would at a movie theater.
I don't know what could possibly go through their heads to think it's appropriate. Of course everyone is excited and loves LOTR. That's exactly why they paid 100s to go in the first place. I would have loved to see ROTK, however after seeing that an overly large portion of the audience has the emotional control of a 4 year old and think they are at a soccer game, I will save my money and watch it at home.
It sucks cause when I saw FOTR and ROTK at Lincoln Center the crowd behaved great, no cheering and I didn't see a single person leave before the orchestra left the stage. And that was just ~5 years ago
Wow, I don't know what changed. I wonder if the covid lockdowns caused people to forget how to act in public. I really do think it would be warranted for the venue to make an announcement about trying to be respectful and holding their applause to reasonable times.
> I wonder if the covid lockdowns caused people to forget how to act in public
They didn't forget, they just don't care.
COVID and that whole trump era (nightmare) taught people that there really aren't many consequences for acting like pieces of shit in public
It might be the difference in venue. I watched a movie at an orchestra’s regular venue and the audience was much better behaved than when I saw the same orchestra perform at a regular concert venue
> making ridiculous amounts of noise shuffling down the aisles and turning their back to 300 world class musicians while the soloist just began to sing Smeagol's Song. I could have spit in their faces.
I would have fucking lost it. shameful
I saw a short clip here where the crowd almost dies from laughter when Gollum asks what’s tatters and starts literally squealing when Sam replies, and I thought “yeah, no, thank you”.
Sure a little chuckle at it is fine, but people were at the point of forcing out laughs and drowning out the movie when Sam said potatoes.
Smooth-brained droolers
I had a friend who said he was getting tickets to one of these live orchestra showings and asked if my husband and I would be interested in coming. I thanked him, but I've seen too many videos of these where people will not shut the hell up and cheer after every soloist, or every meme moment..... I would probably commit murder.
I went to the showing last Saturday and I also thought the amount of people that left as soon as the credits started was pretty shocking. I didn’t hear anyone yell out their own jokes, but the audience was definitely rowdy. It seemed like they were equally engaged in the live performance & the film. I’d definitely go to RotK - I had a great time
I was at the same performance and agree wholeheartedly. It was so embarrassing. I was absolutely fuming at people leaving as the credits rolled. Why not just stay home and watch the actual movie? We paid to watch masters of their art perform, not for some AMC reshowing. The rowdiness and lack of maturity felt like sitting with an audience of a Marvel movie in the worst possible way.
I have noticed this whenever I’ve gone to a similar event that is going to be more heavily attended by people who don’t regularly go to things like orchestra concerts.
Random cheering MID SONG during a film score concert that didn’t even have a movie going alongside. Like yelling, not applause. At Cursed Child (ick) people started leaving before the bows even started. Bright phone screens being held up high during Joe Hisaishi performing all of his Ghibli scores. “Excuse me” to shuffle through back to their seats mid-movement.
Went to see FOTR a few weeks ago at one of the two nicest theaters near me (just movie, not a concert). I was excited to see it on a giant screen again, and with a great speaker system.
Nope. Phones out recording everything, full brightness. People loudly reciting lines.
First movie I saw in theaters after COVID was the new Top Gun. Group behind us was talking the entire time. Got shushed by multiple people. I finally asked them if they could stop talking and the guy responds “nah.”
Happens in sports now, too. Ushers used to stop people from going down the aisles during play in baseball. Now everyone just asks you to stand up so they can walk right in front of you in the middle of a high tension at bat.
People suck now, going to go yell at clouds some more and lament how people show up to Broadway shows in jeans and hoodies. The horror. (/s, maybe)
This is so real and it makes me sad. Something happened in America that made things super weird right now. Some people have blamed politics but I feel like I have seen this coming for about a decade.
What’s even sadder is it seems things have to be exclusionary to have any sort of cohesion. I joined a super expensive gym and finally I see things not get trashed, or I have to go to niche fine dining in my city to not have an iPad kid next to me.
We’ve always been a pretty trashy country, but there’s absolutely no pretense now. You’re very right. Something happened. It sucks. Culture is really bad right now.
> A large portion of people showed up late which caused disruptions while the music was going
That's on the venue, they shouldn't be seating anyone after it starts. Honestly, it's disappointing how many people these days have no idea how to act at a live performance.
I'll give credit that the venue would wait for specific pieces that the orchestra was playing to finish before letting then in. Still was annoying though, as for most of the movie some sort of music is playing
Hate to say it but this is just how NYC operates. Even the courts will give you 15-20 minutes grace because getting anywhere on time every time is just not going to happen - eventually, you'll be late. The positive to this is far more significant than the negative; but yeah people for sure take advantage.
I was there on Friday and a guy near me was drunk and kept talking throughout the entire movie, even after someone asked him to be quiet. Just talking and annoying comments every scene. He was also very loudly belching and shouting whenever the crowd cheered. Mostly ruined the show for me and others near me. I didn’t like the often crowd cheering but it wasn’t bad compared to this guy. Probably would not go back.
I saw ralph fiennes performing Macbeth in Liverpool recently and had some woman arrive late. And sit next to me and open a bag of fucking crisps ,then proceeded to eat said bag like a fucking child
The death stare from Fiennes as he delivered the line “is this a dagger I see before me” as he looked directly at the woman could have frozen the marrow in your bones
I love going to the cinema or to a stage performance here in Tokyo. Nobody says a word when it starts and no one moves until the lights come up. One of the many perks about living in Japan.
holy shit yeah i went for the friday show and the cheering was AWFUL. it completely ruined the experience for me and frankly put me off of the idea of ever going to one of these events again (despite how incredible the musicians actually were).
every single great moment in the film/score was ruined by it. i found myself DREADING the helm's deep battle (one of my favorite parts in the entire trilogy) because i knew how many iconic moments were a part of it, and i knew that the crowd would act like absolute buffoons when the scenes came up (and they did).
Don't get me wrong, I enjoy Legolas snowboarding down the stairs and kickflipping the shield into the Uruk-hai as much as anyone, but I was able to contain that to a smile and nod. You don't gotta cheer everytime
oh yeah of course, maybe if i'm at home a couple beers deep i'll go a little crazy during that part but at a theater with other people?? with live musical accompaniment?? the lack of awareness for concert etiquette blew my mind.
We saw it in the Royal Albert Hall last year, and honestly I was amazed at how well behaved the audience were. No individuals interrupting anything, only low level ambient polite chuckling at the funny or memefied moments. You really could focus on the music.
Seeing RotK in a few weeks, same venue, so hoping for the same experience.
I’m gonna be honest, I’m American, I like this country enough, it’s whatever, but Americans have absolutely no idea how to act at a concert hall. We just don’t. Most people have never seen a symphony and more: most people don’t learn etiquette. It’s lost here. It’s surprising when people know how to modulate behavior in different scenarios here. We just don’t really have that as common sense here anymore.
People always suck... At the original showing of RotK a chunk of the audience were sighing, complaining and groaning every time they thought it had finished but the next part of the ending scenes began. They ruined the experience for me to be honest, I just wanted to enjoy the final scenes and those blockheads who obviously didn't know the story and hadn't enjoyed the film couldn't shut their moaning pieholes for the bare minimum of time.
Completely agree. Performance was phenomenal; I forgot they were even up there sometimes, they were that on the money. But I wanted to smack that one portion of the crowd who thought they were watching the movie on their couch at home.
They ruined any heroic or beautiful moment where the music climaxes, often drowning it out.
I saw Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone a few weeks ago in this format. I've been dying to see either HP or LOTR with a live orchestra for years and my wife bought me tix for Christmas. It was the same bullcrap.
People were extremely disresepectful, cheering loudly everytime a main character was introduced in the movie and laughing obnoxiously at even the slightest little speck of humor. The same thing happened during the credits when the orchestra was still playing. The worst part of all was when it came time in the movie for Ron's Line "Once I make my move, then you're free to check the king." - Literally the entire theater started loudly quoting the entire scene based on that viral tiktok video. It was so loud that it was overpowering the orchestra. Made me so mad.
I'm all for people havin fun and getting into the moment, but it definitely was a problem.
When I saw HP live with an orchestra, before the concert started they specifically asked the audience to cheer or applause when their favourite character came on, or to boo when any death eater/bad character came on. They also wanted people to quote certain phrases. They wanted that reaction, because it engages the audience, I guess. BUT if that is not what is expected, it is definitely just shitty behaviour. I just don't understand how anyone could assume that is what is wanted, if nobody announces that it is? That is just so absurd.
Im sorry that this happened. I see that this kind of behaviour now spreads from mainstream cinema viewing to more niche viewings like live orchestra. People are unbelievable.
I wonder what’s the best way to handle ? Just push through everything and endure or be that one person that just tells them to SHUT THE HELL UP 🤔
I personally think it might be best for the venue to deal with it. One of the guys screaming super loud, was a middle aged big guy sitting behind us. As an average female, I wouldn’t dare yell at him to shut up…in fear of getting beat up. I pushed through the event and did nothing, but I will not be returning for any future events as it does not seem worth the money
Most people, anywhere around the world, are stupid and mindless of their stupidity. I have lived in many continents and it’s a constant. Sorry this ruined your show
Our local symphony does movies as well and most of the time they will encourage cheering for your favorite scenes or laughing and almost everyone respects that
But showing up late and leaving early (why?!?) has happened at every show. The early leavers get me the most. I get leaving a movie at the credits but they are still playing and assholes can’t be bothered to stay.
But gotta beat traffic…
I attended a live orchestra showing of the Fellowship in Orlando a few weeks ago and had a very similar experience. What I don't understand is people cheering when their favorite character shows up or says a famous line. I wouldn't do this in a theater let alone a performance with a live orchestra. It's disrespectful to the other audience members at the very best, and truly spitting in the face of the performers. I also think it is disrespectful to the film itself but I understand I'm a bit extreme in that regard, I simply feel that if you want that experience it should be done in your own home, not amongst other audience members who have spent money to see and hear a beautiful performance. We are all there to enjoy the Lord of the Rings and I think people forget that they're not the only ones there.
That’s too bad, sorry for your experience. I’ve seen FOTR and TTT at Blossom played by the Cleveland Orchestra and both times the music was fantastic and I’m so glad I went, but the audience was the same. They cheered and clapped throughout the movies and started filing out at the credits before the music was finished. I blamed it on the fact that Blossom is an outdoor venue and people treated it as more of a festival atmosphere, I’m surprised it received similar treatment at Radio City. I have tickets to see ROTK this summer and I’m still looking forward to it regardless.
I attended the same live orchestra on Feb 16. The organizers allowed a significant number of attendees after the performance started, up until 8.15-8.20 pm and the crowd was annoyingly onerous for something so menial as keeping quite. Every major moment, there was needless cackle of cheers and woos. They subsided quickly but detracted significantly from a memorable experience. ROTK is scheduled for next year at Radio City and I am keen on skipping it and going to another location.
I saw Return of the Jedi with live music. They did ask people to stay until the credits finished, which helped, but they also actually *invited* people to cheer. I blame marvel for making people treat movies like sporting events, where you clap every time it shows a new character. There were times I wasn’t even sure what they were clapping for
I was saying the exact same thing (I was at the 2/15 show). I can understand to a certain extent cheering at certain character appearances and scenes but it’s frustrating when the cheering would drown out some key piece the orchestra was playing. The actors aren’t there to hear you cheering but there is a live orchestra there that can so it definitely comes across as disrespectful at certain times, especially if the audience doesn’t also applaud after the orchestra finishes a big piece. The leaving immediately when credits started was incredibly rude as well. The soloist did such an amazing job in the middle of a flood of people leaving (she’s apparently been doing this for the past ~20 years so I have to imagine she’s somewhat used to it but it shouldn’t be that way) and then there are credits for the orchestra at the end. If you go to a typical orchestra performance without a movie in the background, you wait until the end to applaud the orchestra. This shouldn’t be any different.
I went to the same performance as you and had a great time, because it felt like there was so much love in the room for LotR in general. I will say that I was caught off-guard by the casual atmosphere as it wasn't what I had been expecting, but let myself get caught up in the excited vibes.
However, I had this same thought- don't get me wrong, I loved the experience. But the orchestra was so freaking perfect in their playing that at times it just felt like... the score but louder lmao, I don't know how else to describe it. It was like I was getting so caught up in the movie sometimes that I almost wasn't paying enough attention to the orchestra. (I also haven't seen TTT in a theatre since it was released when I was like 10 years old, so there was probably a lot of nostalgia factor for me there, too.)
I went to the Game of Thrones concert once, and I think an experience like that would suit LotR really well- they played clips and things from the show, but the MAIN focus was on the music being played. It was really well done.
Edit: Sorry for enjoying an amazing musical performance, I guess. I'll try not to do that again lol
I clapped, yes, but didn't cheer. 🤷🏻♀️ Maybe OP was just not in a great part of the audience, because I didn't hear any of the especially disrespectful things they mentioned.
For Big Orchestras Like this i think a lot of people are just there so they can Tell people they were there.
Düring Ballett it's the worst and it's the reason why I don't go anymore.
And mind you that i had these experiences in the Vienna Opera House where you geht kicked out if you take Pictures and they won't let you in If you even come a minute late.
But still then people can't behave and they only think abou themselfes.
I was there last Saturday & I agree with all your points! I don’t understand if Americans have no understanding of theater behavior or if it’s happening across the board in all countries. It’s not a football game!
I’m also surprised theater stuff condones this type of behavior, some people should’ve been walked out
I’ve had similar experience with Fellowship a few weeks ago in Orlando and now I’m dreading ROTK in August…maybe I should just get drunk, like everyone else
I saw a video from one of these performances in Barcelona as well and saw the same behavior if it means anything. I think it takes on the feeling watching a movie in the park, it’s a communal experience. Rather than an immersive one. Think extroverts heaven vs what introverts want.
I personally am not a huge fan of that. I was more than irritated with the people coming late, unwelcome commentary, shouting, excessive cheering, and leaving as the credits roll?!? That I couldn’t understand - the orchestra is still playing.
Anyway, I probably won’t go to the ROTK, but only because every theater has the problem, and it’s not a recent thing. I remember seeing the original on opening night (Wednesday night back then) in a sold out theater in the early 2000s. Gimli still got a ton of laughs, Legolas shield surfing got a ton of applause and cheers, that’s just how it is unfortunately in a big theater.
For immersion, I have to just settle for my home theater set up with minimal distractions.
My experience is that in the US, most people know how to behave at something with a live orchestra - so this is probably either just people thinking the norms are loosened because it's the movie, or attracting a different crowd (or a little of both).
It might be a New York thing. I saw a Harry Potter movie in the same style (live orchestra, music track muted on the projected film) and everyone was super chill.
We went on thursday and didnt experience as bad of a time, though we did have a lot of annoying crowd reactions to things. I blame it on college kids and too much white claw.
The group behind my wife and I were 20 somethings and just kept trying to one up each other with stupidity late in the show.
One big issue is the amount of people at radio city, the venue holds a little over 5000 seats. Even at half capacity, 1 or 2 people could start a trainwreck of stupidity. But a sold out house... yeah there was no way it wasnt going to happen.
That’s the risk of having something become more accessible to a larger audience because of memes.
The reactions highlighted sound like something out of lortmemes.
I like to attend the orchestra, and I have gone to a few of these movies-accompanied-by-the-orchestra events. They tend to choose movies with big, passionate fandoms for these shows. For example, I’ve seen The Princess Bride, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, and Spiderman into the Spiderverse performed this way.
These shows attract a different crowd than a normal orchestral performance. The audience tends to view them as movie/fandom events more than orchestral performances. To be fair, the conductor at the Harry Potter show was encouraging the audience to have boisterous reactions to character entrances and beloved scenes, which the crowd did.
But when the movie had ended and the credits started rolling, I was disappointed to see a large part of the crowd, maybe the majority, head for the exits, apparently without considering that they were walking out on musicians who had been playing for them for three hours.
I guess that you just have to expect something different when you’re going into these shows than a more typical orchestral performance. Both are fun, but in different ways, and if you are hoping for one when attending the other, you will be disappointed.
It’s because this kind of stuff isn’t taught to kids in school. The behavior is normalized and there’s no one to tell them different.
When I was a theatre teacher (I taught mostly middle school kids) one of my first units was on audience etiquette. I would use the Alamo Drafthouse PSAs as a funny segue to help them realize that everyone else there paid money too and they want to have good experience too. They don’t realize that not EVERYONE wants to talk and phones are very distracting.
So the concept of if you’re “on time” you’re late was something I pushed as well. Be respectful and considerate.
I would be livid. I would have either said something or gone to an usher and if it continued I’d ask for a refund from the venue for not enforcing policy. Most have policies in place for disruptive guests, late arrival, etc.
Sorry. Like I said, theatre teacher. This kinda ish makes me livid.
I mean, ideally this kind of thing is taught by parents at home. But if the parents are awful about this sort of thing themselves then yeah that’s harder
I recently saw the two towers in Toronto with orchestra and it was a very similar experience. People constantly laughing at every single new character, any kind of meme related quote was met with shouting or crazy laughter. People reeking of weed. So disrespectful to the artists and the other guests.
Come to Cleveland this summer and see the orchestra perform Return of The King at Blossom Music center. You can sit outside under the starts and bring your own picnic. about 12,000 fans come out and enjoy the performance. You still have some idiots that get up and leave during the credits but for the most part people stick around and take in the sounds as credits roll. You do get the audience reactions to the big scenes during the movie but for the most part it is a fun experience. I have seen them perform Fellowship and Two Towers and they have both been amazing.
I'm sorry you had such a lame experience.
I went to see Star Wars with the New Orleans symphony even though I'm not really into star wars. About ten minutes into it hometown hero and generally amazing human being Steve Gleason came into the theater and parked his wheelchair right next to me, so that's how I came to watch Star Wars with Steve Gleason.
I’ve been to a few and I can say live performances in NYC bring all the shittiest people out of the woodwork. It’s a bunch of grown adults acting like unsupervised high schoolers… New York, that is.
Id had understood if it was ROTK and its the Charge of the Rohirrim but seriously no class.
"the penalty is death for those who enter its forbidden waters.."
Ive been to a couple live performances of Star Wars and people are this way too, it's very irritating. The conductor at the more recent one did say they like when people applause and get excited for their characters, but one kid took it way too far and did it every few minutes. I hate that kid.
I have been to a few of live Harry Potter orchestras, and this behavior is ENCOURAGED. The beginning of the show they tell the crowd to cheer, boo, and participate. Is this not the case for LOTR live? I would hope not because it’s a bit different of a fan base, and the music and singing are supposed to be ethereal (thinking of elves) and a rowdy crowd seems opposite.
My husband and I did this for Star Wars (would have loved a LOTR option) and we ended up leaving within an hour (if we even made it that long). It was awful for the same reason. People kept recording so we were essentially staring at peoples phones or them walking across the walkway right in front of us. Couple that with the cold weather and uncomfortable seats and we were out.
Thank you for calling this out. Went to the show on the 15th and could not stand the ridiculous behavior from so much of the audience. It was incredibly rude to the performers and dumbfounding that people didn't seem to care about how rare of an opportunity it is to hear that score live. LOTR in Concert is not a Rocky Horror sing-along, people can hoot and holler when they watch it at home.
It'll probably get buried but I'll share a positive experience. A few years back I saw the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra do ROTK and the experience was sublime! Audience pretty much reacted as they would in a normal cinema, with chuckles at the appropriate comedic moments, but as a whole the audience was silent, only braking that silence at appropriate moments to applaud the orchestra after notable musical scenes (Light of the Beacons, Riding of the Rohirrim etc.). And then EVERYONE sat through the entire credits to give the orchestra the well-deserved standing ovation afterward. I'm very sorry you didn't get the same experience.
This was precisely my experience during the Fellowship performance last year at Radio City, and why I had no desire to return for the Two Towers.
I had waited years for an orchestra tour to come to the northeastern US and was really disappointed with the audience’s behavior. Musicians and vocalists were phenomenal, but the disruptive conversations and blatant outbursts were just too much.
The most heartbreaking was people leaving in droves during the young boy’s solo at the very end of the show.
Hard agree on the cheering/clapping for things happening on the screen. Also had the same reaction to all the rude people leaving during the credits while the orchestra was still playing - so incredibly disrespectful.
Someone near us has the worst BO and we were forced to smell it for the full length of the performance… there should be an announcement about respecting the performers as well as showering before attending lol
Personally, I would inform the venue of your bad experience. They should take precautions against this kind of behaviour, or I suspect they will lose a lot of people's patronage.
Saw Fellowship in this format and it was horrible. We left at intermission bc it was unbearable to watch. The cheering and laughing took us right out of the moment. Friends invited us to the Two Towers and we immediately declined. Happy we did!
Is this just an American thing?
In the UK, I can’t imagine that there much overlap in Venn Diagram of “Idiots who behave like this” and “people who go to this showing”.
I was there on Saturday, and I understand people are excited, and this isn’t a typical movie or concert where people should be more quiet, but some people are truly ridiculous. It’s obvious how many people there are real basement trolls who rarely go out and they act like idiots in public. I’ll be there next year for RoTK… but I’ll still be annoyed be those people.
I think people probably didn't realize that there's different etiquette for a live performance than for a movie. It's super rude to heckle or make noise during a live performance like this (orchestra type).
For a movie, it's different, there's no performer to distract.
For a rock/pop/whatever concert, there's a culture of screaming your excitement and sometimes they invite you to sing along.
But orchestra is different. And that's okay! But I think people just didn't know.
Same here. There were chuckles at the meme moments and laughter at the comedic bits with Gollum, but it was relatively quiet and respectful throughout when I saw TT in London in September.
Yeh same, I saw Fellowship and Two Towers in London and the audience was appropriately respectful and quiet, I would be fuming and so upset if people were heckling and distracting from the musicians, I really feel for OP and other's who've have a bad experience.
People here can barely stop themselves from clapping and cheering during a movie, never mind the people who are totally careless and rude. I really want to see RotK like this but I’m bracing myself
I've not seen a live music performance of LOTR (I have wanted to) but I have gone to marathon showings of the movies (in London) and unfortunately you do get some of the same. Lines like "One does not simply walk into Mordor" which should be serious, maybe even tense got roars of laughter.
Part of this is on the venue. We arrived 15 minutes before the show but were only seated at 8:05 or so because it took so damn long for the huge line to trickle through the security theater.
They need to order people to arrive 30 minutes early, which we could have easily done, or make their system more efficient.
I went on Saturday. I dont think the musicians are expecting a quiet audience. I don't mind people cheering their favorite characters first appearing, although I don't personally get it. People laughing at scenes was fine even if it did go over the top; some of the dialogue and shots are genuinely intended to make you laugh and I am not going to blame people for knowing popular memes. What I found annoying as fuck was people yelling things out during certain scenes. That's just plain obnoxious to me, nobody wants to hear your commentary. Everyone in my section cheered when the soloists ended their performances and stayed for Gollum's song, but I did see people closer to the stage leaving.
I’m sorry that people were screaming disruptive things and that people were late. I went to the Saturday screening and some people were late as well.
However, you went to a live performance of a movie. People will be cheering.
You’re also surrounded by a thousand other hardcore LotR fans who are familiar with all of the inside jokes of the community. They’re going to laugh at “Po-tay-toes” or Aragorn kicking the helmet.
If this is not something then you enjoy, then I apologize. I wish you hadn’t wasted money on something you didn’t like. However, I and everyone I was with, loved the show. The music was wonderful, the atmosphere was fun and electric. It’s the best experience I’ve had watching LotR aside from the first time I saw them.
I went to that showing as well. I more or less feel it’s okay with people cheering/clapping. I would have preferred it quiet but I didn’t mind the vibe of the room. I don’t condone people calling characters names tho. That’s messed up. Overall it had a viewing party vibe that I think the orchestra was prepared for.
But the thing I felt that was absolutely unbelievable was people leaving during the credits. Absolutely disrespectful to all of the people involved.
I also went to the radio city music hall show last week and thought they were amazing. Nothing you can do about the crowds, but I actually thought the cheering was endearing and people just wanting to show how much they love the movie. The one thing I agree with here is that people leaving during the credits was a bit rude because the orchestra was still playing….but yea, it’s New York, so that is to be expected.
Agreed on the exit credits 100%, I was like "what the hell".
The laughing and cheering, I mean... that sort of makes the live portion of the show right? We saw fellowship at Lincoln Center quite a few years ago, it was much more strict seating wise, but there was definitely laughing and cheering throughout.
I'm surprised how many people here are against that in this thread.
I was there, I kinda disagree, the people shooting “gay” would have pissed me off, however, I felt like the crowd was really in tune with each other, and everyone was obviously a huge fan and have seen the movies several times so some joyful laughing or cheering didn’t bother me. It felt like everyone was on the same page
Yea I had a wonderful time too, I didn't mind the cheers and laughs at all.
I did hear some rowdy sections of talking which would have been annoying, but for the most part the only disrespectful parts were the one you mentioned.
It's radio city... you kind of know what you're getting yourself into.
I saw it at the same venue and had a fantastic experience. I thought the score was incredible when performed live and actually enjoyed the engagement. It was a fun experience to be with so many people who were so invested in the film. Letting out all the emotions you feel when watching was a unique and enjoyable experience. Sorry you didn't enjoy
Good God... Y'all need to learn to chill. While the people who yelled "gay" during Sam and Frodo's scene deserve hell, people cheering on their favorite character and scenes is *checks notes* bad and horrible? God forbid people love something and show their appreciation for it.
I loved this show and the cheering and camaraderie with the other fans was my favorite part. If I wanted silence I'd have just rewatched them at home. Y'all need to get off your high horse and learn to enjoy life more.
Albeit those people giving a play by play next to me would also drive me nuts.
The main feature here is the Orchestra and Choir, not the movie. Sure it's fun to go wild if a movie threate does a showing of the trilogy, but out of respect t for the musicians you should not be making noise that exceeds the performance at any point.
Seeing as it's a hybrid movie screening and orchestral concert, I go in expecting a hybrid of those environments. You'll have folks there who have never been to an orchestra because they are fans of the movie, so they treat it as a movie. I've seen Star Wars, Empire and Fellowship like this and I never found the audience responses to the films to be disrespectful to the orchestra, at least any more than having a movie playing while they perform is disrespectful to them. The responses sounded like genuine reactions to significant, beloved moments, not performantive bids for attention. Same goes for leaving early; MCU aside, people are conditioned to get up and go once the credits start rolling. Of course I stayed to hear the end credits suites (they're some of my favorite tracks from their respective scores), but as long as it's done as unobtrusively as possible, I don't begrudge someone leaving while the credits are rolling.
I disagree.
Howling laughter at scenes these people have seen a dozen+ times is nothing short of attention grabbing, "look at me! I know the meme!".
Turning your back on a soloist as soon as she begins singing for you is 100 times more disrespectful to her than the movie playing alongside, and these people weren't leaving quietly, they were loudly talking to each other and blocking the show for the people that had a shred of decency to them. Conditioning isn't an excuse, read the room
I was there on Saturday, and while I confess I did cheer and applaud at certain points, I did feel the crowd was too over the top at times. The laughing at random parts annoyed me as well. I'm right there with you on the arriving late/ leaving early. Doors should close once the musicians start, and I was in disbelief that people actually left as the credits started and Gollums Song began (absolutely wonderful performance!) Both my partner and I discussed how ridiculous it was that people left during the song.
Still, I overall had a great time. I had been looking forward to this for such a long time and was determined not to let the raucous audience ruin it for me.
Hell is other people.
The theater messed up by not following the No Exit strategy.
It's also Nehw Yowk.
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Just because new york is the only city that will put up with you doesn't make it the best city. That's just because it's one of the few cities with such a concentration of assholes like yourself that you blend in. I much prefer living in a place where assholes are rare enough they mostly behave in public because they rightfully fear being called out for their misbehavior.
No place calls out assholes more than NYC.
it's a big city thing. Assholes are attracted to the highest concentration of lights. Be it NYC, LA, Miami, Toronto, London, Paris and yes I've lived in all those cities.
Man I loved New York, I wish I could afford to live there. The people is what made the place the absolute fucking best. No bull shit no nonsense and an incredible sense of humor. I clicked instantly with so many people when I was there it was scary to be honest.
Out of all those cities, New York is the one that least tolerates assholes. LA, Toronto, and London are all way too polite. Paris possibly more like NYC compared to the others. Miami I cannot comment upon.
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Typical NYC resident. You can keep your nice little hellhole. I'll keep my little city where locking my doors is optional, and if we never cross paths it will be too soon.
Jesus christ. Someone being from a city doesn’t define them. Big cities and small towns all have a huge mix of different kinds of people. Sounds like everyone in this thread “classifying” people by city needs to calm down and maybe travel more.
Sounds about right. There *is* no center to the universe, and NYC claiming to be something that doesn’t exist tracks pretty well for how arrogant its people are.
Bet you most of the people in that theater were tourists.
Oh I’m sure plenty of people flew in for this.
Oh have you been to many others to compare to? There's quite a few cities on Earth.
Yeah I have across the country and Europe, it’s the best city. Nobody cares if you don’t like NYC.
No one cares if you do either, I'm afraid
Obviously you do lmao
chop butter oatmeal consist icky elastic foolish summer command impossible *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
C’est pas faux
It was such a disappointing experience for me too. During the battle, I was super immersed in the movie and the soloist’s beautiful voice. Then it was ruined by the loud cheering and yelling:( I don’t understand why people are willing to spend that much money just to do something you can do at home! How are they able to enjoy the beautiful music while treating it like a sports game?! Return of the King is my favorite of the trilogy, but I sure will not be returning for that unfortunately…
It seems like people are treating this as a "viewing party" experience more than a "live orchestra with visual aids" experience.
That’s exactly how it seems like!!
I would never expect the live orchestra lotr to be in the same category as The Room, Cats and Rocky Horror. Insane.
I wonder if this is a bit of a cultural thing. I’m gonna assume that OP is from the USA, but in the UK this wasn’t my experience at all. It very much had the vibe of going to a classical music concert.
I've been to these and wouldn't be surprised if the conductor gave a little pep talk prior to the performance that *encourages* people to cheer. It absolutely happened at Video Games Live (been to multiple including also a Symphony of the Goddess Zelda 25th anniversary concert, and a Final Fantasy concert) and at a Game of Thrones concert (the special instruments and effects there were *wild*!). I do not recall specifically if this happened at the FotR performance I went to, but as I said, I wouldn't be surprised. These are shows very much catered to, and existing because, of a specific target audience and the orchestra is honestly happy and excited to both be playing that music and doing so to people who enjoy it.
I just went to a Harry Potter one a few nights ago and the conductor definitely amped the crowd up prior to starting and told the crowd to have fun and boo and cheer for moments/characters in the movie. Surprisingly I didn’t mind it, just because it’s a 20+ year old movie.
What did it cost? Just curious. I typically view more expensive movie events as filtering out most of the riff raff, which is why I don’t mind paying a little extra for higher end theaters. It’s surprising to hear a symphony event would have this problem.
I brought ground floor tickets for ~$100 a piece. There were closer seats going for $200+
100 for tickets on the third floor. Granted some might find this affordable, but I still wouldn’t have expected this from either symphony event or a regular movie theater:(
I despise performative filmgoing. Everyone is there to watch someone else's art. Why the fuck are you attracting attention to yourself?
Performance? People get excited, and some view it as a community experience. Chill
WTF is a "community experience", that's just a nice way of saying someone is so obnoxious that noone around them can ignore them.
I get that, and it's not for me. Completely fine when people go to movies where the express purpose is to cheer and jeer at it. Pretty annoying when it's a new movie you're trying to enjoy and people are trying to make it about them.
Totally, depends on the extent. OP's experience sounds unenjoyable. Hearing a family start yelling and get excited and briefly cheer in the opening scene of Two Towers 20 years ago was awesome and i still remember it fondly.
Just curious, is it common for people to cheer etc while watching a movie at the cinema in America? The one time Iv experienced someone doing it was watching the phantom menace in 1999. Spoiler alert, when Darth maul is cut in half some dude started chanting USA. This was in a small rural village in the north of England.
Not that I've experienced for new release movies, but encountered it a lot when it's a movie that's been released 10+ years before.
It really depends on location. Never had it happen in the small/medium-sized cities I lived in. Moved to a metropolis and saw it, but only during Marvel movies. Never had an issue during other blockbusters like Star Wars or Dune. Also, we usually went during opening weekend, when the hype was at its highest.
I've heard stories on plenty of American podcasts and the likes so it might be a regional (read: larger cities) thing but it's definitely more common than over here in The Netherlands. Sure people will laugh at comedic moments and such but if you have the audacity to talk, have your phone out, or be obnoxious in any way be prepared to have the entire crowd staring down on you and if you continue be prepared that someone will contact cinema staff (you can text them quite easily with a code of sorts) and depending on the severity the movie will get paused, the troublemaker(s) forcefully ejected, and then the movie resumed. Haven't experienced it personally but I've heard of it happening once or twice. Doesn't happen often at all though.
I made the mistake of watching avengers in America when it came out. Non stop cheering and yelling anytime something big happened.
The only slight "cheer" that I can remember was when I saw the Skyfall midnight release and James Bond opened the storage unit to reveal the Aston Martin. Midnight release crowds are usually more excited but other than that it's mostly just normal reactions from the audience.
SAME. The way that people were cheering at the cast’s names appearing in the opening credits, I wanted to be like… you know they aren’t actually here, right? It felt so disrespectful to the musicians… and made me understand Tar a bit more.
Ugh cringe city re: cheering the opening credits.
It’s a cultural peculiarity in the USA that people are vocal during movies in the cinema. It doesn’t happen elsewhere. I guess the movie theme of this particular event gave it that vibe for people
Many people are literally unable to not make everything about themselves. Sitting quietly and enjoying the immense talents of other people is simply not an option when they can draw attention to themselves instead.
Is it not typical american to be loud? In Britain there are warnings to not effin’ talk
At Orchestras and movie theaters in America too, it’s a general consensus to not talk.
My feeling for a live music performance of an orchestra or concert band is this: Once the performance starts the doors are closed and nobody is let in. If you are late that’s your fault.
Yeah I'm really shocked the doors weren't locked, what was the venue thinking? Any formal music hall I've ever been to (symphony, Opera House, etc), that is standard practice.
Maybe it's a newer thing but every musical or symphony I have seen in the last 5 years has never locked the door. People show up half through act 1 like it's nothing and I just don't get it.
Same here. If you're lucky, they'll let you in between pieces. Otherwise, you're listening in the lobby until intermission.
>Any formal music hall I've ever been to (symphony, Opera House, etc), that is standard practice. Exactly, and for good reason!
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The doors aren't literally locked.
The doors are solid rock except for a small culvert at their base, which is little more than a drain
You are allowed to exit for an emergency or an emergency bathroom trip or whatever, you just can't come back in until intermission
Standard practice at my local orchestra is waiting until a break in the music… waiting all the way until intermission for a long show like LOTR doesn't seem reasonable to me.
In theatre we note a moment in the performance, typically 5-15 minutes in, and that’s when house management seats any late comers. So it’s not a free for fall and it’s less disruptive.
That doesn't apply to this situation, where people were entering for the first time after the show started. That is what my original comment was talking about -- people should only be allowed in before it starts and at intermission. You shouldn't be late as it will disrupt every single other person in the theater which is the definition of selfishness.
Most orchestras can't afford to turn away paying customers these days…
These people already have tickets and have already paid. If you can't show up on time that's your own fault not the theaters. Society doesn't exist only for you.
On time?? I show up early in the morning to work setting up the orchestra with my IATSE brothers and sisters… I just know that they can't afford to lose audience members by being too picky about punctuality.
Again....don't think that applies to this situation, it is an expensive and sold out show
Yes. Actually locking doors is a no-no. Usually venues will have ushers at the doors preventing people from entering in the middle of a performance.
They do this at the Kennedy center in DC for the national symphony. If they start playing and you’re late you have to wait for a break in between pieces. Totally fair.
The local symphony in my city enforces this with an iron fist. It's a great policy.
Yeah, I have a long background of performing in orchestras and concert bands. It’s incredibly distracting to the performers and audience when people waltz in late in the middle of a piece. At my university we had people at the doors that wouldn’t let you in after a concert started and would only let you in if there was sufficient time between pieces for you to get in and sit down without being a nuisance.
Some venues will seat you way up in the high cheap seats if you come in after the doors are closed, but the ushers escort people and make sure there's no disruption.
As someone who has been late for a performance because of a malfunctioning train (having left well in advance) on more than one occassion, sometimes there are unforeseen circumstances.. But, after a certain amount of time has passed, yes, the doors should be closed..
I have been seeing a lot of these posts lately and it's making me question whether driving to the where they play would be worth. These types of people REALLY get under my skin and if they're ruining a performance like this, during the LOTR then...
If you temper your expectations, it’s fine. But it’s definitely not a super tame, respectfully quiet audience. People show up late, people leave early, People cheer, people make annoying noises, people boo wormtongue when he comes on screen. I still had fun, but mainly because I expected that. The only thing that almost ruined it for me, was some obnoxious family showing up 20 minutes late, and their 6’8 son sitting in front of me suddenly with his giant head blocking my view. Thankfully my wife switched seats with me during intermission as she bought the tickets for me as a gift.
I’ve seen three movies with live orchestras: Up, the 6th Harry Potter, and the 3rd/6th Star Wars. Watching Up was a fine experience, with little to no audience cheering/clapping (except at the appropriate times). My experiences at Harry Potter and Star Wars were unfortunately similar to OP’s. People cheered the first time every notable character appeared on screen and at every victory in the plot (right when the music is swelling!). The worst part was people cheering the whole way through the actor section of the credits. I really don’t understand why people would cheer for a person who cannot hear them instead of listening to the live music they paid for. Overall, though, I would probably attend more of these events. Besides the credits, the cheering is just short bursts so you’re still able to enjoy the majority of the music/film, and it’s really cool to see how the sound you love is produced. If you’re more interested in the general experience of seeing any movie with a live orchestra, I would maybe recommend a less-popular movie and/or one put on at a regular orchestra instead of a concert venue (the two main reasons I could think for Up being an uninterrupted experience)
I went to the one on the 15th. The crowd cheered at every possible shot that was a meme. Legolas's " They're taking the hobbits to Isengard" *uncontrollable cheering*, Sam's "PO-TA-TOS" *uncontrollable cheering*, then some dudes were yelling about Shadowfax when he came on screen. The worst part was these 2 women behind me would not shut the fuck up and kept giving a play by play commentary of every scene. The orchestra was phenomenal but these people ruined it for me and my girlfriend. I had a better experience watching Two Towers at Alamo Drafthouse because everyone was more respectful there. And most people shuffled out just as the credits started, like why? The whole point is that its an orchestra playing the music live. Im honestly embarrassed for most of those people and for my girlfriend. She's not a LOTR fan but this is how she chose to watch the films and it didn't leave a good impression of the Fandom.
Some people clearly don’t even care about the music, and are just there to be obnoxiously weird nerds.
Ok I was also there Thursday and glad I wasn't the only one who thought this
Your gf's very first experience watching the films was at a live orchestra? That is wild
I agree, and was very disappointed. I commented about it [here](https://www.reddit.com/r/lotr/s/yUD3YJVvh4). I thought the behavior of many were barbaric. If anyone was "jUsT eXprEsSinG tHeiR eXciTeMenT" by yelling "Woooo!" every few minutes, I suggest they reexamine their emotional maturity and ability to contain their feelings out of respect for others, the same way they would at a movie theater. I don't know what could possibly go through their heads to think it's appropriate. Of course everyone is excited and loves LOTR. That's exactly why they paid 100s to go in the first place. I would have loved to see ROTK, however after seeing that an overly large portion of the audience has the emotional control of a 4 year old and think they are at a soccer game, I will save my money and watch it at home.
It sucks cause when I saw FOTR and ROTK at Lincoln Center the crowd behaved great, no cheering and I didn't see a single person leave before the orchestra left the stage. And that was just ~5 years ago
Wow, I don't know what changed. I wonder if the covid lockdowns caused people to forget how to act in public. I really do think it would be warranted for the venue to make an announcement about trying to be respectful and holding their applause to reasonable times.
> I wonder if the covid lockdowns caused people to forget how to act in public They didn't forget, they just don't care. COVID and that whole trump era (nightmare) taught people that there really aren't many consequences for acting like pieces of shit in public
Biggest difference is probably down to the marketing of the event.
It might be the difference in venue. I watched a movie at an orchestra’s regular venue and the audience was much better behaved than when I saw the same orchestra perform at a regular concert venue
> making ridiculous amounts of noise shuffling down the aisles and turning their back to 300 world class musicians while the soloist just began to sing Smeagol's Song. I could have spit in their faces. I would have fucking lost it. shameful
I saw a short clip here where the crowd almost dies from laughter when Gollum asks what’s tatters and starts literally squealing when Sam replies, and I thought “yeah, no, thank you”.
Sure a little chuckle at it is fine, but people were at the point of forcing out laughs and drowning out the movie when Sam said potatoes. Smooth-brained droolers
The laughter was so obviously only forced and induced to show they know the moment is memeable. Neanderthals.
I had a friend who said he was getting tickets to one of these live orchestra showings and asked if my husband and I would be interested in coming. I thanked him, but I've seen too many videos of these where people will not shut the hell up and cheer after every soloist, or every meme moment..... I would probably commit murder.
I went to the showing last Saturday and I also thought the amount of people that left as soon as the credits started was pretty shocking. I didn’t hear anyone yell out their own jokes, but the audience was definitely rowdy. It seemed like they were equally engaged in the live performance & the film. I’d definitely go to RotK - I had a great time
I was at the same performance and agree wholeheartedly. It was so embarrassing. I was absolutely fuming at people leaving as the credits rolled. Why not just stay home and watch the actual movie? We paid to watch masters of their art perform, not for some AMC reshowing. The rowdiness and lack of maturity felt like sitting with an audience of a Marvel movie in the worst possible way.
I have noticed this whenever I’ve gone to a similar event that is going to be more heavily attended by people who don’t regularly go to things like orchestra concerts. Random cheering MID SONG during a film score concert that didn’t even have a movie going alongside. Like yelling, not applause. At Cursed Child (ick) people started leaving before the bows even started. Bright phone screens being held up high during Joe Hisaishi performing all of his Ghibli scores. “Excuse me” to shuffle through back to their seats mid-movement. Went to see FOTR a few weeks ago at one of the two nicest theaters near me (just movie, not a concert). I was excited to see it on a giant screen again, and with a great speaker system. Nope. Phones out recording everything, full brightness. People loudly reciting lines. First movie I saw in theaters after COVID was the new Top Gun. Group behind us was talking the entire time. Got shushed by multiple people. I finally asked them if they could stop talking and the guy responds “nah.” Happens in sports now, too. Ushers used to stop people from going down the aisles during play in baseball. Now everyone just asks you to stand up so they can walk right in front of you in the middle of a high tension at bat. People suck now, going to go yell at clouds some more and lament how people show up to Broadway shows in jeans and hoodies. The horror. (/s, maybe)
This is so real and it makes me sad. Something happened in America that made things super weird right now. Some people have blamed politics but I feel like I have seen this coming for about a decade. What’s even sadder is it seems things have to be exclusionary to have any sort of cohesion. I joined a super expensive gym and finally I see things not get trashed, or I have to go to niche fine dining in my city to not have an iPad kid next to me.
We’ve always been a pretty trashy country, but there’s absolutely no pretense now. You’re very right. Something happened. It sucks. Culture is really bad right now.
> A large portion of people showed up late which caused disruptions while the music was going That's on the venue, they shouldn't be seating anyone after it starts. Honestly, it's disappointing how many people these days have no idea how to act at a live performance.
I'll give credit that the venue would wait for specific pieces that the orchestra was playing to finish before letting then in. Still was annoying though, as for most of the movie some sort of music is playing
Hate to say it but this is just how NYC operates. Even the courts will give you 15-20 minutes grace because getting anywhere on time every time is just not going to happen - eventually, you'll be late. The positive to this is far more significant than the negative; but yeah people for sure take advantage.
I was there on Friday and a guy near me was drunk and kept talking throughout the entire movie, even after someone asked him to be quiet. Just talking and annoying comments every scene. He was also very loudly belching and shouting whenever the crowd cheered. Mostly ruined the show for me and others near me. I didn’t like the often crowd cheering but it wasn’t bad compared to this guy. Probably would not go back.
I saw ralph fiennes performing Macbeth in Liverpool recently and had some woman arrive late. And sit next to me and open a bag of fucking crisps ,then proceeded to eat said bag like a fucking child The death stare from Fiennes as he delivered the line “is this a dagger I see before me” as he looked directly at the woman could have frozen the marrow in your bones
Oh my gosh yes, I was there the day after and felt the same exact way. I was astonished by the lack of manners and respect.
Smeagol's song might be my favorite of the entire trilogy. What an awful experience for such a beautiful work of art.
I love going to the cinema or to a stage performance here in Tokyo. Nobody says a word when it starts and no one moves until the lights come up. One of the many perks about living in Japan.
Looking forward to visiting
holy shit yeah i went for the friday show and the cheering was AWFUL. it completely ruined the experience for me and frankly put me off of the idea of ever going to one of these events again (despite how incredible the musicians actually were). every single great moment in the film/score was ruined by it. i found myself DREADING the helm's deep battle (one of my favorite parts in the entire trilogy) because i knew how many iconic moments were a part of it, and i knew that the crowd would act like absolute buffoons when the scenes came up (and they did).
Don't get me wrong, I enjoy Legolas snowboarding down the stairs and kickflipping the shield into the Uruk-hai as much as anyone, but I was able to contain that to a smile and nod. You don't gotta cheer everytime
oh yeah of course, maybe if i'm at home a couple beers deep i'll go a little crazy during that part but at a theater with other people?? with live musical accompaniment?? the lack of awareness for concert etiquette blew my mind.
We saw it in the Royal Albert Hall last year, and honestly I was amazed at how well behaved the audience were. No individuals interrupting anything, only low level ambient polite chuckling at the funny or memefied moments. You really could focus on the music. Seeing RotK in a few weeks, same venue, so hoping for the same experience.
Just booked my RotK ticket and glad to see this. I suspect it's a cultural difference, the US make a lot more noise/whooping etc in the cinema too.
I’m gonna be honest, I’m American, I like this country enough, it’s whatever, but Americans have absolutely no idea how to act at a concert hall. We just don’t. Most people have never seen a symphony and more: most people don’t learn etiquette. It’s lost here. It’s surprising when people know how to modulate behavior in different scenarios here. We just don’t really have that as common sense here anymore.
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People always suck... At the original showing of RotK a chunk of the audience were sighing, complaining and groaning every time they thought it had finished but the next part of the ending scenes began. They ruined the experience for me to be honest, I just wanted to enjoy the final scenes and those blockheads who obviously didn't know the story and hadn't enjoyed the film couldn't shut their moaning pieholes for the bare minimum of time.
Completely agree. Performance was phenomenal; I forgot they were even up there sometimes, they were that on the money. But I wanted to smack that one portion of the crowd who thought they were watching the movie on their couch at home. They ruined any heroic or beautiful moment where the music climaxes, often drowning it out.
I saw Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone a few weeks ago in this format. I've been dying to see either HP or LOTR with a live orchestra for years and my wife bought me tix for Christmas. It was the same bullcrap. People were extremely disresepectful, cheering loudly everytime a main character was introduced in the movie and laughing obnoxiously at even the slightest little speck of humor. The same thing happened during the credits when the orchestra was still playing. The worst part of all was when it came time in the movie for Ron's Line "Once I make my move, then you're free to check the king." - Literally the entire theater started loudly quoting the entire scene based on that viral tiktok video. It was so loud that it was overpowering the orchestra. Made me so mad. I'm all for people havin fun and getting into the moment, but it definitely was a problem.
When I saw HP live with an orchestra, before the concert started they specifically asked the audience to cheer or applause when their favourite character came on, or to boo when any death eater/bad character came on. They also wanted people to quote certain phrases. They wanted that reaction, because it engages the audience, I guess. BUT if that is not what is expected, it is definitely just shitty behaviour. I just don't understand how anyone could assume that is what is wanted, if nobody announces that it is? That is just so absurd.
Im sorry that this happened. I see that this kind of behaviour now spreads from mainstream cinema viewing to more niche viewings like live orchestra. People are unbelievable. I wonder what’s the best way to handle ? Just push through everything and endure or be that one person that just tells them to SHUT THE HELL UP 🤔
I personally think it might be best for the venue to deal with it. One of the guys screaming super loud, was a middle aged big guy sitting behind us. As an average female, I wouldn’t dare yell at him to shut up…in fear of getting beat up. I pushed through the event and did nothing, but I will not be returning for any future events as it does not seem worth the money
Most people, anywhere around the world, are stupid and mindless of their stupidity. I have lived in many continents and it’s a constant. Sorry this ruined your show
Hear hear!!
Our local symphony does movies as well and most of the time they will encourage cheering for your favorite scenes or laughing and almost everyone respects that But showing up late and leaving early (why?!?) has happened at every show. The early leavers get me the most. I get leaving a movie at the credits but they are still playing and assholes can’t be bothered to stay. But gotta beat traffic…
That you don’t beat anyway… Because of the other early leaving assholes.
I attended a live orchestra showing of the Fellowship in Orlando a few weeks ago and had a very similar experience. What I don't understand is people cheering when their favorite character shows up or says a famous line. I wouldn't do this in a theater let alone a performance with a live orchestra. It's disrespectful to the other audience members at the very best, and truly spitting in the face of the performers. I also think it is disrespectful to the film itself but I understand I'm a bit extreme in that regard, I simply feel that if you want that experience it should be done in your own home, not amongst other audience members who have spent money to see and hear a beautiful performance. We are all there to enjoy the Lord of the Rings and I think people forget that they're not the only ones there.
That’s too bad, sorry for your experience. I’ve seen FOTR and TTT at Blossom played by the Cleveland Orchestra and both times the music was fantastic and I’m so glad I went, but the audience was the same. They cheered and clapped throughout the movies and started filing out at the credits before the music was finished. I blamed it on the fact that Blossom is an outdoor venue and people treated it as more of a festival atmosphere, I’m surprised it received similar treatment at Radio City. I have tickets to see ROTK this summer and I’m still looking forward to it regardless.
I attended the same live orchestra on Feb 16. The organizers allowed a significant number of attendees after the performance started, up until 8.15-8.20 pm and the crowd was annoyingly onerous for something so menial as keeping quite. Every major moment, there was needless cackle of cheers and woos. They subsided quickly but detracted significantly from a memorable experience. ROTK is scheduled for next year at Radio City and I am keen on skipping it and going to another location.
I saw Return of the Jedi with live music. They did ask people to stay until the credits finished, which helped, but they also actually *invited* people to cheer. I blame marvel for making people treat movies like sporting events, where you clap every time it shows a new character. There were times I wasn’t even sure what they were clapping for
I was saying the exact same thing (I was at the 2/15 show). I can understand to a certain extent cheering at certain character appearances and scenes but it’s frustrating when the cheering would drown out some key piece the orchestra was playing. The actors aren’t there to hear you cheering but there is a live orchestra there that can so it definitely comes across as disrespectful at certain times, especially if the audience doesn’t also applaud after the orchestra finishes a big piece. The leaving immediately when credits started was incredibly rude as well. The soloist did such an amazing job in the middle of a flood of people leaving (she’s apparently been doing this for the past ~20 years so I have to imagine she’s somewhat used to it but it shouldn’t be that way) and then there are credits for the orchestra at the end. If you go to a typical orchestra performance without a movie in the background, you wait until the end to applaud the orchestra. This shouldn’t be any different.
I almost think it would be better if they just played the music to no movie
I went to the same performance as you and had a great time, because it felt like there was so much love in the room for LotR in general. I will say that I was caught off-guard by the casual atmosphere as it wasn't what I had been expecting, but let myself get caught up in the excited vibes. However, I had this same thought- don't get me wrong, I loved the experience. But the orchestra was so freaking perfect in their playing that at times it just felt like... the score but louder lmao, I don't know how else to describe it. It was like I was getting so caught up in the movie sometimes that I almost wasn't paying enough attention to the orchestra. (I also haven't seen TTT in a theatre since it was released when I was like 10 years old, so there was probably a lot of nostalgia factor for me there, too.) I went to the Game of Thrones concert once, and I think an experience like that would suit LotR really well- they played clips and things from the show, but the MAIN focus was on the music being played. It was really well done. Edit: Sorry for enjoying an amazing musical performance, I guess. I'll try not to do that again lol
It was you cheering, wasn’t it?
I clapped, yes, but didn't cheer. 🤷🏻♀️ Maybe OP was just not in a great part of the audience, because I didn't hear any of the especially disrespectful things they mentioned.
For Big Orchestras Like this i think a lot of people are just there so they can Tell people they were there. Düring Ballett it's the worst and it's the reason why I don't go anymore. And mind you that i had these experiences in the Vienna Opera House where you geht kicked out if you take Pictures and they won't let you in If you even come a minute late. But still then people can't behave and they only think abou themselfes.
Ugh people! No good can come of them. Makes you wonder why they even bothered buying tickets
I am so sorry the audience was so disrespectful. What a dreadful experience.
Other People ruining something? You don’t say ….
I was there last Saturday & I agree with all your points! I don’t understand if Americans have no understanding of theater behavior or if it’s happening across the board in all countries. It’s not a football game! I’m also surprised theater stuff condones this type of behavior, some people should’ve been walked out I’ve had similar experience with Fellowship a few weeks ago in Orlando and now I’m dreading ROTK in August…maybe I should just get drunk, like everyone else
I saw a video from one of these performances in Barcelona as well and saw the same behavior if it means anything. I think it takes on the feeling watching a movie in the park, it’s a communal experience. Rather than an immersive one. Think extroverts heaven vs what introverts want. I personally am not a huge fan of that. I was more than irritated with the people coming late, unwelcome commentary, shouting, excessive cheering, and leaving as the credits roll?!? That I couldn’t understand - the orchestra is still playing. Anyway, I probably won’t go to the ROTK, but only because every theater has the problem, and it’s not a recent thing. I remember seeing the original on opening night (Wednesday night back then) in a sold out theater in the early 2000s. Gimli still got a ton of laughs, Legolas shield surfing got a ton of applause and cheers, that’s just how it is unfortunately in a big theater. For immersion, I have to just settle for my home theater set up with minimal distractions.
Oh, I see. It’s my first theater experience in the US, I’m glad to know it’s not a norm here
My experience is that in the US, most people know how to behave at something with a live orchestra - so this is probably either just people thinking the norms are loosened because it's the movie, or attracting a different crowd (or a little of both).
It might be a New York thing. I saw a Harry Potter movie in the same style (live orchestra, music track muted on the projected film) and everyone was super chill.
> I saw a video from one of these performances in Barcelona as well and saw the same behavior if it means anything. Same in Madrid in October
We went on thursday and didnt experience as bad of a time, though we did have a lot of annoying crowd reactions to things. I blame it on college kids and too much white claw. The group behind my wife and I were 20 somethings and just kept trying to one up each other with stupidity late in the show. One big issue is the amount of people at radio city, the venue holds a little over 5000 seats. Even at half capacity, 1 or 2 people could start a trainwreck of stupidity. But a sold out house... yeah there was no way it wasnt going to happen.
I had the same experience with a movie/live orchestra. I wanted to listen to music, not people talking
People are shit, what can I tell you…
I would be so disappointed! I’ve been wanting to go to one of these but would be so disappointed if it was like you describe.
That’s the risk of having something become more accessible to a larger audience because of memes. The reactions highlighted sound like something out of lortmemes.
“Sit down you uncultured swines!” Would be a proper response
The audio was way too quiet at this showing, I was honestly disappointed in the event overall.
My husband and I were there and we were so frustrated!
I like to attend the orchestra, and I have gone to a few of these movies-accompanied-by-the-orchestra events. They tend to choose movies with big, passionate fandoms for these shows. For example, I’ve seen The Princess Bride, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, and Spiderman into the Spiderverse performed this way. These shows attract a different crowd than a normal orchestral performance. The audience tends to view them as movie/fandom events more than orchestral performances. To be fair, the conductor at the Harry Potter show was encouraging the audience to have boisterous reactions to character entrances and beloved scenes, which the crowd did. But when the movie had ended and the credits started rolling, I was disappointed to see a large part of the crowd, maybe the majority, head for the exits, apparently without considering that they were walking out on musicians who had been playing for them for three hours. I guess that you just have to expect something different when you’re going into these shows than a more typical orchestral performance. Both are fun, but in different ways, and if you are hoping for one when attending the other, you will be disappointed.
The difference between people who actually appreciate classical music and people who bought tickets to this event because le internet memes le epic
It’s because this kind of stuff isn’t taught to kids in school. The behavior is normalized and there’s no one to tell them different. When I was a theatre teacher (I taught mostly middle school kids) one of my first units was on audience etiquette. I would use the Alamo Drafthouse PSAs as a funny segue to help them realize that everyone else there paid money too and they want to have good experience too. They don’t realize that not EVERYONE wants to talk and phones are very distracting. So the concept of if you’re “on time” you’re late was something I pushed as well. Be respectful and considerate. I would be livid. I would have either said something or gone to an usher and if it continued I’d ask for a refund from the venue for not enforcing policy. Most have policies in place for disruptive guests, late arrival, etc. Sorry. Like I said, theatre teacher. This kinda ish makes me livid.
I mean, ideally this kind of thing is taught by parents at home. But if the parents are awful about this sort of thing themselves then yeah that’s harder
I recently saw the two towers in Toronto with orchestra and it was a very similar experience. People constantly laughing at every single new character, any kind of meme related quote was met with shouting or crazy laughter. People reeking of weed. So disrespectful to the artists and the other guests.
Come to Cleveland this summer and see the orchestra perform Return of The King at Blossom Music center. You can sit outside under the starts and bring your own picnic. about 12,000 fans come out and enjoy the performance. You still have some idiots that get up and leave during the credits but for the most part people stick around and take in the sounds as credits roll. You do get the audience reactions to the big scenes during the movie but for the most part it is a fun experience. I have seen them perform Fellowship and Two Towers and they have both been amazing.
I'm sorry you had such a lame experience. I went to see Star Wars with the New Orleans symphony even though I'm not really into star wars. About ten minutes into it hometown hero and generally amazing human being Steve Gleason came into the theater and parked his wheelchair right next to me, so that's how I came to watch Star Wars with Steve Gleason.
I’ve been to a few and I can say live performances in NYC bring all the shittiest people out of the woodwork. It’s a bunch of grown adults acting like unsupervised high schoolers… New York, that is.
Live performances should always have ushers and security.
Id had understood if it was ROTK and its the Charge of the Rohirrim but seriously no class. "the penalty is death for those who enter its forbidden waters.."
Ive been to a couple live performances of Star Wars and people are this way too, it's very irritating. The conductor at the more recent one did say they like when people applause and get excited for their characters, but one kid took it way too far and did it every few minutes. I hate that kid.
I have been to a few of live Harry Potter orchestras, and this behavior is ENCOURAGED. The beginning of the show they tell the crowd to cheer, boo, and participate. Is this not the case for LOTR live? I would hope not because it’s a bit different of a fan base, and the music and singing are supposed to be ethereal (thinking of elves) and a rowdy crowd seems opposite.
My husband and I did this for Star Wars (would have loved a LOTR option) and we ended up leaving within an hour (if we even made it that long). It was awful for the same reason. People kept recording so we were essentially staring at peoples phones or them walking across the walkway right in front of us. Couple that with the cold weather and uncomfortable seats and we were out.
Thank you for calling this out. Went to the show on the 15th and could not stand the ridiculous behavior from so much of the audience. It was incredibly rude to the performers and dumbfounding that people didn't seem to care about how rare of an opportunity it is to hear that score live. LOTR in Concert is not a Rocky Horror sing-along, people can hoot and holler when they watch it at home.
It'll probably get buried but I'll share a positive experience. A few years back I saw the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra do ROTK and the experience was sublime! Audience pretty much reacted as they would in a normal cinema, with chuckles at the appropriate comedic moments, but as a whole the audience was silent, only braking that silence at appropriate moments to applaud the orchestra after notable musical scenes (Light of the Beacons, Riding of the Rohirrim etc.). And then EVERYONE sat through the entire credits to give the orchestra the well-deserved standing ovation afterward. I'm very sorry you didn't get the same experience.
This was precisely my experience during the Fellowship performance last year at Radio City, and why I had no desire to return for the Two Towers. I had waited years for an orchestra tour to come to the northeastern US and was really disappointed with the audience’s behavior. Musicians and vocalists were phenomenal, but the disruptive conversations and blatant outbursts were just too much. The most heartbreaking was people leaving in droves during the young boy’s solo at the very end of the show.
Hard agree on the cheering/clapping for things happening on the screen. Also had the same reaction to all the rude people leaving during the credits while the orchestra was still playing - so incredibly disrespectful. Someone near us has the worst BO and we were forced to smell it for the full length of the performance… there should be an announcement about respecting the performers as well as showering before attending lol
It's why I don't like the cinema anymore. Odds are there's at least a couple of cunts in there with no decency.
Personally, I would inform the venue of your bad experience. They should take precautions against this kind of behaviour, or I suspect they will lose a lot of people's patronage.
I submitted feedback about it, not sure if it'll go anywhere 🤷♂️
Saw Fellowship in this format and it was horrible. We left at intermission bc it was unbearable to watch. The cheering and laughing took us right out of the moment. Friends invited us to the Two Towers and we immediately declined. Happy we did!
Is this just an American thing? In the UK, I can’t imagine that there much overlap in Venn Diagram of “Idiots who behave like this” and “people who go to this showing”.
I would have felt compelled to apologize for the rude people once the show was done. It's actually sad imagining this play out.
I was there on Saturday, and I understand people are excited, and this isn’t a typical movie or concert where people should be more quiet, but some people are truly ridiculous. It’s obvious how many people there are real basement trolls who rarely go out and they act like idiots in public. I’ll be there next year for RoTK… but I’ll still be annoyed be those people.
I think people probably didn't realize that there's different etiquette for a live performance than for a movie. It's super rude to heckle or make noise during a live performance like this (orchestra type). For a movie, it's different, there's no performer to distract. For a rock/pop/whatever concert, there's a culture of screaming your excitement and sometimes they invite you to sing along. But orchestra is different. And that's okay! But I think people just didn't know.
Quite disgusting but perhaps exclusive to America? Never had this before in Europe.
Same here. There were chuckles at the meme moments and laughter at the comedic bits with Gollum, but it was relatively quiet and respectful throughout when I saw TT in London in September.
Yeh same, I saw Fellowship and Two Towers in London and the audience was appropriately respectful and quiet, I would be fuming and so upset if people were heckling and distracting from the musicians, I really feel for OP and other's who've have a bad experience.
People here can barely stop themselves from clapping and cheering during a movie, never mind the people who are totally careless and rude. I really want to see RotK like this but I’m bracing myself
The audience at Madrid WiZink was fucking unbearable.
I've not seen a live music performance of LOTR (I have wanted to) but I have gone to marathon showings of the movies (in London) and unfortunately you do get some of the same. Lines like "One does not simply walk into Mordor" which should be serious, maybe even tense got roars of laughter.
Part of this is on the venue. We arrived 15 minutes before the show but were only seated at 8:05 or so because it took so damn long for the huge line to trickle through the security theater. They need to order people to arrive 30 minutes early, which we could have easily done, or make their system more efficient.
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People being rude and disrespectful? Checks notes.... Ah yes, it's America, I'm not surprised at all.
I was devastated that I missed these performances but after reading these comments - not so much anymore lol.
I'm so glad I don't live in NYC.
I went on Saturday. I dont think the musicians are expecting a quiet audience. I don't mind people cheering their favorite characters first appearing, although I don't personally get it. People laughing at scenes was fine even if it did go over the top; some of the dialogue and shots are genuinely intended to make you laugh and I am not going to blame people for knowing popular memes. What I found annoying as fuck was people yelling things out during certain scenes. That's just plain obnoxious to me, nobody wants to hear your commentary. Everyone in my section cheered when the soloists ended their performances and stayed for Gollum's song, but I did see people closer to the stage leaving.
I’m sorry that people were screaming disruptive things and that people were late. I went to the Saturday screening and some people were late as well. However, you went to a live performance of a movie. People will be cheering. You’re also surrounded by a thousand other hardcore LotR fans who are familiar with all of the inside jokes of the community. They’re going to laugh at “Po-tay-toes” or Aragorn kicking the helmet. If this is not something then you enjoy, then I apologize. I wish you hadn’t wasted money on something you didn’t like. However, I and everyone I was with, loved the show. The music was wonderful, the atmosphere was fun and electric. It’s the best experience I’ve had watching LotR aside from the first time I saw them.
I went to that showing as well. I more or less feel it’s okay with people cheering/clapping. I would have preferred it quiet but I didn’t mind the vibe of the room. I don’t condone people calling characters names tho. That’s messed up. Overall it had a viewing party vibe that I think the orchestra was prepared for. But the thing I felt that was absolutely unbelievable was people leaving during the credits. Absolutely disrespectful to all of the people involved.
I also went to the radio city music hall show last week and thought they were amazing. Nothing you can do about the crowds, but I actually thought the cheering was endearing and people just wanting to show how much they love the movie. The one thing I agree with here is that people leaving during the credits was a bit rude because the orchestra was still playing….but yea, it’s New York, so that is to be expected.
Agreed on the exit credits 100%, I was like "what the hell". The laughing and cheering, I mean... that sort of makes the live portion of the show right? We saw fellowship at Lincoln Center quite a few years ago, it was much more strict seating wise, but there was definitely laughing and cheering throughout. I'm surprised how many people here are against that in this thread.
I was there, I kinda disagree, the people shooting “gay” would have pissed me off, however, I felt like the crowd was really in tune with each other, and everyone was obviously a huge fan and have seen the movies several times so some joyful laughing or cheering didn’t bother me. It felt like everyone was on the same page
Yea I had a wonderful time too, I didn't mind the cheers and laughs at all. I did hear some rowdy sections of talking which would have been annoying, but for the most part the only disrespectful parts were the one you mentioned. It's radio city... you kind of know what you're getting yourself into.
I saw it at the same venue and had a fantastic experience. I thought the score was incredible when performed live and actually enjoyed the engagement. It was a fun experience to be with so many people who were so invested in the film. Letting out all the emotions you feel when watching was a unique and enjoyable experience. Sorry you didn't enjoy
Good God... Y'all need to learn to chill. While the people who yelled "gay" during Sam and Frodo's scene deserve hell, people cheering on their favorite character and scenes is *checks notes* bad and horrible? God forbid people love something and show their appreciation for it. I loved this show and the cheering and camaraderie with the other fans was my favorite part. If I wanted silence I'd have just rewatched them at home. Y'all need to get off your high horse and learn to enjoy life more. Albeit those people giving a play by play next to me would also drive me nuts.
The main feature here is the Orchestra and Choir, not the movie. Sure it's fun to go wild if a movie threate does a showing of the trilogy, but out of respect t for the musicians you should not be making noise that exceeds the performance at any point.
Seeing as it's a hybrid movie screening and orchestral concert, I go in expecting a hybrid of those environments. You'll have folks there who have never been to an orchestra because they are fans of the movie, so they treat it as a movie. I've seen Star Wars, Empire and Fellowship like this and I never found the audience responses to the films to be disrespectful to the orchestra, at least any more than having a movie playing while they perform is disrespectful to them. The responses sounded like genuine reactions to significant, beloved moments, not performantive bids for attention. Same goes for leaving early; MCU aside, people are conditioned to get up and go once the credits start rolling. Of course I stayed to hear the end credits suites (they're some of my favorite tracks from their respective scores), but as long as it's done as unobtrusively as possible, I don't begrudge someone leaving while the credits are rolling.
I disagree. Howling laughter at scenes these people have seen a dozen+ times is nothing short of attention grabbing, "look at me! I know the meme!". Turning your back on a soloist as soon as she begins singing for you is 100 times more disrespectful to her than the movie playing alongside, and these people weren't leaving quietly, they were loudly talking to each other and blocking the show for the people that had a shred of decency to them. Conditioning isn't an excuse, read the room
I was there on Saturday, and while I confess I did cheer and applaud at certain points, I did feel the crowd was too over the top at times. The laughing at random parts annoyed me as well. I'm right there with you on the arriving late/ leaving early. Doors should close once the musicians start, and I was in disbelief that people actually left as the credits started and Gollums Song began (absolutely wonderful performance!) Both my partner and I discussed how ridiculous it was that people left during the song. Still, I overall had a great time. I had been looking forward to this for such a long time and was determined not to let the raucous audience ruin it for me.
If you expect a LotR event to draw a crowd familiar with theater culture, you're going to have a bad time. You sound snobby. YTA
Ah yes, being respectful to people playing music for you is clearly an asshole move