NY vs Boston Venues

Everything about the North American leg of the World Tour!
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scottsd
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Joined: Wed May 09, 2012 2:31 am

NY vs Boston Venues

Post by scottsd »

Heard about the LC tour just in time to give them as a gift to my wife for her 60th birthday. Now trying to decide between a NY show (pre-sale this Fri 11th), and the Boston show (Mon 14th). Having previously seen Cohen in the Palace Theater (CT), a wonderful, wonderful intimate venue, we're trying to decide between the NY and Boston venues. Getting to either from CT is about the same (we'd overnite). I'd guess ticket pricing to be about the same. We've experienced poor sound at some Mohegan Sun shows (in their "gym"), so I think it boils down to which one has the better acoustics.

Can anyone offer any guidance/opinions as to which venue would have the better show?

Thanks in advance -- so glad I happened on this site.
-- Scott
Damfino
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Location: New York, NY / Montreal

Re: NY vs Boston Venues

Post by Damfino »

Scott —

I'm a New Yorker. I also saw Leonard at the Palace in Waterbury, CT, as well as at the Wang Theater in Boston. The two venues in New York are both sports arenas. MSG in particular is cavernous and soulless. The theater in Boston is great. If you can choose only one show, I'd opt for the Boston venue. My two-cents.

G
2-19-09 - Beacon, NYC / 5-14-09 - Palace, Waterbury, CT / 5-15-09 - Webb Sisters - Webster Hall, NYC / 5-16-09 - Radio City, NYC / 5-30-09, Boston, MA / 10-17-09 - MSG, NYC / 11-5-09 - Nashville, TN / ??
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Mabeanie1
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Re: NY vs Boston Venues

Post by Mabeanie1 »

I can't comment on the specific venues as I haven't been to either of them. However, the one thing you can count on is that the sound will be as sweet as sweet can be whatever the venue. I went to quite a lot of shows between 2008 and 2010 with venues ranging from the very intimate to outdoor sports stadia via the 23,000 seater O2 in London and a variety of sports arenas. The one thing all the venues have in common is that the sound is close to perfect. The sound crew work hard to make sure that there is complete consistency from one venue to another, whatever the venue happens to be. On rare occasions the sound might start off a little ropey but you can be sure that they will correct any deficiencies pretty quickly.

Another thought: sports arenas may seem like soul-less places but there can often be a better atmosphere with the larger crowd than in a smaller, plush theatre where the audience can sometimes be a little "restrained".

If it were me, I would start with the New York pre-sale on Friday and see what tickets I pulled up. That way, if you're disappointed in the MSG sale, you've always got Boston to fall back on Monday.

Wendy
Ronaldson
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Re: NY vs Boston Venues

Post by Ronaldson »

I have seen LC perform in both venues. I think Wendy offers excellent advice.

The Wang Theatre is a lovely venue, an elaborately ornamented theatre restored from old movie house. The acoustics are very good. Normally, I wouldn't hesitate to recommend the Wang, but for a Leonard Cohen concert, I am not sure that the choice is so straightforward. LC seems to be exceptionally well loved in New York. Although I have seen quite a few of his concerts now, the one at Madison Square Garden has a special place in my memory. The scale of the audience response was almost overwhelming (imagine several thousand people spontaneously breaking in to a long standing ovation in the middle of the concert). There are several concert reports to be found on an older thread viewtopic.php?f=39&t=19305. Of course, this being a large arena, the farther away you are from the stage, the more likely it is that your experience may be diminished by various distractions. (Note, though, that at the Wang the balcony is very long, so some seats are surprisingly distant from the stage.) Anyway, I imagine both concerts will be fantastic, so you are likely to be happy either way. Is there a city you most want to visit of the two? Do you also want to see a Broadway show, perhaps?
LHHUNTER
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Re: NY vs Boston Venues

Post by LHHUNTER »

Does anyone know if the whole of Madison square garden will be used including seating behind the stage?
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dari
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Re: NY vs Boston Venues

Post by dari »

I also saw Leonard in Connecticut last time and I loved the intimate setting of that beautifully renovated small theater. It was excellent. I was hoping he would be back there this time. This time I am going to MSG. I agree with the person that mentioned that in a small theater, people are more restrained. I felt this at the CT performance but it was fabulous in spite of that. It will be interesting to be in vast sea of LC fans this time.

I am not really familiar with how the seating works at MSG. Can anyone recommend what seating sections are good? I have looked at the chart but I can't tell the elevations from it. I wish they had a more detailed seating chart but they don't.
GraceC
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Re: NY vs Boston Venues

Post by GraceC »

From a former Boston resident: You will be much happier at the Wang, no question about it.
daver8888
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Re: NY vs Boston Venues

Post by daver8888 »

I saw LC at both The Palace at Waterbury and at MSG. Normally, this would be a no-brainer for me too -- I'd always go with the more intimate venue, in part because of the greater liklihood that I'd be closer. However, in this case, while The Palace Show was fantastic, the MSG show was magical. The huge audience was so respectful and quiet while he was performing and the ovations after the songs were thunderous and prolonged. I can't wait to see him at MSG again.
smellslikefritos
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Re: NY vs Boston Venues

Post by smellslikefritos »

I went to the MSG show, and it was quite possibly the greatest concert I had ever been to. Despite being almost as far away from the stage as possible, I was overwhelmed by how this sold-out show of 20,000 could be so intimate. I'll echo what others said as well in that being a part of this enthusiastic, fantastic crowd the size of a small city was truly something to be seen.

I saw Bob Dylan at the Wang a few years ago on the first row of the mezzanine and actually had my college graduation there. For that, I was towards the back in the orchestra, but sound and vision were fine. It's a great theater, but if you choose the Wang I'd recommend that you try to get as close as possible.

For me of limited means, as well, the $29.50 tickets for MSG are much more appealing than the $75 tickets for the Wang.
Ronaldson
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Re: NY vs Boston Venues

Post by Ronaldson »

daver8888 wrote:I saw LC at both The Palace at Waterbury and at MSG. Normally, this would be a no-brainer for me too -- I'd always go with the more intimate venue, in part because of the greater liklihood that I'd be closer. However, in this case, while The Palace Show was fantastic, the MSG show was magical. The huge audience was so respectful and quiet while he was performing and the ovations after the songs were thunderous and prolonged. I can't wait to see him at MSG again.
Your description of the MSG audience is perfect. I suspect that the atmosphere will be similar for the show later this year. It would be nice to be there again, but this time I plan to be in Montreal, which I think will experience a distinctive and magical evening of its own...
scottsd
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Re: NY vs Boston Venues

Post by scottsd »

Went with the Boston venue -- we like the more intimate settings.
Thanks all for the advice!
-- S
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