A chara, – An acceptance of muted culture is a dangerous place to be. When old realities are wiped out by regulations that are put in place for the apparent betterment of society, what is lost in this transition?
I’m not referring to current politics here, but to live music venues, the 3Arena in Dublin in particular.
I have been to two very expensive gigs there recently and have experienced annoyingly cheap and thin-sounding representations of what should have been all-engulfing wonderful realities.
The 3Arena is an example of this new reality that is castrating culture and charging a fortune for it. The decibel- limiting on the PA system is very sad indeed. When upfront at a gig you are supposed to feel the drums and bass rattle your bones, and the music should fill your head to the extant that it can bring you to an ecstatic place.
This is where I wanted to be at Black Sabbath last Friday and Neil Young a few months back. Instead I had to deal with the fact that the volume would not be turned up and the likelihood of reaching ecstasy was slim.
I couldn’t even mutter curses as it would have annoyed people around me!
Black Sabbath have more gigs ahead, finishing up in their hometown of Birmingham. Let’s hope they will be allowed to finish in the manner in which they were conceived and not in the deflated norm of Dublin’s 3Arena. – Yours, etc,
COLM O’CIOSOIG,
Dublin 2.
Sir, – As a cyclist and a pedestrian, I’m amazed at the number of people who step from footpath and cross the road without looking right or left. Some of the offenders have earphones in and some don’t. It’s as if, when they don’t hear an engine, that they assume they are safe to walk on the road. Bicycle designers, here’s an idea: a bike with car-engine sound-effects. – Is mise,
ANNE MARIE
FEENEY,
Tibradden, Dublin 16.
Sir, – I find these days that I have to turn on the subtitle option when I watch television. It is a most useful service. However, it diminishes somewhat my enjoyment of thrillers. The subtitle “Ominous music as stranger approaches” does tend to give the game away. – Yours, etc,
MARY BYRNE,
Bray,
Co Wicklow.