« Bluegrass in Bridgeport | Main | Friday night with The Hurdy Gurdy Man »
November 9, 2006
Soulful, but far from full
The scene was all too familiar as I pulled into the parking lot at The Klein in Bridgeport Tuesday night - plenty of parking spaces surrounding not a lot of cars.
But this was worse than other poorly attended concerts in Bridgeport because I figured "American Idol" season 2 winner Ruben Studdard could have drawn some people into the city on a weeknight. Even if it was Election Day.
But, again, I was wrong.
There couldn't have been more than 150 people in the 1,200-seat hall and, noticing a local radio station's van out in front of the auditorium, I wondered how many of the people there actually paid for tickets and how many won tickets as part of a radio promotion.
Granted, I wouldn't have paid the $30-$40 to see the Velvet Teddy Bear, but I'm also not one of the tens of millions of people that watched Studdard beat out Clay Aiken for the "AI" title. And I didn't care much for his new album, "The Return," which I listened to before I interviewed him for the feature that ran on the cover of Sunday's Arts & Travel section of the Connecticut Post.
Still, in concert, Studdard was downright listenable and he definitely has a charisma about him. If he saw all the empty seats, he didn't let it bother him, starting his performance by calling everyone down to the front of the stage and shaking hands throughout the show. He even danced with a little girl from the crowd and came into the audience to sing a couple of songs.
He seemed like a real man of the people. Unfortunately for Studdard, the concert promoter and, in a way, Bridgeport, there weren't that many people there.
Posted by Sean on November 9, 2006 5:09 AM
