Cry Me a Riverdance

John and I wanted to do something special this year for Valentine's Day. We both had some good ideas, but when I heard that Riverdance was going to be in town the weekend before V-Day and that it was their farewell tour, I proposed that we get tickets for this once in a lifetime chance to see the famed Irish Dancers. John was less than enthusiastic, but I was determined. Kristina and I went to see Riverdance in Boston a few years ago, and it was amazing, bordering on life-changing. I knew if I could just get John there, he would be shocked and awed by the performance. I had vivid memories of the dances, and was sure I could convince John that it was worth it to pay $65 per ticket to watch Irish dancers, if I could just get him there. Since John is a very sweet and wonderful husband, I won out and we got some of the last remaining tickets to the Friday Night performance at Kingsbury Hall in Salt Lake. Here's what I remembered from seeing Riverdance in Boston:


But (and there's always a but), when we got to Kingsbury Hall, we were led to our seats only to find out that, unbeknownst to us, we had been sold tickets with an obstructed view. And by obstructed, I mean really obstructed and really crappy. Here's what we spent the evening looking at:


John made the comment that he could not see much of anything throughout the entire performance, as the top railing obstructed his view of the dancer's heads and the bottom railing obstructed his view of the dancer's feet. As you well know, Irish folk dancers are renowned for keeping their torsos and arms perfectly still as they dance, so all he was able to see was several floating torsos hovering around the stage for 2 hours. We did try to get our seats moved but were told that the show was sold out so there were not other seats available. Did I mention we paid $65 each for these tickets? Did I also mention that they never mentioned at any time during the ticket sale that these seats had an obstructed view? Can I just tell you how livid John was??? He was NOT a happy camper. Having seen Riverdance before, I was so excited to see this Farewell Performance. I was anticipating a nice evening with some great dancing and some wonderful memories to take home with me. Instead, I left with a kink in my neck and a very angry husband who spent the 45 minute drive home telling me repeatedly that he would never go back to Kingsbury Hall. Ah well, it's the luck of the Irish, isn't it?

Last night, I found a video of Irish dancing on You Tube, and when I showed it to John, he said this would have been a lot more entertaining than the show we saw: