The Cabot — Attraction in Beverly

This theater is nice looking, books fun things, and I'm glad to have something like it within walking distance of my home. I will continue to see shows there until I have a couple more experiences similar to the one I had last night. Their laissez-faire policy of dealing with disruptive patrons led to me walking out of a show for the first time in a long time. It was a shame because I had been looking forward to the night for quite a while.

I was seated in the middle of row E. Behind row E is about 6 feet of space before row F. I could hear the full-throated conversations of two different couples seated in row F (not in the same party) throughout the show. This wasn't just one- or two-sentence remarks, but rather whole conversations being had by people as though they were at Fibber McGee's trying to talk over the karaoke.

Let out a "woo!"; say "Oh, man I love this song!" Fine. But save the conversation for another place. I asked them to quiet down, was laughed at, and then later left the show early when the conversations continued over the band's acoustic portion of the set.

I was very disappointed by the ushers. When I asked why people are allowed to talk through the shows, the answer I received was that some people like to dance at shows like these. I said no one was dancing, they were talking loudly. Said the best they could do was move me to a worse seat. So I left, somewhat shocked that no one even asked who the offending patrons were. If you pay for a good seat that is near a disruptive patron, the disruptive person gets to enjoy keeping their seat. Not the way I would have done it!

In general, people who cannot sit quietly for 90 minutes are in the minority of most audiences so I don't understand why those of us trying to enjoy the show have to be punished. The Cabot is not a dive bar, it's not a festival, and it's not a rock club. Allowing patrons to talk over a band is disrespectful to the band--who didn't invite anyone into the studio to record conversations over their songs. It's also disrespectful to the people who can manage to have a good time without spilling over into someone else's personal space. I've been a professional rock musician for 20 years--half on the road, half in the studio--and I can assure you that it doesn't have to be like it was last night...

Went to see Arrival (ABBA tribute band) tonight 11/17/22. Balcony seats. Worst concert experience that I have ever had. There were 4-8 extremely inconsiderate and entitled attendees in the lower half of the balcony seats that stood up for the entire concert and who completely ignored Cabot staff requests for them to sit down. Almost an hour into the show, and despite numerous complaints by multiple attendees to Cabot staff, upper balcony attendees appeared to begin to leave the venue quite upset because of the unresolved problem. The most reprehensible comment from a Cabot staff member to me was "Well, it is a dance type of concert and those people did pay for their tickets". You are WRONG Cabot, they paid for a seat with the expectation of actually sitting in those seats and NOT blocking the stage view of almost the ENTIRE right side of the upper balcony! The WORST concert experience I have ever had in my life and I angrily left after an hour into the concert of Cabot staff not resolving the problem. Bottom line for me: The Cabot staff did not and apparently will not control unruly and troublesome attendees to ensure an enjoyable experience for other attendees. Approximately $35 was completely wasted on a horrible experience that Cabot staff allowed to happen and did not promptly resolve. NOT...

Security figurehead seemed a little patronizing to people waiting in line to go into the building. Almost like she was trying to impress somebody. A few people grumbled their gripes about her amongst the crowd. Everything was fine until the band started getting into high gear. I was in the second row and felt the urge to dance. I was off to the far left side of the stage so as not to block anyone’s view of the band (The Mavericks). When things slowed down, I sat down, but when I thought it was appropriate to dance, I’d go back to the non-aisle/view blocking area. The woman who was giving instructions to the crowd, before the show started, came down and started yelling at a security guard near me some instructions. The guard then approached me and said I either had to dance in my seat or directly in front of the stage. Now, I’m 6’5”, 240 lbs. It didn’t make sense for me to dance anywhere else as it would block some people who weren’t dancing and obstruct their view. I asked the guard what sense that made and he couldn’t give me any other reason than it was what his supervisor told him to tell me. Overall, a great concert, but the heightened security supervisor was a little...