The Greenwich Odeum — Attraction in East Greenwich

A disappointing night. BUZZ BUZZ BUZZ (and I'm not talking about good BUZZ)

For our 15th Wedding Anniversary, my wife and I purchased tickets to see Bill Frisell at the Odeum. We were so excited because we are big fans of Frisell and the Odeum is our hometown venue...just a few doors down from our favorite restaurant. So we planned a big date for the night of the show: dinner out, a cocktail, Bill Frisell. This would be the first time we went out together since our twins were born 10 months earlier, so we were ready to see some live music and taste freedom if only for a few hours.

The night of the show, our two baby sitters came over (a ratio of one adult to one baby is a good plan with twins baby sitting), my wife and I got all gussied up, and we hit the town! After some absolutely dynamite Indian food, we walked down to the Odeum and took our front row seats (we decided to splurge and buy the best seats for our anniversary/freedom night!).

Now, since the Odeum is my hometown venue, I've been before and I've never loved the sound there. For one band I saw, the sound was piercingly loud, for a film, the sound almost inaudible. So, I did have my reservations about how it would sound, but I thought, "how could they possibly mess up the sound for one amp??" Well I learned how as soon as the first string was plucked. BUZZ

Mr. Frisell was actually using two amps rather than one, and the Princeton Reverbs he was playing through have more than enough power to fill the Odeum. But, not surprisingly, they decided to mic the amps and run it through the PA. This is very normal as this allows the musician to keep the amps running quieter enabling the player to hear better on stage. But unfortunately for absolutely everyone, the stack of speakers stage left had a terrific buzz every time Frisell played through the mid range pitches on his guitar. The buzz sounded like a loose pin or nut/bolt that was holding the rack of speakers together. The buzz was very loud and rattled away through almost the entire performance. It was borderline unlistenable. It took all of my concentration to focus on the music.

If you know Frisell's music and BUZZ playing style, you know that he generally BUZZ plays squeaky clean BUZZ through his amp, focuses BUZZ on nuance and harmony, and creates BUZZ everything from BUZZ ethereal Americana BUZZ BUZZ to spidery-dark cave jazz to evoke a wide range of BUZZ the human experience. BUZZ BUZZ BUZZ Oh, I'm sorry, were you trying to hear my review of Bill Frisell's amazing BUZZ musicianship? There's no nuance in BUZZ, so the entire performance was horribly marred.

Mr. Frisell took one short break prior to an encore during which I left my seat to speak with someone about the sound. The person with whom I spoke told me that they were aware of the buzz (who wasn't??) but that there was nothing to be done. They said they were sure it wasn't their PA and after I suggested they bypass the PA and turn up the amps Frisell was using, was assured that that too would cause the buzz. This person was completely wrong. The buzzing was certainly coming from the PA and bypassing the PA would have ended that buzzing!

A friend of mine, also in the audience, happens to know the normal sound person there and got in touch with that person as soon as the show started. Turns out, the main sound person was on another job that night, as was the back up sound person, but both knew about the buzzing coming from the speaker stack. It was found during another performance by a different band earlier in the season. I also came to find out that apparently Mr. Frisell pointed out the buzz at sound check but nothing came of it.

So there you have it. The Greenwich Odeum donkied another show. Anyone surprised? I'd take a refund if they'd give me one, but I'm not sure I'd take free tickets to another show...who...

First, our wallet sized bags were searched in more depth than if we were at airport security. Next, they acted friendly leading us to the bar so we could spend more money on drinks only to be told 15 minutes in to the show we were being distracting by clapping in the back standing room only section. Please note the show was a younger country singer you’d think would be fun. Lastly, after they allowed a creepy fan to follow us out to the main area to harass us, we were escorted out the dark back stairwell with 20 “security guards”, one young girl mentioning how she wanted to trip us down the stairs. Please, for real, if you’re under the age of 80 and have any life left in you at all, even just a little bit, just do something else with your night. I wouldn’t go back if they paid me. I don’t know who these people think they are but if I wanted to stand in the back dark corner without making a sound or moving at all I could do that at home on my couch for free without the mask police by the way. Had a nice thought to support the local venues since living in East Greenwich my whole life, staff seemed kind at first and the place was cute…but hope nothing but the worst for this place now. PLEASE just put a disclaimer on your website so those who are buying tickets will know what to expect, just say no indication of being alive is allowed but your money will be taken with a smile. What a waste of time and money. Thank you Greenwich odeum, for providing a good laugh and an interesting memory of the worst hour and $80 bucks...

CONSIDER THIS A P.S.A. I've attended many shows at the Odeum, but recently noticed a change in the rules about dancing. Previously, one was only allowed to dance in the side aisles, but they've altered this and are now ALLOWING PATRONS TO DANCE AT THEIR SEATS, thereby blocking the view of people behind them who want (or need) to remain seated. Has the Odeum finally acquiesced to the young, selfish crowd who feel that, if they paid good money for a seat, they feel it's okay to block the view of others? Or to the people who get "faced" at the Odeum's bar and do the same? Whatever happened to common courtesy, Odeum staff? No consideration for those who cannot stand all night, or just don't want to? One of the main reasons I attended shows there in the past was because I could actually attend a concert and be able to sit throughout the show. No more. The Narrows in Fall River is now one of the only music venues I know of where it's just an unspoken rule that it's NOT okay to stand and block the view of others, or else an usher will take care of that issue immediately. Thanks, Narrows. No...