Mormon Tabernacle Choir concert

The Mormon Tabernacle Choir (MTC) has been nicknamed America's Choir by President Ronald Reagan. They are phenomenal. It's great to hear them sing for General Conference, but even better when you get to hear them give a live concert. The atmosphere, the choice of songs, and the special effects (coordinated movements) make this choir something spectacular to witness in person. This is exactly what Bruce and I were able to do on June 23rd. The choir only goes on tour every two years. Bruce and I happen to live in the right places, and have been able to attend three of their concerts in three different locations.

Four years ago, we saw/heard them in Chicago (a two hour drive from where we lived). We went for Bruce's 27th birthday, and were amazed by their sound. It was an outdoor theater (in a large park), and we only had lawn seats. We could barely glimpse the choir from the angle we sat at. Despite the distance that existed between where we parked on the lawn, and the stage the choir assembled on - their sound carried so well it was as if we were sitting next to them on the stage. A recorded CD does not do the choir justice.

Two years ago, we saw/heard them in St. Louis (a three hour drive from where we lived). We went for Bruce's 29th birthday with some friends from our ward. It has always been a dream for this particular brother to hear the MTC in person. We were happy to have helped him fulfill that dream. This concert was located in the Scottsman Trade center. We had decent seats with a great view of the choir. Some of the songs were identical to what we heard in Chicago. They always sing Battle Hymn of the Republic because the choir won a Grammy award for that song. Other songs (folk songs from various countries), they sing for show. Either way, we heard some new songs and were once again amazed by their tremendous sound and diction.

Last week, we saw/heard them close by our area in Philadelphia (45 minute drive from where we live- this includes traffic delays). We went with some co workers of Bruce, Rod and Barbara Gilbert. Rod is a huge classical music fan. When Bruce asked him if he liked the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, Rod's face lit up as he responded that the MTC was one of his favorite choirs. Bruce quickly invited him to come to the concert with us. They were just as excited as we were. The concert was held at the Mann center - also an outdoor theatre.

Bruce and I waiting for the concert to begin.


Rod and Barbara were singing along with most of the songs, including Come Come Ye Saints, a Mormon pioneer classic. The concert was phenomenal. We heard some new songs (some of the songs won't be released on CD until January of 2012), and enjoyed some of the classics. In my opinion, no choir sounds better than the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. What an amazing experience that we are grateful to have participated in.

Me with Rod and Barbara

It's funny that we had to move to the mid-west and the east coast in order to hear the MTC in concert. I guess they don't do concerts in Utah like the ones we've seen here.

I do have to relate a funny story about the chairs we are sitting in. It's probably only something that would happen in Philadelphia. :) We got to the concert 1.25 hours early so we could pick out good lawn seats. We found some seats that had a straight on view of the choir, unpacked our picnic, opened our chairs, and sprawled out ready to enjoy the concert. The grass sloped a little down hill. We joked that if I fell out of my chair, I would probably keep rolling all the way down until I hit the bar separating lawn seats from theater seats. An usher who worked for the Mann theatre came up behind us with a yard stick and started measuring the back of our chairs. He mumbled that Barbara's chair was a little too close, Rod's was pushing the border line, and mine was definitely way over. At first we thought he was commenting on how much they leaned forward and that he thought we might actually fall out of the chairs. Then he told us we had to move back because our chairs were too high. WHAT?? Apparently, there is a 25 inch limit on the backs of chairs. If your chair back exceeds that limit, you have to move to the back of the grass area so that people behind you can see. Hello!! I thought that was why we came early so we could get good seats? At this point we were eating our picnic dinner and didn't want to stop just to move our chairs further back. Ten minutes later "yard stick Stanley", as Barbara and I named him, was back measuring our chairs and telling us we needed to move back. We told him we would after we finished eating our dinner. Needless to say, we did move back; only to have Stanley tell us we needed to move back further because our chairs were still too high.

I still don't understand what the height of your chair has to do with it. My head is in the same position whether I am sitting in a tall backed chair or a short backed chair. The chair height has nothing to do with how high up someones' head is. It's the heads you can't see over, not the chairs. Some people sat in front of us that had low chair backs. Do you think I could see over them? NO!! They were tall people. It matters how high your head sits up, not how high the back of your chair sits up. We had to move our chairs again so that we could see over those who had short chairs. Random!! Next time we'll know to bring short chairs and sit up as tall as we can. Ha!