BBC Proms, classical concerts for the masses.

On Tuesday we went to a BBC Proms concert. These are a series of concerts throughout the summer. The final concert of the summer will be held in Hyde Park on Saturday, but from what I gathered most of the concerts were held in Royal Albert Hall. We got what were called "prom" tickets, meaning we were standing. I don't think a "standing room" ticket for any classical concert would fly in America, but from what I saw here in London, there were people positively giddy to be there. One person in front of us was literally jumping up and down in delight when the conductor came back for the second encore.

The Vienna Philharmonic was playing. I'm not a huge classical music fan, so I couldn't really appreciate it fully, but I did enjoy most of it. There were some parts here and there that got tedious, but otherwise it was good. Standing for 2.5 hours, though, was tough, and at least two people passed out and fell on the floor.

The season finale for the Proms was last night at Hyde Park. Official counts estimate approximately 40,000 people were in the park for the event, and it was broadcast on one of the BBC channels (1 or 2, I can't remember).