After a few beers, we headed over to the winery for the concert. We arrived about an hour before the show and staked out a spot towards the back of the lawn. The Robert Mondavi Winery is a nice intimate place to see a concert. As we entered the winery we were offered free bottled water, this was a nice touch. Between the opening act and UB40, the winery was sampling one of their white and red wines along with an assortment of tasty cheeses. The 2005 Merlot was by far the best wine we sampled all day.
Prior to the opening act, we ended up finding a spot on the wall that was a bit more comfortable than the lawn. Turns out that one of the wineries security guys was sitting next to us. I overheard his friend talking about how they made everyone sit down at the concert last weekend. This made me flash back to the last time we saw UB40 at the Wente Winery in Livermore, CA (when you have a hit with a cover of "Red, Red Wine" you are probably sought after by many wineries).
At last year's UB40 concert, the crowd was very subdued and sat for the first 30 minutes. The band took notice of this and made a few comments. Soon a few of the fans up front got to their feet and started dancing. It wasn't long before security came by and asked the dancing fans to sit down. UB40's guitar player complained that it took them this long to get the crowd on it's feet and now they are being told to sit down. He wasn't very pleased. By the end of the night, with most peoples dinner digested and the wine kicking in, the place was up and dancing. After this flashback I wondered if we would have a repeat of last year.
Pretty much as soon as UB40 hit the stage, people were popping up throughout the crowd and moving to the music. They were swiftly met by the security motioning them to sit down. To make matters worse, I had the overzealous security guy next to me shouting "down in front". When you are trying to listen to music, shouting "down in front" in much more obnoxious than having someone dance in front of you. It wasn't long before UB40's guitarist told the people in front to "stand up and dance, they won't make you sit down". Word must have travelled from the band to security because soon they were moving through the crowd telling fans to stand up and dance.
Needless to say, joe security next to me was pissed about this and started bitching to his friends. A few more songs into the show and the guitar player said, "if you can't see than stand up and dance. we're a dance band, we're a dance band". I silently smiled inside and was glad to hear him say this.
Don't get me wrong, I wasn't even standing but I know that UB40 is a dance band and nothing pleases a band more than to have the crowd grooving to their music and giving back some energy. If I was at a Yanni concert, I could understand wanting people to sit but this is party music. Many bands would prefer to have the audience on it's feet and dancing rather than sitting back like stumps watching the band. Maybe at a Pink Floyd concert but not at UB40.
It didn't take long for practically the entire audience to get up on the feet and moving to the sounds. Even the two couples in their late 60's, who originally tried to get security to make the people in front of them sit down, were dancing like teenagers by the end of the night. Remember if you get confused, listen to the music play.
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