Posted on 05/27/2012 5:49:46 PM PDT by God luvs America
Anyone else watching the National Memorial Day Concert on PBS??? Annual tradition- takes place on the lawn of the Capitol...announced in the middle of the show that dangerous weather was on the way and everyone should leave in an orderly manner- then they cancelled the show in midstream...
http://www.pbs.org/memorialdayconcert/concert/
Yes, I was watching and crying buckets.
First, the capitol police just asked the crowd to disperse. Then the MC said to follow the directive of the police, but that the show would go on. It did for about five more minutes, then the capitol police ordered the show to stop.
Too bad.
really too bad....my wife and i were saying there are 1000’s of people who travel to DC just for that concert to pay tribute...
i think the only reason they carried on another five minutes was to give PBS an opportunity to cue up last year’s show...it was actually kind of creepy vaguely hearing the PA announcer after the Trace Adkins song...
I was watching and crying, as I always do. At first I was surprised but the weather here, I’m about 20 minutes outside DC, is starting to get crazy. Lots of really strong winds, I’m sure the rain isn’t too far off. It is a shame the concert had to be cancelled. At least we had beautiful weather earlier today for Rolling Thunder.
I am in DC for the event. And its a strong one coming in!
http://www.accuweather.com/en/us/virginia/weather-radar?play=true
That is just way too bad.
We went to see Rolling Thunder downtown in DC today. Had to sort of drag hubby along as he was tired. Ended up walking back over Arlington Bridge and striking up a conversation with a Gold Star mom who was walking back across by herself.
Her son was killed in Iraq in 2008. She was there, to ride in the parade and attend that show tonight. Bless her heart.
I was glad we went, if only to be able to walk with her across that bridge today.
And I have a Harley! Not great in pouring rain with lousy car drivers!
Thank you for being there.
I hope you’re under cover! Stay safe out there.
Obie’s FEMA on steroids. Chicken Little.The sky is falling!!!!
Yes, it’s very emotional. I was watching and was sad to see it cancelled. It really puts those of us who were not in the military in touch with them and the sacrifice they make for us all. May God bless those who have made the ultimate sacrifice for our freedom.
That’s not good!
I was watching it, and the young widow touched me as well. Not good that it had to be cut short, but safety first.
But not surprised either, since what happened last summer with that storm that took that concert stage down, concert organizers much more nervous.
God Bless those who were touched by death while in military service. Your dear ones service and sacriface will not be forgotten.
I remember watching it on TV maybe six or seven years ago when it was actually pouring down rain for quote some time during the show, and they soldiered on.
I dimly remember Barry Bostwick (possibly best known among FReepers as the Mayor in “Spin City” with Michael J. Fox), soaked to the skin in whatever button-down shirt he was wearing, slogging across the stage with a big push-broom between acts, kicking electrical cords out of the way of The Pointer Sisters, and dancing (around puddles) and singing himself in the finest “show must go on” tradition.
I don’t know if it’s quite worth lamenting what seems to be a widespread loss of national will, but I will: I have to say that it saddens me to read this article and see yet another overly timid response to something that could be dealt with just a few years ago.
was sad to see it cancelled- there were a lot more stories that i’m sure people wanted to tell and hear...
one of my best friends was at the concert you spoke of with his little kids....didn’t Bostwick start off the show mentioning how it was pouring all day but they planned on moving on with the show???
The sad thing is that a number of the reflections will not be presented.
Damn there he is holding an umbrella over his head as he announces The Pointer Sisters, right here on youtube, Capitol Fourth, 2001:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ntc7dV4IE6Q
At 2:45 or so, the shot from the back of the stage shows obvious recent rainfall; by 3:30 you can see lots of wet hair and shirts everywhere, and by 4:00 the rain is pounding down so hard that The Pointer Sisters are not just soaked but holding umbrellas as they sing.
*ping* yep here is video of just that, I’ll tell you the truth I didn’t get all the way through the video and had to get myself a belt of bourbon like one of the stereotypes in a 1960’s sitcom.
Rats! I DVR’D it to watch my Spurs.
Watching the replay on PBS now - apparently they continued the original concert after cutting to last year’s replay on the first go-round - now showing what was evidentally the rest of the “real” concert with Natalie Cole singing and lightning flashing - the show must and does go on......
Yep, they continued the concert. So far, looks like a lot of people stayed to watch.
Colin Powell is up right now on my station.
Natalie Cole singing with her father was one of the final performances tonight before they cancelled the show altogether- i saw it live...
you’re watching a replay of last years concert or the start of this years show- when Ellen Burstyn read the letter on stage, after they made the announcement asking people to leave, the place was 75% empty- the was not a single soul on the stairs leading up to the Capitol, which had been completely full earlier...
show was cut short:
It looks like they are mixing footage of last year’s concert with this one because I saw the actor Denis Franz speak but then I saw footage of actor Jason Ritter from last year’s conert
I am getting confused because I just saw Dennis Franz and he wasn’t at last years concert
I thought that was an odd choice to have sing. I couldn’t really see any connection to Memorial Day in her song or her singing with her father. It was a nice number but couldn’t see where it fit into a Memorial Day themed concert.
I’m confused. I started watching after reading it was cancelled here on FR (it was almost over on TV) . Then I watched the full rebroadcast....it wasn’t the same. Jessica Sanchez was on at the beginning of the 2012 concert, right? She was on at the end of the rebroadcast as well. The copyright said 2012 at the end. Gary Sinise said capitol police advised everyone to leave, but they were continuing on with the show. Strange.
Especially when you are dealing with the size crowds at the Capitol concert, there’s a huge difference between pouring rain and thunder/lightning, which is what the DC area has been experiencing tonight. Had there been thunder/lighting in ‘01, that concert would have been canceled, too.
Under the circumstances it is not a ‘timid response’ any more than moving Reagan’s 2nd swearing-in indoors and canceling all related events because it was ‘too cold.’ Sometimes nature just calls the shots.
Okay, here’s what’s happened. I watched the whole thing buffered in my DVR. During the 8pm-9:30pm broadcast, which began live, the concert was indeed cut short. Then PBS played the latter half of the 2011 concert to fill the time.
During the 9:30-11pm broadcast, which was supposed to be repeat of the concert that had just aired live, PBS did this: They began with a recording of the 2012 concert, and then after the reading of the widow’s letter, they switched to a recording of the FULL DRESS REHEARSAL of the night before!
Here’s a giveaway: during the live broadcast (8pm), Natalie was wearing a cream-colored dress, and her hair was pulled up, and she had very dark eye makeup. In the rehearsal, and in the subsequent broadcast on PBS (9:30pm), she wore a red dress, her hair was straightened and hanging loosely, and her eye makeup was much lighter.
I confirmed this by checking a media PR site.
Mr G has been on a stage when it was hit by lightning..... NOT fun! While electrocution isn’t fun in any form, lightning ups the stakes considerably. It was wise to cancel the rest of the performance.
Ah, now it makes sense. It was a great concert whether it was live or the dress rehearsal. Thanks for the explanation, gracious1!
Lightning can reach out as much as fifteen miles from a storm. Not far from where I live, there was a case a few years ago of “side” lightning from a nearby thunderstorm striking in the middle of a Little League game, causing fatalities.
I saw it but the show continued. I cried a few times whiole watchin g that show as I usually do each year. GAry Sinese is a truly good and decent man.
That makes me feel better, to be quite honest. I had assumed that lightning was just as much in the forecast or in evidence back then, as it usually is during an East Coast late-afternoon July rainstorm.
they rebroadcast the second half of the 2011 show- did you see BB King??? the letter from the girl who back to Vietnam to see where her dad died??
that makes total sense...when i was at the concert in 1998 we could hear the dress rehearsal, though it was in the late afternoon, as we were walking around the mall...great job figuring it out...
Here’s a giveaway: during the live broadcast (8pm), Natalie was wearing a cream-colored dress, and her hair was pulled up, and she had very dark eye makeup. In the rehearsal, and in the subsequent broadcast on PBS (9:30pm), she wore a red dress, her hair was straightened and hanging loosely, and her eye makeup was much lighter.
You're good. Most of us - maybe all of us, would have missed that...
Yes, we saw BB King and we heard the letter from the girl who went back to Vietnam with a surviving vet to see where her dad died. That was in the rebroadcast during the 8-9:30ET block.
So if you were like me, and stuck around for both timeslots, you got a real treat!
Unless it's already happened...Isn't all weather, "impending weather"?
no- baseball rain outs are not cancelled by “impending weather”...
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