July 1, 2010. Paul Goldfinger photo. Blogfinger.net
There was a time, even in the recent past, when the Great Auditorium could have a full house. I’ve seen it with the Choir Festival, but that was perhaps over 10 years ago.
The photo above was probably a concert for Independence Day, but I am not sure.
In the last few years, a number of people have said that the CMA is having trouble getting large crowds to their Sunday services. I don’t have any data on that. But the Choir Festival has not lately been attracting as large an audience as the past. This may be related to COVID.
But if any of you think that the CMA couldn’t fill up that magnificent room, just look at the picture above.
I know that the CMA is no longer interested in large secular concerts, but you can imagine Springsteen or others like him easily filling the hall and bringing in big returns for the CMA.
Maybe you think that this idea is one of those foolish things, but imagine Dylan here singing from his Triplicate album”
I have such great memories going with my grand father and seeing concerts like the Duke Ellington Band, Frank Sinatra Jr., and many more. The acoustics are a amazing and it’s a shame it’s not used for more these days.
The decline of the choir festival probably has to do with the decline of church choirs in general. “Contemporary worship” does not require them and megachurches use them only a “backup” singers for a soloist. There is also the decline of classical music in popularity with fewer wishing to perform or listen to it.
While the rising cost of Saturday night performers was given as the reason for the discontinuance of these events, apparently fear of taxation was the main cause. The Association had to deal with a tax assessment from Neptune on Grove Hall and the Association offices for tax year 2018. While the Association prevailed in court on this, it was decided to eliminate the pay to view shows in the Auditorium for fear of taxation. Mr. Badger admitted this at a public meeting. In 1926, the Auditorium was successfully taxed for showing movies with an admission charge. These events were then promptly eliminated in hopes of removing the assessment, which eventually happened.
I really miss the Saturday night concerts. There were some really great ones over my 20 years here. Mel Torme, Tony Bennett, Neil Sedaka, Sandy Patty, Beach Boys, Feinstein, etc.
Those 50’s concerts where buses of fans showed up in Poodle Skirts and Pompadours. If they ever want to revive them, ask hometown legend and resident Southside Johnny to play. You never know, his friends like frequent town visitors ‘Miami’ Steve, Bon Jovi or even BRUCE just may show up for a set.