I went to a "classical" concert at the Queen Elizabeth Hall on Monday. The music itself (Britten, James McMillan, Part & Bartok) was great (although the Part & Bartok half rather paled in comparison to the Britten & McMillan), with yet another fabulous performance by Joanna McGregor, this time playing McMillan's Second Piano Concerto.
What struck me most though was the appearance of my fellow concertgoers. It is one of the great mysteries of life, but why are the vast majority of those attending classical concerts so odd-looking? Look about you at any classical venue and you could be forgiven for thinking you've stumbled onto the sound stage of Todd Browning's "Freaks". Pale skins, buck-teeth, braces, high-necked blouses, tortoiseshell glasses (always on a chain), great expanses of bushy grey hair, trousers covered in multi-coloured diagonal stripes disinterred from a 1980's kids' chat shows (along with many of the pullovers present), people who think that Laura Ashley cum Goth is a good look. Believe me, when a comparison with the surrounding mass of humanity sees me classed as a veritable Adonis, there is something terribly, terribly wrong with the world.
So, is there anyone out there who can explain why people who enjoy classical music tend to look like the bastard progeny of the school computer club and the Dungeons and Dragons society? And do they really disintegrate when their pallid skins are exposed to sunlight?
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