As you may know HMC is firmly entrenched in archaic rules for serving beer at concerts, which simply have no place in the modern world. For those that are not aware it is strictly prohibited to take your plastic cup of beer back to your seat with you. You have to drink it in the
dangerously overcrowded concourse area.
Over the past few years I have had the good fortune to attend high end rock concerts in the following venues:
Royal Albert Hall, London
02, London
Place des Arts, Montreal
Bell Centre, Montreal
Wang Citigroup Theatre, Boston
Madison Square Garden, NYC
In all of these fine establishments, licqour is permitted to be brought back to the seacting area, where the drinkcan be enjoyed at a lleisurely respectable pace. I never once saw a case of excessive or inappropriate alcohol consumption.
But time and time again I see at the HMC 10,000 fans all clamoring to get a beer during intermission from the grossly inadequate number of sellers and then have to guzzle it in 30 seconds and run back to their seat to avoid missing the second act.
Now you can say well the reason for this is because its dark and it allowing beer in the stands enables uunderage drinking. But guess what? If kids want to drink at concerts they will surely find a way to do so. So that argument is old and tired and just does not wash.
So my question is when are we as a city going to make the bold leap into the 21st century and get up to speed with the rest of the civilized world?
Maybe since the BNS took over naming rights they can exert some influence there. One can only hope. —End the Binge drinking if you have the guts to make a real change
This article appears in Jul 24-30, 2014.
Decent bitch, OB.
It’s probably not the HMC, though – talk to the NS gaming and alcohol division. They can be tough nuts to work with and are quite rigid in their rules and policies/procedures.
All those venues are in other jurisdictions with different laws. HMC have to follow NSLC laws.
IS it different for the hockey games? They let you take beer/ drinks to your seat as long as its covered while you walk it there.
Maybe it IS an issue with the lights being off?
Stick a pint of the hard-stuff down your drawers and spike your pop like the teenagers. Or just get off the poison.
A flask in your pocket works well *shrug*
Works, all too well.
Pretty sure it is because of the lights… I know I wouldn’t want to be doused by some wobbly, phrat bro drunkard trying to get back to his seat. Lights are on for the games so there seems to be no issues. It’s overpriced anyway and not really even worth it.
Michael Murphy, I agree with you to a point, but the issue is typically overblown by people who want to see booze sold in corner stores, which once you have it, is like everything else sold in corner stores: priced ridiculously high, popular varieties only. It’s not Nanny Stating.
The Metro Centre should allow booze on the floor though at Hockey games at least. It would make hockey bareable.