Concert eavesdropping: As ticket prices go, it’s hard to beat free
Miles and Ashley Sawyer sit outside the Kenley Amphitheater in Layton to listen to Bill Cosby for free on Wednesday, August 6, 2014. (KERA WILLIAMS/ Special to the Standard Examiner)
People sit outside the Kenley Amphitheater in Layton, listening to the Herman's Hermits concert on July 30, 2014. A small group gathers outside the venue on concert nights to listen without buying tickets.
People sit outside the Kenley Amphitheater in Layton, listening to the Herman's Hermits concert on July 30, 2014. A small group gathers outside the venue on concert nights to listen without buying tickets.
Debbie Hartman sits with other outside the Kenley Amphitheater in Layton to listen to Bill Cosby for free on Wednesday, August 6, 2014. (KERA WILLIAMS/ Special to the Standard Examiner)
People sit outside the Kenley Amphitheater in Layton to listen to Bill Cosby for free on Wednesday, August 6, 2014. (KERA WILLIAMS/ Special to the Standard Examiner)
People sit outside the Kenley Amphitheater in Layton to listen to Bill Cosby for free on Wednesday, August 6, 2014. (KERA WILLIAMS/ Special to the Standard Examiner)
People sit outside the Kenley Amphitheater in Layton to listen to Bill Cosby for free on Wednesday, August 6, 2014. (KERA WILLIAMS/ Special to the Standard Examiner)
People sit outside the Kenley Amphitheater in Layton to listen to Bill Cosby for free on Wednesday, August 6, 2014. (KERA WILLIAMS/ Special to the Standard Examiner)
LAYTON — Like the famed swallows of San Juan Capistrano, they return each year.
On a dozen or so evenings throughout the warmer months, just as the sun sets and twilight begins to fall, a small group of people gathers on the lawns in Layton Commons Park, just outside Kenley Centennial Amphitheater. Armed with lawn chairs and blankets — but not tickets — they’re drawn there for the Davis Arts Council’s Summer Nights With the Stars concert series.
Inside the amphitheater, folks pay good money to see the likes of Ryan Shupe and the Rubberband, Indigo Girls, and Blood, Sweat & Tears. Outside the amphitheater?
“You can’t beat free,” said one man sitting on the grass outside the venue, waiting for the Herman’s Hermits Starring Peter Noone concert to begin on a recent summer evening.
Seeing as how it’s an outdoor venue, there’s no practical way to prevent the music from seeping out of Kenley Amphitheater and into the surrounding park. Which is what attracts this particular penny-pinching crowd.
It’s the cheapskate concert-goers. Or, “frugal,” as many of them prefer to be labeled.
Kirt Bateman, executive director for the Davis Arts Council, which presents its shows at the Kenley Amphitheater, says folks have been sitting outside his venue — at every show — ever since he joined the council in 2008.
“And I assume it’s been happening since the amphitheater was built,” he said.
Bateman says the phenomenon doesn’t bother him, and if it bothers anyone else on his team, no one’s ever brought it up.
“I think maybe at first I wanted to capture every ticket sale that I could back then,” he said. “But no, it doesn’t bother me that people sit out there.”
Bateman acknowledges that there may be people who think sitting outside a venue and listening to a show for free is unethical at best. But he’s not about to wade into that bar fight.
“I think that there are probably patrons who might feel annoyed — like somebody stealing cable, that might be a good way to put it — but ultimately, in my view, that’s everybody’s individual decision,” Bateman said. “There’s no law-breaking happening.”
Bateman does recall hearing that back in 1996 or ’97 — when the amphitheater was first built — there was an early attempt to crack down on these freeloaders.
“I did hear a story when I first started that they tried to get some sort of radius around the amphitheater where people couldn’t sit,” he said. “And it was either illegal, or it was not something the city would approve.”
Ultimately, Kenley Amphitheater is situated in the middle of Layton Commons Park, which makes any kind of enforcement problematic anyway.
“I think we all understand we’re in a public park,” Bateman said.
Nor is the Davis Arts Council alone in this situation. Red Butte Garden, which hosts a number of big-name concerts in its outdoor amphitheater each summer, faces a similar challenge.
“There are people climbing the mountain right behind Red Butte, trying to listen to the shows for free,” Bateman said. “This is not unique to our venue.”
Beverley Larson and her mother, Joan Edmondson, are sitting in lawn chairs outside the amphitheater, waiting for Peter Noone to take the stage. The two Layton women, originally from England, have “attended” a number of the Kenley concerts.
“We’ve been doing it for about three years,” Larson said. “I can sit out here and listen for free. You can’t really see them, but you can hear them.”
Indeed, Larson sheepishly admits she’s never paid to see a show at Kenley Amphitheater. And, she usually brings her 11-year-old granddaughter along, too — three generations of frugal concert-goers, sitting outside the venue and taking full advantage of whatever scientific law permits sound waves to carry distances.
Over the years, Bateman hasn’t seen any growth in the numbers of people sitting outside the venue — nor has he noticed whether it’s the same people out there, show after show.
“It will, of course, be bigger on shows that have a bigger following, but that’s to be expected,” he said.
And, he says, the folks outside have always been “very polite, respectful and don’t cause a problem; they’re not loud and obnoxious.”
Bateman said he doesn’t want to make any assumptions about the people who sit and listen outside his venue, but his guess is that many of them can’t afford a ticket.
“Even a $10 ticket — for a family of five, when you’re struggling economically — that’s a lot,” he said.
As such, Bateman said the arts council strives to offer free concerts on Sunday nights and other times throughout the year.
Luann Evans, of Roy, has been eavesdropping on concerts at the Kenley Amphitheater since the turn of the latest century. She’s heard everybody from David Gates to Three Dog Night, and hasn’t paid a dime.
Well, that’s not exactly true. A few years ago, when the Grass Roots came to town, she broke down and bought tickets.
But the night of the concert, just before showtime, electrical power was knocked out throughout much of Davis County, and the concert was eventually canceled.
“I paid to see that one, and then they didn’t even play,” Evans laughed.
Since then, she’s decided to stick to listening outside the amphitheater for free.
Evans says she usually brings people with her to the concerts. Usually, it’s her husband, Dave. Sometime, other members of the family will tag along.
“It’s usually just the two of us, but we try to get the grandkids out here; they can go over to the park and play,” says Dave Evans, motioning toward the playground just a stone’s throw from the amphitheater.
Luann Evans says she’s been listening to concerts outside the amphitheater since 2000.
“There are times I rode the bus out here, and came alone,” she said.
And when exactly did her husband, Dave, start joining her in this little pilgrimage?
“When I didn’t think it was worth $35 or $40 a ticket,” he says. “That’s when I started sitting out here.”
Luann Evans says they can actually hear the music fairly well from outside the venue. But the one thing they can’t do is see the artist very well — although there are a couple of spots outside the venue from which one gets a partial view of the stage. She doesn’t mind that they can’t see the stage.
“I can’t see that well anyway,” she said. “Bobby Vinton was here one time. He came out to the fence and waved, but I couldn’t tell who it was. Dave had to tell me it was Bobby Vinton.”
Still, sitting outside the amphitheater and listening is nothing like being inside the venue, according to Bateman.
“I think what you’re paying for when you buy a ticket is you’re paying for the whole experience, and the energy inside the theater,” he said. “Even for me, when I’m standing outside the venue … you get a lot of echo around the high school and other buildings, so it’s not the greatest sound experience.”
On rare occasions, Bateman has even been known to walk outside the venue and hand out tickets to the cheapskate concert-goers.
“I guess my hope with that is that if they come inside and really have a wonderful time, they will be a future patron,” he said.
Contact Mark Saal at 801-625-4272, or msaal@standard.net. Follow him on Twitter at @Saalman. Like him on Facebook at facebook.com/SEMarkSaal.