...like tears in rain

Blade Runner is one of Fred's favourite films and I'd booked us seats to see the film at the Royal Albert Hall with a live soundtrack. This promised to be a wonderful experience and we had great seats in a box facing the screen. However, it soon turned bad as when the film started, the box to the left of us jostled with four people eating constantly for the hour we sat there. Not only was there rustling and slurping, but also the smell was horrible (meaty hamburger-type smell). Needless to say, we couldn't stand it and left our seats (which a chap at the back of the box was delighted to fill). There were no similar seats empty so we made our way to the top tier where the view wasn't so great, but I enjoyed watching the musicians more closely from a bird's-eye view.

The staff at the Royal Albert Hall were lovely and understanding, but we still write a note to the venue to advise putting their popcorn in something that doesn't make so much noise. I'm not sure what can be done about the hamburgers, except that we won't book box seats in future. I think the audience in the stalls didn't have hot food, just the box people.

This was cinema to be immersed in but that wasn't possible with the folk beside us. It was an experience to learn from and it wasn't anyone's fault as such.

One silver lining is that while waiting for seat re-allocation, a chap came over to ask if we were enjoying the film. We grimaced and said "yes, but..." Anyway, this chap asked if we'd heard of "Film Noir", which we hadn't but he told us he was the author and he'd been on the Blade Runner set every day while it was being filmed. Ooh. We were then taken to new seats so I didn't have a chance to quiz him and had to rely on searching the web for more information. Here's the chap we met: Paul M. Sammon.

Another highlight was listening to the Vangelis score being played live, especially the song that accompanies the end credits.