University of Virginia Library

Temptations Concert Causes
Frustration, Anger In Crowd

By Tom Jenks

Into the Temptations Concert at
seven p.m. on Saturday night
walked an enthusiastic, capacity
crowd, and three hours later out
walked a very disappointed
audience. Enthusiasm for the
concert, which was to have lasted
for two hours, was dampened
largely by the fact that technical
difficulties in the public address
system made it impossible for
anyone to hear what was being said
and sung on the stage.

When the first performer, Flaky,
came on, it became painfully
obvious that there was some fault
in the sound system, and for one
hour and forty-five minutes
thereafter the show was repeatedly
halted in hopes of correcting the
difficulty. Impatient and tired,
many people got up and left, and
others shouted out in anger and
disgust.

By this time The Marvellettes
were noiselessly socking it to no
one, and tension was beginning to
build in front of the stage, as the
University policemen and the
University Union ushers failed to
clear the rowdy, milling crowd.

Unable to hear from their seats,
a segment of the audience,
primarily black, began to move up
in front of the stage. Some brought
their chairs and sat down, while
others stood up or just milled
about, adding to the general
confusion and completely
obscuring the view of nearly
everyone in the front row seats.

Already unhappy at the delays
in the show and the defect in the
address system, the people in the
front rows became even more angry
at the seemingly unmovable crowd
that was gathering in front of them,
and the situation began to take on
almost racial overtones. While a
rather ominous grumbling began to
spread through the audience,
various individuals repeatedly asked
ushers and policemen to come to
their aid but received not even the
slightest attention or results.

Finally, when The Marvellettes
went off at approximately eight
forty-five, the concert was stopped,
and George Shipley, President of
the University Union, appeared on
stage to apologize for the delays
caused by the fault in the address
system and to say that the show
would resume shortly with The
Temptations. The trespassers up
front were made to either sit down
where they were or to return to
their original seats; however, the
technical difficulty was never
resolved, and the show went
somewhat lamely on.

The Temptations came on and
apparently made the best of a bad
thing, putting on a show that would
have been excellent had it not been
for the faulty address system and
the slowness of the University
policemen and the University
Union ushers to respond to the near
crisis in the front rows. Facing a
cold and enured audience, The
Temptations worked themselves
into a sweat, producing more of a
warmth in the hall and receiving an
average amount of applause and
response for such songs as, "My
Girl," "You're My Everything," "I
Wish It Would Rain," and all of
their other well-known hits.