Opera Pubs and Backstage Tours

I joined Meet Up for business purposes years ago and didn't realize there was an Arts and Theatre lovers group until Irene extended an invite to an Opera Pub.

The Amsterdam Bicycle Club was jam packed and we arrived two hours before the singing started so we could sit as close as possible to the performers.

What a fun night out, listening to professional opera singers belt out tunes in a bar setting. Sitting less than a hundred feet away, it didn't matter that the acoustics were less than ideal. We heard six highly talented singers and tunes from almost as many different operas, accompanied by one pianist. A very unique - and somewhat surreal - experience.

I joined the Theatre Lovers or Culturists Meet Up Group afterwards and am now getting offers for up to 40% off ticket prices (some of which I had already paid full price), as well as invites to unique events.

Rob and I joined a Meet-Up with 100 others for a backstage tour of Massey Hall before it closes for revitalization this coming summer. We toured the empty theatre and were given time to linger in the cramped backstage dressing rooms. I stood onstage and sang a few bars of Oh Canada! to the amusement of fellow tour-takers. Interestingly the theatre didn't seem quite as big from that vantage point, but then again, the seats were empty.


I took a photo of Herbie Hancock's signature etched into the wooden floor.


There have been great acts over the years and some of music's most memorable concerts, including The Greatest Jazz Concert Ever (Charlie Parker/Charles Mingus/Dizzie Gillespie/Max Roach/Bud Powell, released 1968); Neil Young; Gordon Lightfoot. Oscar Peterson and Glenn Gould made their debuts here.

Some notes I pecked on my iPhone: seats are a bit cramped for legroom as the hall opened in 1894 when the average height was 5'5"; when it first opened there were no washrooms whatsoever, those were retrofitted and not many in number; the stained glass was covered in the 1920's as vaudeville required a black box theatre; the Queen's Box became the bar.

We will be going to see Ry Cooder here before the Hall closes - it is scheduled to reopen again in July 2020. When it does reopen I hope it retains the historical character that has made it such a Canadian icon.