Sex And Drugs And Rock And Roll

Okay, Only One Of Those Three Is Correct
     And even then it isn't completely correct.

Conrad Visits The Bridgewater Hall
     Allow me to present the Hall from outside:

That great big pointy thing is the "apex"

     The apex points directly at the golden sphere atop Manchester Town Hall, and the line it makes runs directly under the conductor's podium.
     The flooring is of limestone imported from France, containing copper pyrites and fossil shells:


And it shows no wear at all after 18 years of use

     It is only ever mopped clean with water, no nasty chemicals at all.

     Next, the Doors.  No, not the band! the doors:

Doors made of flamed bronze, frame of distressed bronze

     They are extremely heavy and solid and take quite an effort to open.  This is in part due to the need to prevent noise from getting into the auditorium.

Next, the Undercroft.  To access this we had to descend several staircases, until we were level with the towpath outside the building.

     The flooring is all loose gravel, which acts as a "sound sieve".  Atop each pillar - and there are 300 of them - is a box containing springs, which physically separates the Hall from the foundations:

     Thus the building is described as "floating".  The idea is to prevent any noise being transmitted via the ground to the auditorium, and it works.  All you can hear in the Undercroft is the background hum of electrical gear, despite being next to a busy main road; also, several trams had gone by whilst we were underground - completely un-noticed.  The idea comes from Japanese anti-earthquake technology and is executed via German technology and British construction.  You can also see acoustic cladding above the spring boxes.
     Our guide explained that when the Arndale Bomb went off, nobody working inside the Hall had any idea it had gone off - acoustic shielding, you see.  Conrad smells a bit of an urban legend here but he lets it go in the spirit of harmony ...

We then moved to the Fourth Floor, looking down on the marble structure dubbed "Ishinka" or touch-stone, and whilst we watched a passing couple did indeed touch it, to the barely-concealed glee of our guide.

    It is covered with a resin that protects it from the elements and anyone wielding a spray can or cold-steel chisel.

     We got a potted history of what had stood on the site previously, including Lower Moseley Street Bus Station:

The Bus Station in it's gimcrack glory

     Plus a couple of pubs, including "Tommy Ducks".  Conrad remembers the indignation and outrage when this pub was demolished overnight without any public consultation - but let us not get sidetracked into conspiracy theories ...
     The upper right of this photo shows the Central train station that went on to become GMEX.

We then went into the auditorium itself, where normally silence prevails - not so today, the Halle were setting up ready for a rehearsal and periodically gigantic percussive noises went booming across the seating.

Note organ in background - you couldn't see this during the Eels concert

     Our guide informed us about a few of the acoustic characteristics of the Hall - no echo, with a reverberation time of 2 seconds, and designed so that a singer can sing on stage and be heard perfectly without needing a microphone - Tony Bennett was given as an example.
     The organ is a Danish one, built by Markussen, and all the pipes (5,500 of them) arrived wrapped in tissue-paper.  Tours of the organ are only rarely done for groups of no more than 4 people, so Conrad suspects that E had previously arranged to "sneak" into the booth and play it, given how protective the Hall is of their organ.
     Our guide - whose name I forgot to ask, bad show Conrad, bad show - said that the only kind of performance the Hall cannot stage is Grand Opera, as they lack the facilities for staging the huge choirs such a performance needs; she mentioned something by Wagner that I've forgotten.  Iolanthe?  Lohengrim?  Something like that.


Something like this.
Er - is it me or does Bugs look pretty - nah, it's just me -

Back down to the Circle:

The carpet is blue to evince a marine aspect

     That set of curving, ribbon-like structures is an installation intended to look like the fabric coming off a cotton loom; it seems to be more effective in the dark as it is backlit.
     Next, the Barbirolli Room, which is an enormous single room:

The back wall

    The wall opposite the one you see here is where films are projected, and over in the corner is a Steinway Grand Piano, one of five that the Hall has.  Worth getting on for a million pounds each, hence the signs on them to "Avoid touching"

We then visited the Green Room - just a room, but the posters are intriguing:

Spot the Eddie Izzard one

     If HRH Mrs. Queen visits, this room is given over to her.  Oh, and none of it is green.
     Then we all trooped into "Artist Room 1", see pictures below.  That photo which looks like the pillars of a Roman temple is actually the pillars seen in the Undercroft being positioned:

Then we were able to poke our heads round the back of the stage and see the musicians tuning-up, incidentally creating an horrendous din, before trotting off to one of the Orchestra Rooms where people get changed and dump instrument cases.  Very prosaic:

As I said, "Rock And Roll" is only partly correct, as nearly every other kind of music is performed here.  Conrad will be returning in November to see the Philip Glass Ensemble.


Finally
     Exploiting animals as ever, here's a picture of a cute bunny:

Hubba-hubba!