Sometimes you get what you pay for – and sometimes you don’t. This was one of those times when the high-priced option lost out – big time.

Last night (Feb 22, 2013) – the Montreal Gospel Choir performed for $12 a ticket at Notre-Dame-de-Bon-Secours in Old Montreal. The concert was simply wonderful fun. Not every solo singer was perfection, and the acoustics left something to be desired, but all 40 plus members of the choir put their heart and souls into providing outstanding entertainment. It was simply a rollicking good time. My favorite part – aside from the conductor (Carol  Bernard)’s willingness to have the audience participate – big time  – was the giant image of Mary that overlooks the audience. Somehow I’d like to think that she was having a good time too. For an hour and half (way to short a time if you ask me), the audience sang, clapped, stomped their feet, and generally enjoyed watching this talented group of singers strut their stuff.

Not nearly as much fun was La Pista Tango (Feb 21, 2013) – a high-priced waste of time and money held in Theatre Maisonneuve. For some unknown reason, the powers that be decided that watching Tango wouldn’t be good enough – so instead of just concentrating on dancers, about 90% of the performance was juggling and balancing acts. The problem – we in Montreal are spoiled. We have the Cirque and Tohu if we want to watch acrobats and jugglers – and the performers at the Cirque and Tohu are uniformly top-notch. On the other hand – the performers at La Pista Tango looked like amateurs in comparison. They just didn’t ‘do’ it for me – and judging from the lack of applause – they lost most of the rest of the audience as well. Too bad. Wonder if I can get my money back.