How early to Prom?

[Guest]

Hi All - first time prommer here

I wanted to attend the soldout prom 61 and was wondering - how early do you need to line-up to get into a sold out prom?

Many Thanks
F

[french frank]

Welcome, FLo711

You've asked in good time. The experts will turn up here and let you know based on what it is (Beethoven 9?).

[Chris Newman]

Welcome, FLo711,

Of course it's only the seats that are sold. For most Proms without a ticket I find 3.30 is fine for joining the Arena queue. Usually you find yourself halfway down the steps leading to the Arena entrance near the Box Office which means you will end up near the front of the arena. For a sell out popular one you might need to aim at 2.00pm. If being near the front is not important the queue will eventually stretch past Beit Hall (Imperial College) and you can still get in even if it reaches the end of Prince Consort Road (at the bottom of the steps). I hope that is reassuring.

Best wishes
Chris.

[Serial_Apologist]

Welcome, FLo711,

Of course it's only the seats that are sold. For most Proms without a ticket I find 3.30 is fine for joining the Arena queue. Usually you find yourself halfway down the steps leading to the Arena entrance near the Box Office which means you will end up near the front of the arena. For a sell out popular one you might need to aim at 2.00pm. If being near the front is not important the queue will eventually stretch past Beit Hall (Imperial College) and you can still get in even if it reaches the end of Prince Consort Road (at the bottom of the steps). I hope that is reassuring.

Best wishes
Chris.

How long does one queue - if that's not a stupid question, Chris? From 3.30 say, right to the start of the concert? One only asks in order to take certain matters eg not consuming too much liquid before queuing into account!

[Chris Newman]

The Albert Hall staff come along with a raffle ticket for you to keep your place in the queue. Later, if you are in the queue they also sell you concert tickets (if you miss out on that, don't panic, as you can buy one at the door as you go in. The presale is just to speed up the entry). You are allowed to leave the queue for 20 minutes to find loos etc. About three quarters of an hour before the concert the queue is shunted up nearer the door.

The nearest loo and reasonable tea shop is behind the Albert Memorial in Kensington Gardens. If you use the college bar in Beit House you can use their loo, so I am told. Personally, I avoid beer before concerts, S-A, as I do not want to need to rush out . Others might know if they serve tea, coffee etc.

[Serial_Apologist]

The Albert Hall staff come along with a raffle ticket for you to keep your place in the queue. Later, if you are in the queue they also sell you concert tickets (if you miss out on that, don't panic, as you can buy one at the door as you go in. The presale is just to speed up the entry). You are allowed to leave the queue for 20 minutes to find loos etc. About three quarters of an hour before the concert the queue is shunted up nearer the door.

The nearest loo and reasonable tea shop is behind the Albert Memorial in Kensington Gardens. If you use the college bar in Beit House you can use their loo, so I am told. Personally, I avoid beer before concerts, S-A, as I do not want to need to rush out . Others might know if they serve tea, coffee etc.

Chris, thanks ever so much for going to all the trouble to respond at this late hour!

Bws

S-A

[cavatina]

For most Proms without a ticket I find 3.30 is fine for joining the Arena queue.

From what I remember as a day tripper the last week of 2009, this sounds about right. It's not as bad as it sounds...if you bring things to do (or enjoy daydreaming in the sun and breeze), it doesn't feel as if you're queuing at all.

One only asks in order to take certain matters eg not consuming too much liquid before queuing into account!

If you go to the pre-Prom talk at the Royal Academy of Music at 5:15-5:30, you can find loos there as well. I've never had any problem using the facilities in Beit: one on the ground floor by the bar, one on the third floor by the exercise studio. For what it's worth, there's also a shower up there too: I've gotten in the habit of taking a quick one right before the talk just to "wash away the day"... sort of a nice little preparatory ritual, when you think of it.

[bluestateprommer]

For FLo711, remember also that the Gallery queue is an option, if the Arena queue looks potentially overwhelming. The Gallery queue starts "northwest" of the start of the Arena queue, and snakes down a back road. There aren't as many spots for Prommers in the Gallery, but the Gallery queue tends to be shorter. I got there last season for the Berlin Phil/Rattle concert of Mahler and Beethoven something like at 3:50 PM on a Friday, and the queue was already a ways down the back road, but I still got in with room to spare.

[cavatina]

For FLo711, remember also that the Gallery queue is an option, if the Arena queue looks potentially overwhelming. The Gallery queue starts "northwest" of the start of the Arena queue, and snakes down a back road. There aren't as many spots for Prommers in the Gallery, but the Gallery queue tends to be shorter.

And if you're going to the Gallery, don't forget your yoga mat and binoculars! It adds a lot to the experience.

[PhilipT]

The nearest loo and reasonable tea shop is behind the Albert Memorial in Kensington Gardens.

The nearest loos are up the stairs at Door 12, but there are only two and there's often a queue for them at the top of the stairs. On busy afternoons I'd suggest going to Beit instead as it may be quicker and it'll take the pressure off that queue. Bear in mind that there's a back door to Beit close to the head of the Gallery Day queue, but it isn't always open.

Whether the Cafe Consort up the stairs at Door 12 is a reasonable tea shop is a matter of opinion.

[french frank]

Perhaps a convenient thread for an interjection on promming. The global fame of some of our members is breathtaking!

Regarding the photo (question from an ignoramus) - is that the gallery at the top, and does it go ... all the way round?

[PhilipT]

Perhaps a convenient thread for an interjection on promming. The global fame of some of our members is breathtaking!

Regarding the photo (question from an ignoramus) - is that the gallery at the top, and does it go ... all the way round?

Shame they couldn't spell Shelagh Cohen's name properly.

Yes, that's the Gallery (with the arches) at the top, but you can't go all the way round - some of those arches close to the organ pipes are projected not real.

[french frank]

Yes, that's the Gallery (with the arches) at the top, but you can't go all the way round - some of those arches close to the organ pipes are projected not real.

Thank you - that's good enough. I wasn't planning a complete circumambulation, but I'd always imagined - with no evidence to go on at all - that the promming area was confined to the back of the hall. It's therefore more extensive than I'd thought.

[PhilipT]

It's quite large. I've long recommended that parents bringing very young children to their first Prom should go to the Gallery (five-year-olds can do steps!) and go round to one side, where they can look down on the orchestra through the gaps in the railings and see what's going on, but still have room to fidget or move away if they get bored. One unsubstantiated rumour is that the Gallery can hold over 1000 people standing, but that numbers are limited to 505 by fire regulations. Another has it that, before the refurbishment of the organ, if a particularly rare note/stop combination was used, Gallery dwellers close to the pipes were showered with years of accumulated dust.

And while I'm at it, the next time you're in the Gallery Day queue stairwell at Door 10, take a look vertically upwards. Notice anything about the size and shape of the stairwell? They are coffin stairs - if someone dies up in the Gallery there's just enough room to lower the coffin down the stairwell instead of having to hump it down the stairs. The RAH was designed by a Victorian engineer, and it shows.

[cavatina]

They are coffin stairs - if someone dies up in the Gallery there's just enough room to lower the coffin down the stairwell instead of having to hump it down the stairs.

Wait, what? You mean at the RAH, they'll bring your coffin up to you instead of bringing you down on a stretcher?

Well, I suppose if I faint on the stairs again and break my neck at the bottom of the Grand Tier, at least now I know what's going to happen. Thanks Mr. T, thanks a lot.

FF: for the full Promming experience, I highly recommend queuing for the Arena early and trying to get center rail next to the season prommers. I'm sure it would be fascinating to see how you adapt to the environment...definitely worth bringing the binoculars for that one.