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Yeah that sounds harsh, but don't get me wrong, my wife and I actually love Jesse Cooke and own some CDs of his that have set the mood for some memorable nights at our house -  of course when the kids were out that is! But this last March 5th at Massey Hall, I wish Jesse had just simply not come to Toronto, and now I don't want him to return - at least to Massey Hall.

Rewind two months when the concert was announced, my wife, in her loyal fashion to beautiful musicians rushed one morning to the computer and purchased one of the last two tickets to what was sure to be an excellent show. She gleefully told me that she bought just in time because the next two seats were what the ticket office sales staff called "partially obstructed view". 

"Wait a minute Honey" I said, "You mean we just bought the two tickets right beside the seats with obstructed views?" She said yes, but not to worry, the agent assured her that our tickets were not obstructed views. I told her then, that I doubted that and if it were me, I would have passed on those tickets and went to a scalper if we really wanted to go. "Well it's done" she said, with a satisfied smirk on her face.

I have been to Massey Hall several times including a magical night in front of an little known Irish band way back in the 1980s, just before their album, The Unforgettable Fire caught, well fire, and set the band called U2 into a big stadium venue from them on. I was on the main floor for that concert and never sat down. The last few times we were at Massey Hall, we saw some decent acts and happened to always sit dead-on square to the stage. Never had a problem and actually appreciated the historic atmosphere at Massey Hall.

Back to March 6th, 2010. Our seats were not dead-on, they were right balcony closer to the 3rd level fire exit than the stage. As I approached the seats, the 1920s screamed out loud, and I had difficulty squeezing my only moderately sized derriere into that crimped up, wooden out-house looking - stool, for lack of a better description.

• WARNING - When the ticket agents for Massey Hall tell you that the balcony seats are NOT obstructed views, do not believe them. For the sake of your health, and the huge savings, just go get a burger at Kelsey's and then go home and listen to a CD.

As we waited for the show, I wondered how we were going to see Jesse Cooke, because nearly half the stage was underneath us, and to see it would have meant being airlifted 10 feet up and 20 feet forward by some crane that would have to hold me there. At that point, already uncomfortable, I was just hopping that Jesse was going to stand on the other side of the stag, even though logically I knew he would be standing in the middle, out of our view.

Then finally, some beautiful guitar strings lofted into the room, and I knew he was on his way to the stage. Sounded amazing, but we never did see Jesse during that song, or for that matter the first half of the concert. Not only was our view obstructed, we would have sincerely been better off staying at home listening to a CD because the few glimpses we were able to see of Jesse required leaning, bending and contortions not ever intended for middle aged humans. Combined with the horrid seating, I began to feel ill and my back and neck started aching to the point of nausea. What was supposed to be a birthday night out, turned out to be nearly a week of intense back and neck pain, mostly as a result of misleading information about the seats in the right balcony at Massey Hall.

I am now convinced that building needs to get intimate with a crushing ball and crane, and that world class acts like Jesse Cooke should refuse to play there again, because there was a significant percentage of your fans Jesse that felt ripped off, whether it was your fault or not. Please book at Roy Thompson Hall or anywhere else than Massey Hall.