Laninga's Travel Blog

With COVID finally starting to slow down, and since we are fully vaccinated, we decided to go to a few concerts.  Both were held  at the Meyerson Symphony Hall, under strict COVID measures.  You had to show that you were vax’ed, or else had a recent negative test, before you could even get in. And masks were mandatory inside the hall and surroundings.  So we felt safe, at least, as safe as could be.

The Beatles

The first concert was a Beatles tribute, put on by a Beatles cover band, accompanied by the Dallas Symphony.  The first part featured both together, arranged to show the Beatles’ music accompanied by the Symphony.  Then at the end, the cover band by itself put up a rocking selection of popular Beatles music.  It was nice getting out!

Lay Family Organ

The second concert was a presentation of the Lay Family Organ.  This magnificent organ, built into the Meyerson Symphony Hall, is one of the world’s largest, with 4,535 pipes.  It is hard to describe just how much sound this instrument can put out!  Rivals all the amplification by big time rock bands.

In the photo, you can see the sound baffle in the ceiling, which looks like a giant horseshoe with lights.  This assembly weighs something like 50 tons, and can be lowered and tilted to make a sound chamber to suit the music.  In the picture, it is all the way up for the mighty organ sounds.  But we have also seen it way down for a more intimate performance, an example would have been the Yo Yo Ma concert.