A civilized evening with Sting

This will be a short one since I typed out a whole posting about the Sting Symphonicity show with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, only to find it erased when I tried to post.  Sigh. Sometimes, I just clearly don't understand computers.

Friday evening we saw the show at the Wiener Stadhalle, a new venue for us.  And in addition to it being a really good show (save for a couple of songs that just didn't translate well into orchestral arrangements), we were amazed at how civilized arena shows can be here in Vienna.  First, the combination of a noted orchestra plus noted performer that's not too new-fangled? Purely perfect for Vienna.  Second, as with everything in Vienna, there was ordnung ("order") the whole time - people calmly taking their seats, butts in seats so that everyone could see, beer and wine in mugs with canapes sold at the arena concession stands...And finally, when Sting performed "Fragile", the lighters came out.  Not just cell phone screens, though there were some of those, but old-fashioned lighters.  And not just a few - but hundreds and hundreds - the arena lit up like fireflies in the sky.  I don't think people in the US even carry around lighters anymore, either because they don't smoke, or because holding them up at a show wouldn't be allowed due to the potential fire hazard.  But it makes for a lovely sight.