By JIM LAKE
White Rock

On April 19,2024 I went to the Lensic theater in Santa Fe to see Christone “Kingfish” Ingram, a brilliant young blues guitar player. I purchased 3rd row tickets so I would be able to see his finger work on the guitar. Much to my dismay there was a metal barrier a little lower than chest high in front of the stage and people were standing there waiting for the concert to start. When I asked security (security is something I have never seen at the Lensic) I was told they didn’t have seats and paid extra to watch the concert from there. This made it very difficult to see the performance from rows 1-15 or more. I went to the box office between acts to ask when this standing in the front started and was told “it started when Lensic 360 took over, and sometimes the band management requests it”.

During the Kingfish performance multiple people tried to get into the standing area and security turned them away. I heard many people voicing their frustration and I saw at least 20 people leave. The people I was sitting next to drove from Albuquerque to see this concert and left after a few songs in the Kingfish set. Towards the middle of the Kingfish set a patron and a security guard got into a heated argument because the patron was very frustrated that he couldn’t see and wanted to get into the standing area. Within 5-minutes of that argument another patron and security guard got into a struggle where the guard was trying to escort the patron away from the stage and the patron was forcefully refusing. This altercation came very close to blows being exchanged.

I have gone to the Lensic for concerts over the last 15-years or so and have never seen anything like this. For the most part the patrons that go to these blues concerts are in their 50’s, 60’s and 70’s, we do not want a Guns N’ Roses mosh pit. I paid for seat to SEE Kingfish, not just listen to him; I can do that with a CD. It would have been very helpful for this new set up to be clear on the Lensic website so I could decide if I really wanted to go or if I wanted to purchase a ticket in the balcony.

Kingfish did come into the standing area for a song the same as Buddy Guy does, so I wondered if the standing area might have been at the request of the Kingfish management, as the box office attendant mentioned. If so, Lensic 360 would be wise to refuse or add a riser to the stage so the other patrons can get what they paid for.