The best backstage tours of concert halls around the world<\/h2> Royal Albert Hall Tour, London<\/h3>
The Royal Albert Hall offers both backstage tours, which take in dressing rooms and underground loading bay, and a front-of-house survey, which I joined. Our guide, a whimsical, slightly Willy Wonka-like man, seemed intent on showing that the 153-year-old arena offers much more than classical fare, as we lingered before historic photos of boxing and tennis matches, circuses, politicians<\/strong><\/a>, authors and pop spectacles (each visitor was also given a handheld tablet featuring additional pictures).\u00a0<\/p> The tour moved to the Royal Box, affording an up-close view of 20 red velvet seats, which the family\u2019s staff are invited to use when the sovereigns themselves have other plans. We stopped in the Royal Retiring Room, a faded lounge lined with family portraits (and soon to receive a makeover). A sizeable chunk of the tour covered namesake Prince Albert<\/a><\/strong>, who is memorialised with a lobby portrait and 15,000 letter As adorning the staircase railings and other nooks.<\/p> When funds ran short in the 1860s, the hall planners sold \u00a3100 seats to donors, each with 999-year leases \u2013 meaning that some boxes have remained in families ever since. Unmentioned was that some seat holders sell their unwanted tickets at inflated prices, a practice that has sparked criticism and scrutiny in the House of Lords.<\/p> Later, we learned how rock concerts were banned for a period in the 1970s, as rowdy audiences nearly caused several ceilings to collapse, and how Pink Floyd in particular were put on the \u2018do not book\u2019 list for neglecting to inform hall management about an on-stage fireworks display.<\/p> A visit to the fifth-floor gallery, meanwhile, included a brief discussion of the fibreglass acoustic diffusers \u2013 the famous \u2018mushrooms\u2019 \u2013 and the once-problematic glass dome. Apart from a brief stop at the donors\u2019 wall, the tour was free of commercial agendas, and an ongoing soundcheck provided the ambience of a working venue as we made our way round.<\/p> ![\"Royal](\"https:\/\/c02.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/43\/2024\/11\/Untitled-design-2024-11-07T120630.849.jpg\")