Carols at the Royal Albert Hall - Seats?

[purpledelicious]

A friend told me it's a magical experience, my baby is 10 months old so she will be 1 year and 10 months next year, and I am thinking of braving it
Do you think a bad idea?
I called them and the guy on the phone said 'if your child misbehaves I would advise to arrange babysitting and not bring it with you' (!!)
I mean, the only reason we are going is for our little one to experience it.
Also, surely it should be family friendly?
Anyway he suggested a couple of seats (it's free for infants below 2yrs old) which came to a total of £200 for two adults.
I was thinking I need to pay wayyy less, so if I cant make it, or even if we can make it but my baby wants to leave, I could not feel like I paid SO much money.
Do you have any seating advice for Royal Albert Hall? (or general advice on whether I should go)
In terms of seats, I would want something close to a corridor so aisle for sure

Many thanks and Happy New year to all xx

My DC2 went to this concert at 3 months old, it's perfectly fine and actually good for babies to listen to live music B

Dan Newell is actually a ROH, LSO and LPO trumpeter.

Almost forgot to add - Albert's Band at RAH is awesome, they're one of the best.

It's not just about whether the baby enjoys it though.

We've paid lots of money for tickets only to have a baby howling through a chunk of the performance (it took a while for the parent to do the decent thing and leave).

Yes, I know very well that people are hostile to children at concerts.

Not children that aren’t making noise. If you’re were, that’ll be the reason you met with hostility.

I've been a number of times, with children, and I think you should find a babysitter.

A one year old is not going to experience anything other than boredom once they get tired of looking at the people (maybe 10 minutes in). There are sections of listening to the orchestra for several minutes and I am yet to meet a one or two year old who particularly enjoys classical music or would be engaged by it for that length of time.
Save it until he / she is 5 or older and can sit quietly for a couple of hours and knows a few carols. The other audience members, each of whom will have paid quite a lot of money to be there, will thank you.

A three month old is a world away from a nearly two year old. They are mostly asleep for a start.

I took my three month old on long haul flights. It was an entirely different experience taking a nearly two year old who was mobile and had their own opinions about what they wanted to do.

Not really - people give dirty looks before the start of a concert so their hostility is preconceived.

My autistic DC1 is very quiet and at 2 could sit for hours without making any sounds at all but was never interested in music so we didn't go much. DC2 was going to Bach to Baby concerts from birth, has always been enthralled and by 2 was a more seasoned audience than some adults, and is now specialising in music and dance at national level.

Yet we always got dirty looks from older audience before any show. You demonstrate exactly this attitude.

Oh, no I love children at concerts. Mine have been going since they were tiny. But I would never dream of letting them ruin someone else's experience

Have you watched the video?

The video mostly consists of a poor singer trying to make himself heard over the screaming children of entitled parents. It looks utterly miserable for all involved.

OP is talking about family friendly concert.

I personally wouldn't go to RAH even for a family friendly concert, but only because it's too big and crowded for younger children, the stage is too far etc. It's not the most enjoyable venue imo. Elgar Room at RAH, on the contrary, is perfect for children and Albert's Band plays very engaging concerts there.

Dan Newell was so utterly miserable that he founded his own brass band playing for children only. Frequently at ROH, for the most disgustingly entitled parents.

Sorry. Your baby is too young.

It's an expensive concert. You can't spoil it for other people by taking an infant who won't know what is going on and could quite easily be noisy and disruptive throughout.

I think age 5 really is a minimum for a venue like the Albert Hall.

This isn’t something I’d consider until at least age 5 and even then highly dependent on the level of interest the child holds!

Don't do it at this age. We had a bubbly 2-3 yo child behind us and mother was embarassed with him chatting during singing and decided to leave.
Also there was a lady who I think was breastfeeding in the front row and that was simply weird.

I've never done Carols at the RAH but we go to to My Christmas Orchestral Adventure at RAH every year which is specifically aimed at children. It's fun with a bit of dancing, clapping and jokes but the music is high quality too. We have gone since eldest was 3 and first took dc2 when she was 7 months, she was 2.7 this year and behaved fine. It fills the whole venue and my dcs have never found it too big and crowded. It takes place in early December, we normally book tickets around July and get tickets near the stage as there is often an interactive bit where kids get up and mingle around the stage.

https://www.royalalberthall.com/tickets/events/2024/my-christmas-orchestral-adventure/

We have done Bach to Baby concerts too and they're great. There are lots of other child-friendly classical concert options for babies and toddlers in London to get her used to concerts - Wigmore Hall, OAE Tots at Southbank, LSO Discovery, RAH, Aurora Orchestra at Kings Place (my favourite).

As an alternative idea I did carols at Westminster abbey this year. Was lovely. You had to book but it was free

OP I agree with others - your DD at <2yrs will not get anything out of it and it is not a place for her.

I agree with others - there must be a local church carol service you could go to. DD and I went to one on 22 Dec and it was really lovely. Free and no one would have minded a fussy toddler. In fact there were some and it was fine.

Or another local church does a Journey to Bethlehem event where DC can dress up as an angel or Mary etc and it's really sweet. Maybe look for something like that.

We have gone loads, including with children that age and they have loved it but we always got a whole box at that age (with family) so they can move around and not disturb others. Now they're older we book normal seats. I wouldn't take an under 2 for their sake, wait until they're older. We took them as we went before any of us had children and loved to continue the tradition.

People don't go to the RAH because they are prepared to accept their enjoyment being ruined by misbehaving or overwhelmed children. I think the person you spoke to was right to warn you - they've made expectations / standards clear.

As others have said, there are plenty of other child friendly, magical carol events you can take your child to.

Thank you everyone. My friend did take her two children under 5 (so I think one is 3 and the other one is 4.5) but they did get a box! So maybe this is the qualifying difference here.
The boxes are expensive so I will wait a few years until I consider it again.
Many thanks x

I have been to the sing-along concert every year for the last 10 years or so. It has now become a family tradition! I think my youngest was 3 the first time we went and he loved it. I don't remember my children ever getting bored or restless.