Umbrellas or No Umbrellas at the Bandshell?

I'm a little confused about the umbrella policy at the bandshell. When I saw Halle and Selif Keita it poured and there was a beautiful moment when pretty much everyone seated in front of the stage hoisted their umbrellas at once. Thinking of it now brings to mind the Umbrellas de Cherbourg and makes me very happy.

At a really crowded event, I suppose you might wind up with a number of umbrella related injuries no matter how metaphorically rich umbrellas may seem at times. Sharp point + eye level + big crowd = OUCH. Maybe that's why my friend wasn't allowed to bring hers into the Feist concert, which must have been packed. Apparently when she protested she was told in a rather impatient way "that she'd have to get wet, like everyone else."

A nice addition to the outdoor concert goer's wardrobe might be one of those emergency ponchos you can get for a few dollars. If you're reluctant to blend in with a sea of plastic you can personalize it with a Sharpie. Or perhaps some people would prefer to just get wet, like the rest of us. Or, if someone has extra paper plates, maybe this is the way to go.