Welcome to English as a second language podcast, number fourteen.
My name is dr.  Jeff McQuillan, Coming to you from Los Angeles, California, at the center for educational development.
If this is your first time listening to this podcast, please go to our website “www.eslpod.com” to find out more information about this podcast.
Today’s podcast is the first of a two part podcast, talking about going to a concert and music vocabulary, But also some general vocabulary that we use in informal settings.
Tomorrow will be part two of the podcast.
Let’s get started, we’re going to listening to Lucy, describing her experiences at a concert.
I heard on the radio this morning that my favorite band was going to be in concert here next month. I was so excited. The first thing I did was to call my friend Ben who is also a big fan of the band. Not only was the band playing in town, they were going to play at a bar, called the Whiskey. The Whiskey is known as a small, intimate venue so we’d be able to get close to the band. It’s not a big amphitheater where you can’t even see the band from the nose-bleed section. This would be the ultimate concert experience…if only we can get tickets.
I was sure that the tickets would sell out fast when they went on sale on Saturday morning. So, Ben and I decided to camp out in front of the box office on Friday night. That way, when the box office opened on Saturday morning, we would definitely get tickets. We grabbed a bite to eat on Friday night, then we got dressed in our warmest clothes and took our sleeping bags to the ticket office. This was around 8pm. When we got there, I couldn’t believe it! There were already about 15 people in line! And, I was sure we’d be the first ones. Oh well.
Ben and I got into the back of the line and we barely got any sleep all night. We talked to the other people there and we just hung out all night. Nothing got out of hand, though, so we didn’t get hassled by the cops. By morning, there were more than 50 die-hard fans in line.
Well, it paid off. When the box office opened at 9 am, we filed up to the window one by one and got our tickets. It was all worth it. I heard afterwards that the concert sold out in less than a half hour! I’m so glad we braved the elements and camped out. I really can’t wait until next month!

متن توضیحات انگلیسی Eslpod 14 going to a concert I

In today’s podcast, Lucy described how she and her friend Ben waited in line to get tickets for a concert. There were several vocabulary terms she used that we often hear in talking about concerts and music and some, in a more general sense.
Let’s start off with the expression “to be in concert”.
When we say a musical group (a band) is going to be coming to your town, we say that they are going to be in concert here. So, for example, a few years ago, The Rolling Stones came to Los Angeles. They were in concert. we can also say, “They are in concert at” and then give the name of the place. So, they are in concert at Dodger baseball stadium. Another for the place where you hear music is venue.
Lucy mentioned how she was going to a bar that was a small intimate venue. Here intimate just means you are all very close to each other in the place.  Venues can be bars, a music venue could be a concert hall, a music venue could be anywhere where you  play music and listen to a concert. Lucy mentioned that “it was not a big amphitheater.” Amphitheater is a huge or a very large theater for listening to music. It’s traditionally associated with the amphitheaters of an ancient Greece that were built up on a side of a hill were the great Greek tragedies and comedies were seen.
We use the term now however, to mean any huge auditorium large place for listening to music. Lucy mentioned that, “she was hoping they would get tickets that were not in the nose-bleed section.” This is an informal expression which means a place so far up, so far away from stage that you get a nose-bleed from it.
A nose bleed of course is when blood comes out of your nose. If you go up to a very high place, you sometimes can get a nose-bleed. So, the nose-bleed section is way far away from the stage, High up in the venue. Lucy mentioned that “They needed to buy tickets and wait in line before they would sell out.” To sell out means that you sell all the tickets that are available. So, we often say, “That band is very popular. their concert is sure to sell out.” Meaning, all of the tickets will sell very quickly. When the tickets do sell, we say, “The concert is sold out.” The expression “to sell out” usually refers to tickets. However, sometimes we use the expression “to sell out”, to mean to compromise your principles, to do something that is against your own beliefs for money or for some rewards, but here it just refers to tickets. Tickets, when they’re ready to be sold, go on sale. The expression “to go on sail”, applies not just to tickets, but to anything that a store or a place is selling. It actually means two things. To go on means they start or begin selling a particular ticket or a particular thing. To go on sail can also mean that it’s being sold at a discount. So, for example, the department store has put their pants on sale. They went on sale yesterday. To put on sale is another expression that means the same thing. Where a store puts things on sale, meaning they discount the price. So, two meanings for the term on sale here. It just means they began to sell the tickets. Lucy and Ben described how they camped out in front of the box-office. To camp out means literally, to go and stay and sleep over night outside, outdoors. Sometimes in very popular concerts, they’ll be people who are camped out for the hole night, sometimes a couple of days in order that they’ll be the first people in line when the tickets go on sale. The box-office is the term that means where tickets are sold. It could be movie tickets, it could be music tickets, it could be theater tickets. All of those venues, all of those places use the same term “box-office”. It’s where we buy our tickets. Lucy mentioned that she and Ben grabbed a bite to eat. That expression “to grab a bite to eat”means to get something to eat. it’s an informal, colloquial expression meaning, getting something to eat, usually not a big meal, usually a small meal, Well small for Americans. Lucy  mentioned that they didn’t sleep much last night. So, they just hung out. “To hang out” means to be with other people in a very relaxed, informal setting. We were hanging out at the cafe yesterday. Meaning: We were sort of wasting our time talking, not in a big hurry, very relaxed. Lucy mentioned, “Rather that nothing got out of hand.” This expression “to get out of hand” means to get unruly, to get rowdy, to get violent, to get noisy. “Not to let something get out of hand” means not to let something go to such extend that you can no longer control it. It literally means something falling out of your hand. But here it means that nothing got violent or nothing was out of your control. She mentioned that They did not get hassled by the cops. These are two informal expressions. “To hassle someone” means to bother someone. So, you may say to your friend, “Don’t hassle me about going to the Jim.” I know I have to go.” Meaning: “don’t bother me about that.” The cops is an informal slang expression referring to police officers. It’s a slightly negative expression, but many people use it to refer to police officers.  Die hard fans was another term that Lucy mentioned. She said, “there were many diehard fans.” Well, die hard, -like the famous popular movie a few years ago- means someone who is very committed, Someone who is very serious about something. When it’s used together with the word “fan”, it means someone who is fanatical who loves this particular group or thing. So, you can say, “I’m a die hard fan of football. I’m a diehard fan of YouTube.” All of these mean the same, Someone who’s very interested in that thing or person. A couple of more expressions, Lucy said that, “It all paid off.” In other words, “to pay off” means to be successful. I hope that the work I put in to this project, pays off, Means I hope it is successful. Finally, Lucy mentioned how she and Ben braved the elements. “To brave the elements” means to go outside where the weather is not very good. It may be raining, it may be cold, it may be snowing. To brave the elements then, to go out in to bad weather. Well, that’s going to conclude our Esl podcast number fourteen. Our podcast get a little bit longer every day. Sometimes, they’ll be five to seven minutes, sometimes they’ll be ten to fifteen minutes. Once again, if you are listening, we encourage you to email us your suggestions and ideas to “eslpod@eslpod.com” or go to our website “www.eslpod.com” and our email address is found there as well. Thank you again for listening and we’ll see you next time.
Esl podcast is produced by center for educational development in Los Angeles, California. This podcast is copy right 2005.