How to Prom The world's greatest music festival starts tomorrow, and it wouldn't be the same without the wildly enthusiastic - and mildly eccentric - crowd standing in front of the stage, says Ivan Hewett Celebrity performers pick the Prom they'd like to hear Every summer, a strange sight appears daily from around 5pm just south of the Albert Hall. It's a cheerful, faintly eccentric queue of people, all - when the weather is better than it has been so far this year - fanning themselves and looking a bit bedraggled from the heat. Promenerders: mild loopiness and often terrible dress sense These are the Prommers, that happy band who will brave all weathers to get a good place in the arena - the central, seat-free area in front of the orchestra - for the evening's Prom.
Thanks to TV coverage, these "Promenerders", with their mild loopiness and often terrible dress sense, have been seen by millions worldwide. It's hardly surprising that, over the years, the tastes and foibles of the Promenaders have been projected on to Proms audiences as a whole. When Sir Malcolm Sargent wrote an introduction for a BBC history of the Proms, he addressed it to his "Dear Promenaders", and went on: "I rejoice in this opportunity of greeting you and singing your praises the Promenader comes to his concert, not to judge between this performance or that; not to listen for slight defects in the playing he comes to 'enjoy' the music.
And the Promenader is right." But was Sir Malcolm right to praise them? Several critics I know sneer at Proms audiences for praising only "designer labels" - ie, well-known performers.
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