Jason, one thought that strikes me is that it's nice to go to opening night, but that's five months off. How about tomorrow night? Nice program with the Brahms Violin Concerto and the Prokofiev 5th Symphony. As to seating, although I've traveled all over the world, I've actually never been in Philadelphia and don't know the hall. I've never sat behind the orchestra and the idea really doesn't appeal to me. The farther and higher from the orchestra that you sit, the higher the proportion of reflected as compared with direct sound, although even up front there's more reflected than direct. Incidentally, this is why the use of DPLII, etc. to reproduce ambience present in a stereo recording from the side and/or back speakers can actually give a more natural effect than hearing everything from the front speakers.
When I was a stoont, of course I couldn't afford to go to many concerts if I would buy tickets up front. That's been fixed, and I now sit a lot closer, but I'd guess that in your situation there'd be little difference between the sound in tier 2 or tier 3.
