Maybe family or security?
I was just watching a concert at radio city hall on the Internet and I noticed a small section of people in front of the stage. Does anybody know whether these seats are reserved for certain people or not?
If you are referring to the section in front of the orchestra pit it is reserved for very, very special VIPs during selected performances. At least it did back in the 1950s.
This may not be referring to exactly what you saw but in Opera this may be a claque.
CLAQUE (klak):
A group of people hired to sit in the audience and either applaud enthusiastically to ensure success or whistle and boo to create a disaster.