24^th September 2009

 I went with Phyl to the O2 driven by Doug my son in law. As we had time to kill before the doors opened. We went to Star Bucks for a cup of coffee and sandwich, did some people watching. Phyl had a friend and her brother coming to the concert too, but we never did meet up with them.

 The O2 holds up to 20,000 capacity, there were very few empty seats, as far as I could sea. A TV celebrity sat near by, Brian Man who caused a few cameras to start clicking. Cold beer, various drinks, food and water were being taken round before the concert, we declined, as were programmes £15 a time, it had some lovely pictures of Andrea in it, and his guests, orchestra and choir.

 

The time came for the great man Andrea Bocelli escorted by the conductor, (fascinating to watch him bouncing around in his podium!) Marcello Rota, (a frequent guest with the world’s great opera companies); to take his place on the stage and he was greeted with loud applause! How well he looked, I was mesmerised by him, a beautiful smile and posture in a black suite, white shirt and bow tie to match, the applause died down and he began to sing, the moment I had been waiting for, for such a long time, to see and hear him and he was right there in front of me and to the left; I could see every movement, and take in this so wonderful a voice from this man, who is so talented not just by singing but playing many instruments, and loves riding his white stallion horse.

 

His first song was G Verdi “Gli arrendi festiivi” from Nabucco, another Verdi “La donna ĕ mobile” from Rigoletto, and many more too numerous to mention here. Andrea stands with his hands gently closed in a fist by his side, and can be seen to make gentle movements with his right hand so as to keep in time. He would talk to the conductor sometimes before singing, caress the microphone, and he made some movements in his throat too. I was in awe of him; to be so close to see all this at first hand, I was not going to miss a thing, I was completely wrapped up the moment, the outside world did not exist, I was totally lost in this wonderful experience, and I am still reeling from it all today!  

 

Andrea had 4 supporting Artist a soprano, Marina Rebeka, who had an amazing voice and looked great in a long brown laced top dress which shimmered under the lights, for the second half she wore a full length red dress with a huge red rosette on her hip. A flautist, Andrea Griminelli, acclaimed by critics and audiences  for his sensitive interpretations and astonishing technique; who played magnificently with his gold flute, and played many pieces, and some with Andrea and Marina; he was dressed in a grey suit with a long jacket, (I like thoes). I was hoping Andrea would change into his white outfit for the second half, that did not happen (well a girl can’t have everything).

  

There was a large orchestra, The British Philharmonic, and a backing choir, Crouch End Chorus. A screen at the back of the stage where camera men were relaying different parts of the orchestra and the artists, during the performance; there was also two screens each side of the stage, for those people who where high up in the theatre, I found the one at the back of the stage a bit intrusive, as I preferred to watch the artists.

 

At one point in the second half Andrea went off the stage only to return again and said, “Sorry, I forgot the programme” which cause some laughter and applause.

 

There were pieces where Andrea, Andrea Griminelli, who played the flute and Marina soprano, performed together.

 

The time came for the concert to end; I wanted it to go for ever as did many others. There were at least 3 encores, ‘I Can’t Help falling in Love with you’ ‘Let this be our Prayer’ and of course ‘Time to say Goodbye’ (well, at this point I became quite emotional) we gave them all a standing ovation which was well deserved! Andrea sang his heart out, bless him!

 

I have taken pictures from the programme which are not very good, as I was not allowed to take pictures during the performance; anyway I would not want to be doing that while listening! Some of the press were sat on the floor beside me taking photographs at the beginning of the concert. The audience were well behaved which did surprise me; as I was expecting applause before he had finished, well at the end that happened a bit, but that was fine.

 

I will definitely go again and hope you too will be able to enjoy such a wonderful experience one day!

 

Coming out of such large area was quite a challenge; traffic was as you can imagine heavy; my daughter Claire was stuck in it so we had to wait a few minutes for her to get to us. I got home at 11 45pm after a great evening!