This past Thursday (June 9) was a good day. I turned in grades for the class I was teaching (at a very dysfunctional university, but that’s a story for another time) and attended a Andrea Bocelli concert with my friend Kelley (originally the evil twin was to go with me, but that’s also a story for another time).
I would rank the Andrea Bocelli concert in the middle of concerts I have seen over the years. Not the best, but not the worst, but it was certainly one of the weirdest. It was held at the Target Center and apparently there were about 10,000 people in attendance. The official start time was 7:30pm and we arrived at 8:03pm due to parking issues (I got to try to parallel park, something I have not done for years) and we figured, well no worries, as concerts never start on time and there is always an opening act. Not this time. There was no opening act and apparently he started at 7:50. Which is odd as to why an Italian would be starting to sing so early and almost on time. Then the intermission came at 8:30pm and was for 20 minutes. Then the concert ended at 9:30. No, that’s not a typo, 9:30pm. I have never been to a concert that ended so early. Now Andrea does have a lovely voice for opera and the first half of the concert were all opera songs in Italian, which included the song from La Boheme. After the intermission he did movie songs, which were nice, but he really does not have the voice for pop songs or non-opera songs. He sang songs from Phantom of the Opera, West Side Story, etc. He also had a lady violinist, a lady opera singer, a couple that danced to two songs, and a Cuban opera singer who was not very good and thought she was a pop diva or something (she also had really strange fingernails). There was no program and no names were really given out, so I have no idea who these people were. Andrea did not talk to the audience and had the conductor of the orchestra introduce the Cuban singer. Does he not speak English? The weirdest thing was that he needed to be escorted on and off stage after every other song. Yes, I know he is blind and all, so why move at all? So he would sing a song or two and then leave. Why could he not stand or sit there when he was not signing? As I remarked to Kelley, we brought up the median age of the crowd (who were mostly in the 60s and 70s) and it was weird to go to a concert where everyone sat in their seats and were not drunk, like the past two concerts I have been to (Madonna and Garth Brooks). But by far the strangest thing at the concert was the music video at the end. Imagine if you will a video showing a desert landscape the entire time with a horse, then Andrea, then a astronaut, then a kid, then a Roman Gladiator, then two airplanes, then Andrea walking, then Andrea riding the horse, then John Travolta, then a woman in front of an image of the Taj Mahal, then Andrea riding the horse, then an Asian kid, then John Travolta again, etc. It was truly bizarre. Kelley and I were laughing and I kept thinking “WTF”. I expected there to be credits with Andrea’s name or a relatives name or some explanation, but nothing.
So overall I had a nice time. It was fun to catch up with Kelley and hear about her husband and kids and what everyone is up to. I had an adventure trying to parallel park (Kelley is a magnet for driving issues) and went to a nice, slightly weird concert.
