Andre's Chicago Concert as I Experienced It ~The Chicago Concert really is the best one I have seen so far! Not that the music was better, it is ALWAYS the BEST ... but ANDRE was the best I have ever seen him. The Chicago audience seemed explosive from the start. Andre had to get down to the floor from up at the top of the first section and people saw him standing up there.(I'm assuming he had to do it that way because there was no other way for them to get down there.) In less than a minute, the place just exploded with applause and yelling! He was so funny ... he was laughing and waving to everyone from up there, then pointing to the stage (it seemed to where the PBS man that was standing that no one was paying attention to). Finally everyone let the PBS man speak, the music started and Andre (carefully) came down all those steps to the floor and started Marching up the isle like he always does. I noticed too, that he gave high fives to all the people all the way up the isle to the stage, which he doesn't usually do because of his hands. I know I have never seen him do it. I told my girlfriend, "this is going to be a good concert I can tell". He was so energized ... I think it might have been the combination of the crowd and he only had one more concert before he got to go Home!!
The arena holds 12,000 and if there was an empty seat, I couldn't see it! Funny you mentioned Pierre Laurie ... I looked and looked for him, even during the concert because I wanted to point him out to my girlfriend, but I never saw him. I don't think he was there. I thought maybe he had that horrible cold that Andre and the others had and was down with it. I noticed Andre would scrunch up his nose like a 12 year old kid and give a BIG Sniff every now and then, so he still had his cold. As for the pictures, I didn't see anyone taking pictures, so maybe they didn't get any!?! (Since I originally wrote this to Sonja and Laurie, I have seen that there are No pictures in Andre's Guestbook of the Chicago Concert. Just a small write up)
There was this one elderly lady that came in a little late and was walking to her seat just as Andre started talking. As she was walking across the front towards Andre she was waving to him the whole time. Finally he stopped talking and waved back to her and said something to her. She STOPPED right in front of him and waved up at him and he was laughing and waving back to her. Then she walked on to her seat, waving the whole time at him as she walked away. Andre was laughing still ........ it was really cute to see. Then another couple came in late and he stopped talking, put his violin on his hip and said, "we came all the way from Europe and WE got here on time!" Which I know he has done before, but it was the first time I had seen him do it! Very funny, cute and mischievous ... :)
He was very "frisky" through the whole concert and the audience was out of their seats after almost every piece. I swear you can see on his face how much he appreciates that and I'm sure it had a lot to do with his mood.
Ok ... now for my silly schoolgirl "Andre" part .......... :))))) And I don't want to exaggerate this, so will tell you exactly as it happened .......We were in the first section off the floor, (my first time not sitting in the front on the floor, but it wasn't that bad) When the encores started we went down to the stage and stood at Andre's feet right in front of him. He played many encores (I would say the same as AC) but anyway ... he was playing this one song that was slow and pretty, (don't know now what it was) when he suddenly tilted his head just a little forward and looked right into my eyes all the while playing this beautiful song (that I don't remember!). I am not exaggerating when I say he did that for close to 10 Seconds!!! (We're talking seconds here, so give or take a couple it was 10! :)I swear I thought I was going to faint! :))))))) For those few seconds, Andre was playing his violin to ME!!!!!!!! My girlfriend who was standing next to me said, " I'm not going to be able to get you back to earth the rest of the night now am I?" :) She and I were talking about it the other day and laughing so hard. I tried to look calm and cool as Andre was playing and looking at me ... God forbid I should act like the silly teenager I felt like, so I reached BEHIND my girlfriend, grabbed her shirt and pulled and twisted it in excitement where Andre couldn't see what I was doing. (All the while staring back at Andre smiling and looking calm and sedate as a woman my age should!) She said had I pulled any harder on it I would have choked her!! :)))))
I don't think there will ever be another "Concert Weekend" as exciting as Atlantic City was ... but this concert in it's own way, had a lot of memorable moments in different ways and I had so much fun!! I had seen Mirusia in Atlantic City and knew what a beautiful voice she had ... but I had NEVER seen Carmen live in concert and I had tears streaming down my face through her entire "O Mio Bambino". I was so glad Andre chose that for her to sing on this tour ... I think it's about everyone's favorite of hers ... I don't even need to write how beautiful her voice is.
Now it's waiting for the 4th of July to leave for Maastricht!!! Ohhhhhhhhhh what awaits us there???? :)))
Another little note about this concert. I went to it with my best friend since 6th grade who had never seen Andre before. She lives just outside of Chicago and I was visiting her there. She has a Master's Degree in Psychology and looking at all that happened from her perspective, "she could not get over the love and admiration etc. etc. etc. that she saw displayed in that arena for Andre from the moment they all saw him standing up at the top of the first section before everything started." When I saw Andre standing up at the top there, I was so excited to see him and looked at her ... her eyes were wide, but it wasn't because of Andre ... it was because all those normal people (and they aren't teenagers) that she had seen minutes earlier had just exploded with love and excitement. She has often asked me why I loved Andre and his music SO much and I can never explain it to her, to make her understand it .............. that night she saw an Entire Arena that felt the same way!!
Sue :)
No comments:
Post a Comment