Journey From New Fan to First Live Concert

Journey From New Fan to First Live Concert

Hello! My name is Ulrica and I live in the southernmost part of Sweden. I'm going to tell you the story of how I discovered André Rieu and finally got to see a Live Concert in Sweden.

In April or May of last year I went to YouTube to search for a song, I can't remember which one - but I think it was Funiculi Funicula. The first suggestion that came up was André Rieu, from his own channel. I started to listen and I fell in love with this kind of classical music. On the side there was more music of André Rieu so I continued to listen. It was fantastic to see how he connected with the audience. One time I found a concert from Australia and at the end when he was playing Waltzing Matilda and had tears in his eyes. I wondered why ...

At that time I had also found his own website, facebook page & twitter account. On his website I saw that he will perform in Copenhagen, Denmark in May 2014, so I clicked on the little sign "tickets", only to find they were sold out.  I thought "all ready? It's one year left before the concert! ..." At that time I hadn't found out popular he was. So I thought "oh well, I have YouTube and I can order some dvds".

During my trips to YouTube I found a video clip from his tour in South Africa. In the end of that he was speaking in Dutch with his son Pierre about all the emotions, he cried a lot during that concert (I found out that later). Among the comments there was someone who wrote "go to Google and type in André Rieu Movie" - when I did that I ended up on a website called André Rieu Movies. I have to admit I was in heaven :D

There was a lot of info. about André. Roadsoaps, video clips and so on. All with English subtitles. :) Now I found out why he was crying when he played Waltzing Matilda and what he and Pierre were talking about. Also why he cried when Kimmy Skota sang Tula Tula and My African dream ....... At the end of that page there was a little symbol for Facebook, a little white F. So I clicked on it and found a Facebook group named André Rieu fan site 'The Harmony Parlour' and also the website with the same name. The rest is history. I have made so many friends in different countries and different ages. I can also read a lot about the king of waltzes. :)

How I finally got to see a Live Concert with André Rieu

Even though I had some DVDS & YouTube, I was dreaming about a live concert with André Rieu. One day at work I was reading a newspaper and suddenly I saw a full page ad that said "Andre Rieu will perform in Malmö 18 of May, 2014, ticket release 15 of June 9 am". I was so happy. The day the tickets went for sale I sat by the computer 15 minutes before 9 am. The bank account was ready, I had logged in to the ticket store. I was so ready ( and a bit nervous. ;) At 9:05 am I had my ticket saved to the computer.

In November 2013 I did the first countdown, 6 month and counting. I did that every month until the end of April when I started counting days instead. At the day of the concert, I didn't do much more than some cleaning, relaxing and eating. I went to the venue by car (it only takes 20 minutes from where I live) and went inside. The first thing I saw was the stage, it looked amazing. Then I saw something really good, "André Rieu will come back in May 2015" and I thought, "YES!!!"

Then it was a 30 minutes to wait - I prepared my camera - And boom, the lights went out and the counting started. I turned around and there he was :D . I took a quick picture, not knowing how it looked. The 76 trombones was playing and they all started to walk towards the stage, waving with their hands. The concert continued with all kinds of songs, all performed by André Rieu, the Johann Strauss Orchestra, the Platin Tenors & three new female soloist.

A 20 minute break and they were on stage again. André started to make fun of people who were late, as he always does ... The last piece he always plays is The Radetzky March and when they release the balloon's from the roof it means its time for the encores and people are heading for the stage. He ended the encores with Adieu, little captain of my heart and left the stage while playing Thank you for the music, from his ABBA cd ....... He played two Swedish songs at the concert. A little bit of Thank you for the music and a little bit of the theme song Pippi Longstocking, while the audience sang along with both of them.

It has now been a few weeks since the concert and I have all my memories and my photos to look back too. I'm also waiting for the ticket release to the concert in May 2015 ... And hoping that one day, I will go to Maastricht to see him perform in his hometown and meet other André Rieu fans.

Bela posted my photo I took of him on his Facebook Page with this note ....... FROM BELA'S FACEBOOK PAGE! "Someone showed me this picture that Ulrica Jönsson, a fan, took during the concert in Sweden this year. I like it so much, I thought I'd share it with you all. Thank you Ulrica, for this beautiful photo, and cheers to you!"

(All Photos are by Ulrica)