Andre Rieu: How the Waltz King's Concerts
Have Inspired a Cult Following
The Rieu audience’s experience does not begin with the first note of music.
It starts as soon as they arrive at the hall – and it’s then that you need a
sense of occasion, a welcoming ambience, ease and efficiency of finding
refreshments, cloakrooms and loos, comfortable seating both inside the hall and
in the foyers, and much more besides. Rieu’s audiences wave flags, sport
merchandise and participate by purchasing these – presumably at the event – thus
acquiring a sort of personal stake in the goings-on.