Saturday was such a fun night. George told us early on that he'd do his best to surpass Friday night's fun "because it was Saturday". Right! Good reason. But I have to admit he was right, Saturday was even better than Friday night. Everyone was having the time of their life.
I took a few pics of the backing vocalists and I'm not kidding - on every single pic there's this big, happy grin on their faces. I love how much they love the show, and George!
I saw mr. Lipmann sr. and mr. David Austin sitting just in front of me, with the sound people. And let me tell you, David has aged incredibly well, he was always quietly handsome but he's just gorgeous now. It was so fun watching them chatting now and again. And here's a bit of gossip: the noise of the crowd was so loud that David put his fingers in his ears now and again, maybe he'd forgotten his earplugs. I giggled when I saw him cover his ears during John And Elvis Are Dead! Co-writer or not, it was just too much noise.
The manufacturer of the sound consoles boasts about the 'small footprint' of all that equipment that is needed to give us that famous George Michael sound. But let me tell you, that sound controlbox is huge! Room for lots of people. In the left part of the box, just in front of me there was all this equipment for lights and sound, one or two people at the controls, mr Lippman senior, mr. Austin ánd two or three other people. The right part was also quite full. There was more than enough room for the big camera that films George al the time and the guy who does the filming. Somewhere over there was the official GM.com blogger, Bev.
One sentence review: Everybody has the time of their life!
This is the English recaplet, you can find the link for a longer Dutch review for all nights at RAH here.
The real George Michael:
It's no secret that George loves coming home to sing for his London fans; as he told us recently it's where he can totally be himself. So what is George like in London?
There's only one answer! George was flying Saturday. Happy, joking, singing like an angel. He was a bit more chatty in the first half, than the second half.
I loved it when he came out in a black suit - white shirt combo at the start of the second half. I was too far away to see if this was the suit he's wearing in most of the pics in the Tourbook, but whatever it was, it looked very good on him.
There were a few "fucking"s in his banter with the crowd, always a good sign! And we got loads of "I love you". I gotta say, George has much, much more love for his home town than anybody I know. I mean, I love the city where I live, but I certainly don't love it with the deep, lasting love that George has for London.
I get a kick out of watching George introduce the band, his backing vocalists and the orchestra to the audience, somehow there's always one little mistake. And no wonder, there's so much text to go through! And now with the introduction of the gospel there's even more! But Mark McLean who George always jokes about (the cardboard box!) finally got that big compliment: George thinks he's the best drummer he's ever worked with. Go Mark!
Let's get this party started:
I had no idea a mere 5.500 people could produce this much noise! It was - as they say - unreal! They were so incredibly loud, right from the beginning and only got louder and louder. By the time we got to A Different Corner my ears were actually hurting and the scary possibility of permanent damage popped into my mind, that's how loud it was!
I was sitting right behind where they mix the sound we all hear in the venue and the irony was that the sound over there wasn't all that great. My wife, who had opted for a standing ticket high up in the Gallery, said the sound up there was much better. I hope to speak to one of the sound guys again so I can ask why the sound is so dependent on where you sit in the venue. Little things like that intrigue me, I want to know as much as possible about the way Symphonica works.
I was sitting right behind where they mix the sound we all hear in the venue and the irony was that the sound over there wasn't all that great. My wife, who had opted for a standing ticket high up in the Gallery, said the sound up there was much better. I hope to speak to one of the sound guys again so I can ask why the sound is so dependent on where you sit in the venue. Little things like that intrigue me, I want to know as much as possible about the way Symphonica works.
Every Other Lovely In The World (tm @tantegeraldine):
Tonight I was sitting next to a lovely woman called Trish (@TrishJweb). It's always fun to see how people first react to Symphonica. For most of the time she sat very still, listening with every fiber of her being, completely enthralled. When I asked her at the end if she had enjoyed it the answer was - of course - that she loved the show. She'd come into the city with her family for her first and only Symphonica concert, but she'd seen a couple of 25Live shows, including one of the two opening nights at Wembley Stadium.
And here's a fun fact, when she saw the Wembley show she was 7 months pregnant with her daughter. Said daughter is now of course also a George Michael fan, having gotten to know his voice literally from before she was born! She loves Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go. Who says George is only relevant for ladies of a certain age!
And finally: superwoman Bev
Is there someone in the George Michael fandom left who doesn't know Bev (@GeorgeMofficial), the official blogger of the Symphonica Tour? It's hard to believe that she's only been with us for a month and a half. In that time she's gotten very popular with the fans, and no wonder! She's always nice to us and she really takes the time to talk to you. I've seen her besieged by fans (I've been guilty of monopolizing her for a bit myself) and even then she's always gracious.
I didn't have floor tickets for RAH so I didn't really get to talk to Bev much, but I certainly saw her around a lot these last few days, always working so hard. During the concert she never has a proper seat all to herself, but is usually standing somewhere in the back with the lighting and sound people, because she doesn't want to be in the way of fans with her tweeting and other stuff. I don't think anybody would mind, Bev!
I love that somehow manages she to not only tweet the concert, which is in itself is not easy (as far as I know only Bev, @dutchieemy and @memelarmour can manage it), but to answer all our questions about her tweets and the concert at the same time. I've no idea how she does it, she must be great at multi-tasking. We feel well looked after by "our" Bev. I hope she gets her very own meet & greet with the boss before this tour ends, it would be well deserved.
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