Andrea Bocelli at the Bowl

When I first heard that Andrea Bocelli was to perform at the Hollywood Bowl, I knew that it would be an experience.. The Hollywood Bowl is an amazing amazing place to have a concert. Located in a valley, amidst the Hollywood mountains, the natural surroundings is simply beautiful. It's an old old place with hard wooden benches and abosolutely ancient numbering system. Even the font they use for the seat number is retro. But then, its also a very casual place to have a concert. The gwailos will bring their picnic baskets - filled with wine, plastic wine glasses, cheese, salads, sandwiches, cold fried chicken and some will even go the extent of bringing flowers in a vases! While the Asians will bring the Sushi and wine combo. (Me and Jian did that last August and we had an absolutely amazing time) As for me, we brought Chinese pastries - cakes and coconut buns. Then had peanuts and Chardonnay. Yums. :) Since its in the open, it's also cool when the sun sets (You can just imagine the view when the sun sets!), ppl bring blankets, coffee and hot chocolate - bundle up and get nice and cozy. All said, having a concert in summer at the Bowl is a MUST! :)

BTW - i didnt take the picture above. My trusty Sony camera was not sophisticated enough to take any clear pictures at dusk without a tripod. And sorry, no other pictures.. Damn hard to take ok with that dusk lighting!



The icing on the cake was that this time, its Andrea Bocelli kicking off his World Tour at the Bowl. I bought my tickets 3 months ago, 2 minutes after it officially went on sale. And even then, I didn't get the seats I wanted (I had originally plan for the $150 tickets - but ended up with the $75). Seems like the Bowl is so popular, the expensive tickets sell out first. Anyway, back to Andrea. I'm not sure if any of you guys are fans of his.. but after last night, I'm a way bigger fan then I ever was. He sounds truly truly raw and amazing.... and it seem to come so naturally to him. Without any extra effort, his voice overpowers anyone else singing with him. He sounds exactly like he does on CD. And last night's program was well chosen and gave me goosebumps (but maybe that was also because i had no blankie and the wind was blowing) He sung works from La Boheme, Tosca, Carmen and Il Trovatore. And to top that icing with powdered sugar, Katherine McPhee (WOOoooHHhhoooooo!!!) made a surprise appearence and sang two songs with him. Hehe. You can imagine how happy I was. And then, David Foster played the piano and Donald Trump made a short short apprearence. He then sung newer works like Funniculi, Funicula (which is not very new but got everyone hopping), Mamma, Besame Mucho (oOOohhh.. which was so so so romantic), The Prayer, Can't Help Falling in Love (which was very different but lovely lovely rendition), A Time to Say Goodbye and finshed off with my all time favorite - Nessum Dorma.

Sighhh... sigh sigh sigh sigh sigh.......

~Al