Burt in Rome - 28/10/08

[Aidan]

Saw the show yesterday in Rome. Actually it almost got cancelled due to a terrible storm and power failure, but they got things working after about 1 1/2 hrs. The songs are, of course, all wonderful. The arrangements were superb. The band played great. One of the great things about Bacharach's music is the dynamic and harmonic variation. You just don't get that stuff in new songs anymore.

Burt's piano playing was impeccable - what fine taste!

I was rather disappointed with the sound quality. The singers had really low volumes compared to the band. During some songs their voices disappeared almost completely. Also the piano sound was really dull and far away during the first few songs.

[ernie@libero.it]

I saw a great concert in Rome.This is the third time that I see him live after Lucca in 2004 and Forli' in 2006.I think that he has a big voice when sings his songs especially in"Alfie"and "The look of love".Burt is a genius,the king of melody,the biggest composer of the world!

[mserra]

Burt's concert and personal preformance was just great and superb.Despite the awfull weather conditions, that caused a power black-out .There was great concern that the event could have been canceled.Finally through the hard work of the ACEA's emergency's squad, the show started with more than an our's delay. BURT, graceously apologized .

[Aidan]

A weird thing happened during the concert - Bacharach presented the song "Go Ask Shakespeare", saying that he had been wanting to do the number for some time and that maybe now, a week before the elections, it was the right moment. He sat at the Kurzweil keyboard and the band started the song. A few bars later he raised his hand and they all stopped, as if they were expecting it. Burt said "If it's not right, it's not right", and they skipped the song.....

[cipus]

It's not right. Just after 2 bars saying "I don't feel good... or... don't feel good" (I didn't understand if he neant this about the quality of the sound, or about his health at that precise moment). He stopped playing, and turning to the left he played on the piano "windows". The rest of the band follewed him immediately. There's something else to remind.... Few minutes before during "Baby it's you", at the second "shala la la ", there has been a musical or vocal hole (I don't remember exactly), And the Maestro was shocked, but obviously continued to perform. At the end of the show, while shacking his hand I asked him "Don't you feel well? Is everything's fine?", and he calmed me as Jhon Pagano made few minutes later, answering to me to the same question.
I was at all 3 italian performances, and I can affirm that I couldn't renounce to any of the concerts! Each one has been fantastic and different from the other, in order to: playlist, special guests and atmosphere! I still feel impressive and happy to have pictures with the Maestro at Florence, with his wife at Rome and to assist to the pre-reherseal at Milan (very interesting and inusual).
I hope for the future to be able to feel like during this tour in other European Cities, especially if the orchestra will be playing like at the Roundhouse at London, on the 22nd October.

[nowmedical]

The "Go Ask Shakespeare" moment was indeed bizarre. I thought he said "if it doesn't feel right, don't do it". At most he played four bars of the song.

I think he was making a political point, yet for some reason didn't want to pursue it. In the verbal lead in to the song, he seemed to stop short of directly endorsing Obama (which he subsequently did by holding up a "vote for Obama" sign at the very end of the concert).

It was an almost surreal concert, and a complete contrast to the Roundhouse. The preceeding storm was phenomenal - we got soaked simply walking from a nearby ristorante. Then the delay looked terminal, with no electricity for over an hour. John Pagano was really accomplished in his singing, and I'm sure the odd acoustics at the Roundhouse explains it all the week before. But what a setting - walking out of the concert hall into the square of St Peter's Basilica is beyond compare. There can't be a better located concert hall - beats the Royal Albert Hall hands down (don't even mention Hammersmith Apollo!).

[Aidan]

I think he was making a political point, yet for some reason didn't want to pursue it. In the verbal lead in to the song, he seemed to stop short of directly endorsing Obama (which he subsequently did by holding up a "vote for Obama" sign at the very end of the concert).
.

That is exactly what I thought too....

The preceeding storm was phenomenal

It sure was - my clothes were still wet when I got home a couple of hours after the concert. But I didn't even notice that throughout the concert. Truly a night to remember!

[someonenameddavid]

I discussed this with my daughter and it raised a few interesting points: Burt tries to get a feel for his audience and to understand where he wants to go with the feel of the performance, and he is brave enough and sensitive enough and trusts his instincts (which have been developed and fine-tuned over these many years), so if something is not right, he will stop. The band has been together long enough to pick up on this, so they too agreed that it was not right and moved with the flow. This, incidentally, is why listening to Burt with his band is far superior to listening to him with an orchestra... more authentic if you will. The only thing you could add to improve it would be Dionne wouldn't that be outstanding?

[Roberto Pinardi]

bye


Rob