Hey!

So this story is from Dani, a good friend of Carli’s — something that seemed quite natural as I read through her post.  They strike me as two of a kind.  😉  Enjoy!

My Il Volo Story

So where do I begin (hehe!): with something like this? I feel like I’d been prepping for the concert for forever! But let’s start this story on Wednesday, June 18. The day before the concert. Thankfully I had taken the day off of work, because I never would have been able to concentrate. So Wednesday was completely devoted to getting ready for the concert. My little sister had basketball until noon, so I spent the morning finishing up the letters for the guys. Then I picked up my sister and once we got home we went straight to work!

First we turned on “Il Volo Takes Flight” to help us prepare, and then we set to work finishing the gifts. We spent the entire afternoon putting everything together and making our headbands and signs for the concert. We watched all four DVDs and listened to every single one of their songs that afternoon. We even played their music in our barn that night as we feed our horses. Thankfully the gifts were done, because once it was about 24 hours until showtime, we lost it. We started going even crazier than we had been. We were SOOO ready for this concert!
Skip to morning of the concert. We were up by 8 o’clock and ready to go! There was no sitting still for us! This was it!! We quickly finished the few little details needed for the gifts and then realized we didn’t have bags for them. So it was off to the store at 1:00 to quickly get bags! While we were there, we bought some giant chocolate bars to give Mrs. Ginoble and Barbara. We got home and immediately started getting ready. I sent my two little brothers to change right away so I could just worry about myself and my sister. My brothers ended up watching “We Are Love” again while they were waiting. My sister and I took over an hour to get ready and get hair and nails done, giggling and freaking out the entire time of course! Finally it was time to go and after checking like 20 times that we had everything and everyone, WE WERE OFF!!!!! IT WAS THE LONGEST HOUR CAR RIDE OF MY LIFE!!

So, finally we were at the concert! YEAH!!! The first thing I did was go collect my Meet&Greet band, which led to my sister and I spazzing out again. THIS WAS IT!!!! We took our seats and started the longest wait of my life. Our seats ended up being much closer than I expected, and we were dead center.

Finally it was time for the guys to come out, and as the music to “Un Amore Cosi Grande” started, I was overwhelmed by emotion! I cannot describe what it feels like to see them walking out onto that stage for the first time. All I could think was, “they’re not in my computer!!! They’re actually right there!!”. I can’t remember exactly which songs they did, but they were sooooo amazing!! 100 times better than any recording can ever be! I won’t describe the entire concert in complete detail, but I will tell about all our little interactions with them.

The first of these occurred during Gianluca’s solo of “Can’t Help Falling in Love With You.” My sister and I held up her sign asking him to sing to her, and finally he pointed to her as her sang the last lines of the song. She was soooo happy!!! Then, during one of the next songs, I can’t remember which, my two brothers, my sister, and I started waving to them. Ignazio saw us this time and flashed us one of his amazingly beautiful smiles and blew a kiss. I about died at this point!!! Then a little later, during “Beautiful Day”, my sister and one of my brothers ran up to the stage with a giant jar of Nutella we had gotten for the guys. Piero came to take it from them, and as he was singing he acted out eating it and how fat he would be! Then he leaned down and kissed them both. Next was Maria, when I ALMOST was Ignazio’s Maria. He was only a few rows in front of me, but someone else grabbed him first. I still ran out to the aisle and yelled to him, and he looked at me for part of the song and then blew me a kiss and yelled “Next time!”.

And then it was time for the encore!! My sister and I ran up to the stage during “O’ Sole Mio”, and we ended up by Gianluca, which my little sister loved! When he came by us, I yelled his name and shoved her forward, and he bent down and sang his whole second part of the song to her!!!! Then he winked as he walked away! I wish I could have gotten her face when she turned around! It was priceless!!! He came back our way soon and grabbed both our hands and kissed mine. Then Piero and Ignazio came by and I touched them both, and Piero saw that my sister couldn’t reach him so he bent down and grabbed her hand. As they were going back to finally leave the stage, we yelled Ignazio’s name, and he turned around and blew us another kiss before following the other two off the stage.
Now for the Meet and Greet. It was extremely rushed, but I will not complain because I had a chance to meet them and get a picture! When it was finally my turn to enter the tent, I completely freaked out that they were RIGHT THERE!!!! Ignazio saw me grinning and jumping up and down and elbowed Gianluca (Piero was busy), and they both smiled so sweetly at me and waved back and blew me a kiss. When I got to the front of the line, I couldn’t believe it!!! I WAS GOING TO MEET THEM!!! I stood there waiting for the group in front of me to finish and all I could do was smile. Piero saw me and smiled and then nudged Ignazio, who looked at me and smiled sooo sweetly. I set my stuff down and ran over to them. I forgot to even say, “Hi;” I just squealed, “IGNAZIO!!” and gave him a huge hug! The adorable thing was he had already stepped forward to hug me, I think he had figured out he was my favorite, hehe!! He didn’t let go of me, just kind of turned me to the side so we could get the picture. After the picture I layed my head on his shoulder and he squeezed me, called me. “bella” and kissed my head.

Then, without letting go of him, I gave them their gifts which they very sweetly thanked me for even though they couldn’t open them then. Then Gianluca noticed my long hair and started touching it and saying how long it was. Ignazio (who still had his arm around me) slapped Gian’s hand away and said “Yes! It’s beautiful! You have your own beautiful hair! Leave hers alone!” Then he turned me around and retied the bow that had come partially undone. I was dying. Then I had them sign my shirt, and Piero teased me a little bit. I had brought a silver fabric pen thinking that would make it easier because it would show on the black. As I was trying to get it, Piero started signing the letters and I said something like “Oh! That’s a good idea!” He just smiled at me and said “Yes bella, we know what we’re doing” They were so amazing!!!!

And Ignazio gives the BEST hugs!!! And do I even need to mention how AMAZING they smell!?!?!?!?! As I was leaving I was able to give Barbara and Mrs. Ginoble their chocolate bars, and I got a hug from both of them. They are so sweet.
So all in all it was an AMAZING first concert, and we cannot wait for them to come back to Detroit. We are already saving money so my sister and I can get seats in the first couple rows next time and get M&G for us both.

Photos

Click here —>  http://www.pinterest.com/DaniBoschetto/il-volo-concert/