It was the most gorgeous day in Michigan, blue skies and nary a cloud to be seen!
We started our Eurovision Party pretty promptly at about 3pm. After solving a few technical difficulties, thanks to an urgent call to Marie, we were quickly entranced into watching our competition. A few of us had seen snippets of the competition, but certainly not all of them. As we watched, we thought “this” is their competition? “They’ve got it in the bag!”
More technical difficulties and we had to shut it down for a bit. It was touch and go for a while and we often went to our phones to keep up.
In between, we swapped stories, shared in laughter, good fun and lots of wine! Finally, it was almost time for our guys to shine and boy, did they ever! As many times as I’ve heard them sing Grande Amore, I don’t think I’ve ever heard it done as exquisitely as it was performed on the final on May 23! I will forever remember the “dimme che” WOW! & POW! of the smoke erupting like Mt. Vesuvius in the background, each time I hear the song from now on! I’ve never heard them sing it better!
They really did pull out all the stops; Ignazio went for the high note at the end and we all clapped and cheered! The crowd was cheering for them long before they finished singing and they were on their feet at the end. Our guys looked so happy and proud, knowing they gave it their all! They’ve really got this, we thought. They were the best, the classiest, and of course, the best looking!
TheIlVoloversMX Facebook; Mary
Our dinner was ready by then, so we munched down our food amongst a lot of tension and nervousness for the guys in the room. Still having some technical difficulties, so a few of us kept their phone on, not wanting to miss a thing.
Then the jury votes started to come in. It took us a bit to figure out what/how they were doing it. Then, we caught on. Italy – 12 points! We cheered and clapped. Russia – 12 points – we booed. Sweden – 12 points, we booed again! What were the juries thinking?? As the votes continued on, we began to realize that our guys, our most precious boys, were likely not going to win.
As the jury voting continued, it was clear that our guys had indeed, lost. When they announced that Sweden had won, we were just so shocked, although glad it wasn’t Russia (even though they did give Italy 12 points!)
At that point, we hadn’t heard who won the televote, so we were pretty bummed! We drowned our sorrows in more wine, some delicious & delectable desserts of cannoli, French silk pie, and various cookies and other treats. We took some more pictures, shared in more laughter, and of course, had more wine!
Even though we had the box of tissues handy, no one cried. I think we were just too much in shock, angry, and blamed it on all the politics.
The party broke up about 10pm or so, and everyone left. I stayed the night at my friend’s house. (No, I was not too drunk – it was planned!)
I kept checking Instagram and saw various photos and the Il Volo account thanking the public for voting and that they were proud to represent Italy, etc.
Before I got ready for bed, I saw that they had also won the Marcel Bezençon Awards – Press Award – Given to the best entry as voted on by the accredited media and press during the event. So, the media and press loved them the most – like there was any doubt? We already knew they were adorably charming!
Thanks to Kelly, shortly before midnight EDT, she sent the note that Italy had won the televoting!
I awoke the next morning to Gianluca’s Instagram of “we won the people’s hearts!” That was so nice, at least they could celebrate that! I responded back on the Instagram and the FaceBook site that “they had won our hearts and stole our souls, long ago, in the United States!”
Although we had planned to make pizza the night before, we didn’t have time, so I made it the next day. Traditional pizza Napoli – with crushed tomatoes as the sauce, some Italian seasonings, and fresh mozzarella balls, sliced, then topped with fresh basil, and drizzled with olive oil, when it came out of the oven. Also added some pepperoni, although not in the traditional recipe….
As I was fighting with the dough, I was so wishing Ignazio were there to help me! Where was he when I needed him the most?! Lol! I was sure I heard him in my ear anyway, with his cute little Sicilian accent saying, “No, no, no….that is not right, I do it this way!” It actually turned out quite tasty. All in all, it was a great time and we had lots of fun!
I said bittersweet in my title and you are probably wondering where I am going with that? Bittersweet, in this reference, is usually defined as something being good, but not feeling the joy you should as something negative is usually associated with it as well. A bit of irony, perhaps? In the case of our ragazzi, it’s almost a literal, rather than figurative translation. Since for them, it was probably a real bitter pill to swallow with their loss of the actual victory at Eurovision. However, how SWEET it is, that they won the televoting! And, isn’t that the most important victory anyway? As Gianluca said, they won the hearts of the people and that is priceless.
Our boys are the epitome of the theme of Eurovision 2015; building bridges not only across Europe, but across nations, oceans, and continents!
God Bless you boys! You may not have won the trophy, but this was God’s plan for you!
♥We know you are winners and always will be, in our hearts!♥
Hope to see you soon!
Jana
p.s. ok, a little more “bittersweetness” here…. we are very sorry you lost, but us fans of Ignazio are SO glad you didn’t have to follow through on your bet with Piero, to shave!
Il volo was a class act and sang beautifully. They were very graceful in defeat. ❤️❤️
Looks like it was a wonderful party, Jana!!! Thankyou for sharing!!! It doesn’t matter that our sweethearts came in third!!! Third is good in this big a contest!!! We know they are The Best!!! There performance was magnificent!!! They shared their love & charm with everyone & had a marvelous experience!!! We love them more & more with each new adventure!!! GRANDE AMORE TO EVERYONE!!!
They are the best in our hearts and ALWAYS will be!!! A real class act!!! Sad that politics robbed them of first place, but third place was ok considering the number of contestants!!
The ones who matter (public) spoke loud and clear! GRANDE AMORE!!!
Jana, wish I had been there. Even for the food and wine (and whine)! It’s great you could share the night with good friends. I sometimes forget the love for Il Volo extends beyond just us. In my dreams the bridge is to only us and they win everything! Thanks Jana. I see that jar of Nutella. Was Gian there?
Marie – unfortunately, the jar you see, was just a jar of salsa, no Nutella…
Maybe you can join us next time? 🙂 Ah yes, the wine and whine!! Lol!
Yes, I’ve made many, many new friends thanks to the guys!
Hi Jana – loved your adventure story. I too, have tickets to Florence and Verona and would like to connect with you and Lorna at some point in Florence if you don’t mind. I am an lvolover since 2012 and have been to 9 concerts so far incl. Rome and Taormina. I may be going alone, and it would mean a lot to meet up with you two and others from the states who may be going. I live in New Orleans and don’t mind traveling even to get together for an Il Volo party. I am in your age groupl Hope to hear from you soon. Bubby
Bubby, I emailed you last night, did you not get it? My email is jvandela524@gmail.com. 🙂
Thanks for sharing your party Jana. It’s OK that our guys took 3rd. As you said, it was God’s will. Like in SANREMO, they were not well known and not well liked before the contest but after, they were. Now the whole of Europe will explode with new IL VOLO fans. Didn’t they look so elegant in their ARMANI suits, burgundy kerchiefs and burgundy shoes? It was great that they won the press award because they were the most fun to interview. They were funny. The most precious award was of course, the people’s choice award. They are loved.
Yes, they are well loved and they were beautiful!
Wow, you must have watched them on a really big TV? You could actually see the colors of their kerchiefs and shoes? I’ll defnitely have to watch it again! Yes, they always look the most elegant when they are all dressed up like that!
What a great party, Jana! It’s so much fun to get together with others who love our guys and talk non-stop Il Volo….and munch on Italian treats….guess the food will have to do. Thanks for sharing your good time.
Thanks for sharing your party with us Jana. Third place is something to be proud of in a contest of this size although WE all know who the REAL WINNERS were! So glad you were able to share the experience of watching this contest with your fellow Il Volo lovers! Any chance you get to be with them and watch Gianluca, Piero and Ignazio perform is a winning event!! 🙂
That pizza looked good. wish I could have been there. My friends here think I have gone bonkers when I jump up and down talking about our boys. Little do they know how much passion we have for them. My kids in Australia watched the contest and cheered for their entry. That’s OK ’cause now they are aware of Il Volo.
you have kids in Austrailia??? wow! 🙂 yes, it’s always nice to be with your “own kind!” lol!
Jana the food looked exquisite you had so much fun. I wish I could have tasted the food also. My daughter-in-laws daughter just married an Italian young man who cooked for the family a few weeks ago & the food was out of this world.
Now if Ignazio had really been with you instead of just been in your head I would really have been upset. In your head is OK. Beside me is better.
Our guys are the epitamie of success in everything they do or sing. They are never losers they are always winners. To think they conquered the world. Now everywhere they go they will be recognized especially after touring Italy because Italy is the country that really matters to them.
NO DOUBT ABOUT IT IL VOLO WE LOVE YOU, YOU ALWAYS HAVE BEEN & ALWAYS WILL BE THE BEST
yes, I remember you saying he was coming to town. Did you try out any of your Italian on him? Did he teach you anything else? 🙂
Who’s who in your picture
Jana the phone rang when I was askng who’s who in your picture. I thought I recogniozed Jeannette. It wouldf be nice to know what all the ladies names are.
I promised them I would not add names….only that it’s “me” in the green in the back row and Jeannette is not in the picture, as she lives on the West coast! Lol! Although, the one on the left in the blue shirt and the lady in the black shirt on the right are cousins and they are going to Italy in about 80 days or so. Unfortunately, they won’t be able to see the boys though, as they are on a tour….
Sorry for being so nosy. No I didn’t try any Italian on Enso I didn’t want to sound like a jerk. We probably both would have had a good laugh
For some reason a few of my Il Volo Flight Crew emails go into my junk folder, and that is what happened to this one. It is a wonder I found it. Jana, your party looked like so much fun. I have never met any flight crew members so it must be great to have friends who share in the obsession we all have with Il Volo. I had some trouble watching Eurovision. We have a fairly large screen Samsung Smart TV which has a built in YouTube app. It took awhile to get the live stream of Eurovision so I was glad the guys were on last. I missed the first 3 or 4 performances but fortunately finally was able to watch. I thought their performance was pure perfection in every way. I too was very upset that they did not take first place. Evidently this is not an unusual outcome and probably happens more often than not. No wonder my friend in Scotland refuses to watch Eurovision.. She warned me about the countries trading votes (Jury tampering, not the televotes). Well the guys are now a phenomenon in Europe. Just a year ago when I was in Sicily and asked about them throughout our travels was shocked to find out they were relatively unknown. Well that has changed!