Tag Archives: Gianluca

Concert Photos/Reviews, Gianluca, Ignazio, Il Volo, Our Stories, Piero

The “3 Nones of June” ~ Bernard Duffy

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MY FIRST IL VOLO CONCERT
LONDON PALLADIUM
3 JUNE 2016

In the central English town of Stratford-on-Avon, a little over 450 years ago, during the reign of Good Queen Bess, a son was born to John Shakespeare and Mary Arden. They decided to call him Bill but as an adult he preferred to use the long form of his name, William. He grew up to be something of a writer and enjoyed more than a little success. When he was not writing sonnets, he was composing plays or acting in them.
Mr Shakespeare had a great love for Italy and many of his plays were set there in times ancient or modern. Well, the middle ages were modern when he was writing! You may have heard of many of his Italian plays – the Merchant of Venice, Two Gentlemen of Verona, Romeo and Juliet, Titus Andronicus, Coriolanus, Antony and Cleopatra and Julius Caesar. He also wrote a play set in our town – the Merry Wives of Windsor! Like the Bard, I also have a strong affinity with Italy and my Italian bride has since become “a merry wife” here in Windsor.
In Julius Caesar, the soothsayer warns Caesar to beware the Ides of March. When that date arrives, Caesar teases the soothsayer by reminding her of her warning; “The Ides of March are come,” he says. “Aye Caesar, but they are not yet gone!” she replies. If you know the plot, Caesar does not enjoy a merry evening in Rome that fateful day. He should have stayed in Britain where he was one of our earliest tourists in 55 and 54 B.C. But, I digress and must return to the plot.
Unlike Caesar, my wife and I had been looking forward to the “3 Nones of June” for more than six months – ever since we bought our tickets for the London Palladium. As it was the only date in England, we could not do anything about it being on a Friday. My wife had to work and I was entered in a golf competition for which I was the defending champion. I arranged an early start time and played two rounds before rushing home to Windsor to rendez-vous with my wife. With such a full program for the day-time, we were able to maintain a semblance of calm until the last moment.
Thankfully, we had only a short drive to the railway station and then it was “all aboard” the iron horse to London town! Descending into the subway (the famous London “Tube”) we came up for air at Oxford Circus station about 150 yards from the Palladium. We had just enough time to wolf down a sandwich and then we headed immediately to the theatre where a host of patrons were already waiting to enter. We heard lots of Italian voices but also plenty of English ones. As befits citizens of Royal Windsor, we had secured our places in the Royal Circle in the middle of the third row. The first two rows were not on sale when we booked and we assumed that these tickets were reserved for a few VIPs.
The Palladium is one of London’s most famous venues and all manner of famous artists have performed there over the years; e.g. the Beatles and Frank Sinatra; but, in reality, a veritable Who’s Who of show-business. The atmosphere inside the theatre was electric. Promptly at 7.30 the “warm-up” act came on stage. He was a charming guy who played electric piano and had some interesting percussion instruments set up on his computer. He was given a warm welcome by a generous and kind-hearted audience. We all fell a little in love with his boyish manner and his obvious enjoyment of appearing before such a packed theatre.
By 8.00 p.m. his set was over and the crew started to arrange the stage for the evening’s main event. By now, my wife and I were unable to contain our excitement and we were not alone! We saw the orchestra and backing musicians take up their places – sixteen member of the orchestra and four members of the band – including Giampiero Grani on the piano-forte and Giovanni di Caprio on guitars. Giovanni was sporting his usual severe haircut – as in he does not have any! The theatre lights were not just dimmed; they saved a few dollars on the electricity bill and it was pitch dark!
Then, the opening bars of “Per te ci sarò.” The stage lighting kicked into action and mid-way through the intro, we saw the guys assembled at the top of the steps and the audience went wild as they were finally able to release some pent-up tension. I recorded the song and you can view it later! I could hardly believe the power of the guys’ voices which I was experiencing “live” for the first time instead of via a CD or DVD recording; or over my “home cinema” sound system when they were on television. The music coursed through my whole being and entered my soul. I was captivated. I decided that I could not spend my precious time recording the show on my cell phone. It was too distracting. The music needed my undivided attention. “Volare” and “il Mondo” followed and the concert was in full flow. Two solos for each guy and three duets so that every pair sang once. They showed off much of their English repertoire but we were lucky to hear “l’amore si muove” and “L’immensità” along with some other songs in Italian.
During their first interlude the guys gave a witty and humorous explanation why they would speak in English for the evening. They did their normal interaction with the audience and they also made fun of some English accents. I have recorded a couple of these and hope that Crew members across the USA and elsewhere will enjoy them.
As everyone always says, two hours simply flew past; and, all too soon, it was time for ‘O Sole Mio! There was only one encore – Grande Amore, of course!! And strangely, there was no place for “Surrender” in the set. However, it was an evening never to be forgotten. Even more importantly, it is an evening that must be repeated as soon as possible! The guys were clear that they hoped to return to London before too long. Whatever the future, I shall go to see them in Italy at the first available opportunity. After so many months on the road, they will have a well-deserved break over the summer. Once they have been refreshed, I will be standing by with my passport at the ready!

~ Bernard

General news, Gianluca, Ignazio, Il Volo, Piero

A Casual Interview ~

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Thank You WIWIbloggs:

Before you ask…

~I don’t know what Ignazio was eating.
~I don’t know why Piero was itchy.
~I don’t know why Gianluca used Ignazio’s leg as a drum.
~I don’t know why the interviewer was so perky.
~I don’t know what happened to part 2.

 

What I do know is…

~Ignazio said, “you know” 15 times.
~Ignazio wanted to thump Gianluca.

~Marie

 

 

Gianluca, Ignazio, Il Volo, Personally Speaking, Piero

Personally Speaking~What you see is what you get~

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Let’s imagine you are the ONE person in this world who has NOT seen or heard of IL VOLO.  I know, a terrible thought!  First impression just LOOKING at their photo (not listening to the voices yet) would be…my, my, what HANDSOME young men we have here!  

Then you remember you heard they can SING, so you listen to a song and are ASTONISHED at the caliber of their voices. 

Then  you figure you will have to LISTEN to some of their interviews to get an idea of who they are and what they are all about.  

By now you are HOOKED and are thinking, #1…where have I been…living in a hole? and #2...I’ve just GOT to see and hear more from these three!

You then start looking at the gargantuan amount of photos of them on line and begin to realize they are a true phenomenon in every sense of the word.

TALENTED beyond the moon, HUMBLE, GENUINE as the day is long, KIND HEARTED, LOVING as if they were family, RESPECTFUL of all people and situations, SWEET and above all TOTALLY COMFORTABLE WITH WHO THEY ARE AND WHAT THEY STAND FOR. 

You see they live their young lives by FAITH, VALUES AND MORALS of the highest standards.  You realize they are the most AUTHENTIC young adults you have ever known.  13178586_806567862806470_1164596968835535639_n

Meeting the Pope

 

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Placing flowers in the Basilica in Loreto.

 

You realize where they came from, where they are today and where they will be tomorrow…with these three…WHAT YOU SEE IS WHAT YOU GET.  Always the real deal.

 

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Where they came from…

G7FdoYlK

Where they are today…

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Where they will be tomorrow.

 

 

Photo credits to All Things Il Volo and Images of Il Volo.

~~Jane~~

Concert Photos/Reviews, Gianluca, Ignazio, Il Volo, Our Stories, Piero

Jana & Lorna – Week 4!

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Ok, June 1 – just at the 4-week point!  Did a lot in the last week. My “non” Il Volo related weekend over the holiday weekend was quite busy, but I managed to research and make some decisions. I did take Bernard’s advice and looked into the links he had submitted in his comments. Ironically, I was already looking into Sienna and Chianti.

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The Palio horse race I believe, is not for me. However, I did book a day tour on July 2, and it goes near where the horse race is! So, we will see if anything happens to our tour. On the first day we arrive, I booked a “make your own pizza and gelato” tour in Tuscany. We travel by a mini-bus through the region at about 6p to this villa to make our own pizza and gelato and get a history on how wine is made in the Chianti region. Then we get to eat what we make! Lol! That is on June 30. Not sure how jet-lagged we will be, but I just remember that I couldn’t sleep the first night I was in Germany! The next day is the concert and I left that day pretty open for sight-seeing and museum/church hopping. Wanted to stay as close to town as possible and to the Santa Croce – as we will be so close. Hope to get sightings of the guys, etc. Maybe even be able to listen to the sound check? Of course, probably loud enough, could listen from our hotel!

 

I’m going to be sure to take my VIP passes from the concerts and from the Flight Crew Fan Faire – maybe I’ll get special access to somewhere? As I’d mentioned, July 2, I booked an all day tour into Sienna and Gimignano, and another city I cannot pronounce. It is a 10 hour tour, but we should be back no later than 8p or so, still plenty of time to get to bed and get up early the next morning. We are now spending a night in Venice!

 

Yes, July 3 is Venice day! We take the train from Florence, into Venice, arriving approximately 10:30a. I booked an afternoon tour to the Murano Glass factory and Burano – it’s about a 4 hour tour. Should get us back early evening for a nice dinner, and again, lots of time to get a good night’s sleep. The next morning, we again take the train to Verona, just about an hour train ride from Venice. We arrive by 10a or so and have the whole day to tour Verona. Again, I left the day open to whatever and wherever the moment takes us. I doubt we’ll be able to get too near the Arena di Verona before the concert though?

 

I watched the Verona concert again and was trying to figure out where our seats will be. Well, we will be really far back! We are in the “no cushion/no backrest” zone, but the 2nd row, which is pretty good, and they are assigned seats. We really weren’t paying too much attention when we booked our tickets for Verona, but we will be there in spirit and the guys will be about as big as our thumbnails, if we are lucky! Maybe even our little fingers? Lol!

 

On Monday, Lorna came over and we actually booked our day trips, train tickets, and reserved the car. I am getting a lot of good advice from people who have been there before, so that is nice. Yes, it is getting more real! Still a few decisions to make, but it’s coming along. I found a different train website and decided it would be cheaper to just get direct train tickets for each trip, instead of the Eurail pass. So, that is what I did, and they are first class tickets on the fast trains – they weren’t much more than the 2nd class.

 

The day after Verona, we will be taking the train again to Rome, where we pick up the rental car. We also still need to get our international driver’s licenses from AAA. One of the easier things on our list of things to do. Even though Lorna will be doing the driving, I think I will get one too, just in case….

 

I checked with Dani on the “bug” issue and yikes, there are mosquitoes there! I am going to be fresh, foreign blood for them. I’m a mosquito magnet and I purposely don’t go out at night, if I can help it to avoid them – now I will be outside for HOURS for 2 concerts! Any suggestions on bug spray or repellant? Should I take some with me, or try to buy it there? I was also just reading today that the Zika virus is in Italy! Hope the guys are protected!

 

And gasoline? We really can’t complain about our gas prices here! Dani was saying they are about 1.60 euros a liter! That’s like what, almost $7.00 a gallon or so (3.78 liters to 1 gallon)? Good thing we are renting a very small economy car!

 

Also, had a little anxiety attack on Sunday. As I was creating our itinerary, for some reason, I wanted to double check our seat assignments. So, I signed in on Delta to check our seats. Uh oh, we weren’t in Kansas anymore, or the comfort class either, on our return flight home from Rome! We were in row 18 and that was preferred seating, but didn’t say comfort class. We paid extra for the upgrades, so I had to change our seats back to rows 12/13. We are at least behind each other. Maybe we can switch seats with someone at check-in? Yes, getting chest pains there. I had to tell myself “breathe, Jana, breathe…” I had a few glasses of wine and some aspirin and felt a lot better an hour later! I’m going to check again later, just to make sure we still have those seats!!

 

Also found another Flight Crew member who will be joining us for both concerts. She is from New Orleans. She was also able to book a few of the same hotels we are in for Florence, Venice, and Verona. She has been there before, so it will be nice to hang with someone for a little while to show us around town!

 

Since many of you responded that you don’t want me to limit my ramblings here, I will continue to give you my play-by-play of my planning – all the details! I just hope I don’t pass my panic attacks on to you!

 

That just about sums it up for now – still many things to do, like what to pack, we can check a bag for free, so do I take the 2nd bag? Not used to having to claim luggage… lol! The rest of our trip is fairly open after we get to Silvi, except for an outing to the beach.

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Ok, what is next on my agenda? I have a few things up my sleeve… have to leave you with a little cliffhanger? Lol!  And, what do we have here?  Another empty frame?  lol!

Oh, one more thing… I bought a 128GB micro SD card disk for my phone for extra room for pictures and videos – you think that’s enough?  It was the largest my phone would hold! lol!  Geez, I remember the old days when my PC was upgraded at work and it had a whole 1GB of space on it!

Ciao – Jana!

Myron's Music Notes

TESSITURA? ~~ Myron

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