Yesterday evening I attended the tribute concert to celebrate Luciano Pavarotti’s amazing career a year after he died. The concert was in the Domaine National St. Cloud, a very nice venue in a Parisian suburb in a small forrest-like enclosure. Hence it was not the setting, which disappointed me. But the concert did. But maybe that's what you can expect when you pay only five euro.
First of all lots of people were only there to see Laura Pausini sing and not to pay tribute to Pavarotti. And second; I think it’s a sad tendency in this society that music has become reduced to Popstars-American Idol-type things. The winner of the newest edition of Nouvelle Star (which is like American Idol, just in France) appeared singing U2’s One. And if you sing One with a 70 men strong orchestra without giving me goosebumbs, then you’re not very good.
There were however great singers present; Florent Pagny did a really good job as did Roberto Alagna and Patrick Bruel. However it never really brought the concert to a higher level, because of the never ending intermissions where two hosts talked endlessly about Pavarotti and his life. I get that this is a hommage, but it never really worked. I guess the problem was, that it was being recorded for broadcasting on TV next Sunday and the production was designed for TV, not for being a good live event. But I wasn’t there to be an extra in their television production.
The duet with Laura Pausini and Garou singing Volare was actually tres sexy, and I totally get that it’s also a celebration, but bringing in the newest reality show winner was just too stupid. If you want to capture my attention for 2 hours and 45 minutes, while I’m standing up (and you’re not Depeche Mode) you really have to deliver, and deliver more than this! I may be elitist but people talking during a (primarily) classical concert just doesn't cut it for me. And what's with the singing along? You're not Pavarotti so just drop it! I would rather have put the five euro towards a ticket for the opera house.
First of all lots of people were only there to see Laura Pausini sing and not to pay tribute to Pavarotti. And second; I think it’s a sad tendency in this society that music has become reduced to Popstars-American Idol-type things. The winner of the newest edition of Nouvelle Star (which is like American Idol, just in France) appeared singing U2’s One. And if you sing One with a 70 men strong orchestra without giving me goosebumbs, then you’re not very good.
There were however great singers present; Florent Pagny did a really good job as did Roberto Alagna and Patrick Bruel. However it never really brought the concert to a higher level, because of the never ending intermissions where two hosts talked endlessly about Pavarotti and his life. I get that this is a hommage, but it never really worked. I guess the problem was, that it was being recorded for broadcasting on TV next Sunday and the production was designed for TV, not for being a good live event. But I wasn’t there to be an extra in their television production.
The duet with Laura Pausini and Garou singing Volare was actually tres sexy, and I totally get that it’s also a celebration, but bringing in the newest reality show winner was just too stupid. If you want to capture my attention for 2 hours and 45 minutes, while I’m standing up (and you’re not Depeche Mode) you really have to deliver, and deliver more than this! I may be elitist but people talking during a (primarily) classical concert just doesn't cut it for me. And what's with the singing along? You're not Pavarotti so just drop it! I would rather have put the five euro towards a ticket for the opera house.
