Concert Review: Montreal
Joe DeRouen:
Aside from the three hours Andee and I spent wandering the streets of Montreal in the pouring rain, it was utterly fantastic!
Saturday night, after we gave up on getting a hotel, we called Brigitte
and asked her to meet us at a subway entrance. She did, we all took the
bus home, and Brigitte, Andee, and I spent the next two hours chatting
while we waited for Paul, JP, and Ron to get back from the airport.
(they were lost - it was probably Ron's fault, too!
Finally, they arrived. We spent the night talking, watching CdeB videos,
and planning the next night. (the concert!) One thing before I get to
the concert - Brigitte, Paul, JP, and Ron are fantastic people, people
who I'd love to hang out with all the time if we didn't all live so far
away from each other. (hey guys - you have a place to stay in Texas
anytime you want to come visit!!) I do have the feeling that we'll all
be good friends long after the concert is but a memory, and we've put
three or four more behind us!
Okay. Concert time. At this point, we've met Tim Gibbons, Lynn, Joelle,
Jason, and probably others I'm forgetting because I'm so bloody sleepy.
We go to Hurley's, a very cool irish pub that's close to the Molson
centre. Of course, we all have our CdeB shirts on! Andee and I have to
leave early (after gobbling down some absolutely delicious roasted lamb!!
Yum!) because I have a meeting with Mike Hrano (the CdeB Fan Club
owner). We meet, we get backstage passes (five of them - more on this
later!) and Andee, Mike, and I go off to talk business. ;) I also meet
Kenny and get to glance at CdeB eating supper. Kenny asks us to come
back after the show to meet Chris. I ask if I can bring some friends
(hey, did you think I'd neglect Paul, Brigitte, Ron, and JP? I think
not!) and they say "Sure, why not?" Then onto the concert!
The concert was, in a word, incredible. Well over three hours (I think
about three and a half) of the most wonderful, exciting, fantastic music
you have ever heard. There was an energy in the Molson Centre I that I
never knew could exist at a concert - all of it positive! Chris truly
seemed to love being there, and everyone was in tune with that. It was
extremely synergistic. Especially from 2nd row seats!
To say more about the concert now would be to diminish what it was - an
experience that words just can't describe. (though I'll try later, in a
more formal review)
Okay. Chris has sang the last song ("Hey Jude") and limped offstage.
Andee and I make our way backstage, to the area that's set up for us VIP
types.
Soon, CdeB comes in. We get autographs (my shirt, the biography, my
Beautiful Dreams CD, and the cassette cover of "Spanish Trains" for a
certain list member who sent me her cover for exactly that purpose) and I
talk to Chris for a moment and get my picture taken with him.
"Oh, I've seen those Internet shirts." Chris says.
"Well, I'm kind of the guy responsible for this. It's my home page." I
reply.
"Oh really?" He says.
Of course, I say "No, I'm lying. And I didn't realize you were so short,
you know."
Okay, that last part didn't happen. Actually I said "Yes, I'm the guy
who created the home page."
Then he said, "Great job. Keep up the good work." and shook my hand.
And I didn't have to even mention "Oklahoma" a single time. *big grin*
Everyone else got things signed - JP got his ticket stub signed (you'll
see it up on the page soon!) as well as his shirt, Paul and Brigitte got
their program signed, Ron got his shirt and program signed. Brigitte was
shaking like a maple leaf. :)
We talked a bit more - I mostly talked to Mike and Kenny, and a bit to
the concert promoter, and then it was time to go.
A bunch of other stuff happened next, but we'll save that for another
message.
The next day, we (sans Paul, who had to work) spent a wonderful afternoon
wandering around Old Montreal, buying expensive souveniers (ask JP how
expensive a cheesy drawing can be!) and looking at the beauty of the city.
And then it was time for my lovely lovely love Andee (the most lovely
love in the world, coincidently enough) and I to go. Two annoying plane
rides later, and here we are.
Already, I miss Montreal, and Paul, Brigitte, JP, and Ron. (but I don't
miss his driving!) Guys, it was great. Meeting the four of you would
have made the trip worthwhile unto itself, and the rest was just icing on
the cake. I feel extremely lucky that what I created as a tribute to my
favorite musician helped to bring us all together, see this wonderful
concert, and get to meet the man himself. I feel blessed, honored, and
all those other nice words!
More later. I haven't eaten since some stupid little sandwich on the
plane and I'm starving!!
High on emotion!
Ron Rehrer:
This is Ron (from the Ron and JP traveling co.!), and I am here at
Brigitte's and Paul's here in Montreal...about 9:24 pm...with JP on the
couch and Brigitte pouring over Chris de Burgh CD's and listening to Paul's
favorite...and we are STILL RELIVING OVER AND OVER AND OVER all of the
sounds, images, and total experience of last night's concert...the best
there ever was!
Now, all of us there last night will eventually get around to sharing with
all of you the magic of last night (there was so much magic you wouldn't
believe it!)...but I just want to say a little thing here...actually, I'm
going to paraphrase something Paul just said a few minutes ago....about what
has brought us all together and why we love Chris and what last night's
concert and the listening over and over to all of his wonderful music
means...and Paul said it best..."...it is his heart...his romance...his
caring for how a man cares for a woman...how a woman cares for a man...he
doesn't always focus his songs on himself...but on others...on we and her
and him...as if he reaches down into our very private thoughts and
soul...and pulls out our deepest feelings and thoughts...and puts them into
his music...and shares it with all of us..."...so last night's concert...was
from his heart...his love affair with all of us...his fans...his
"people"...he was so touched last night that he had tears in his eyes...he
even cried a lot..he held it back well...but his voice changed at the end of
the concert...his heart was moved...so...anyway...there will be more from
all of us...but we have all had the concert of a lifetime...and perhaps it
was the finest time for Chris as well...
JP and I came from Los Angeles trying to keep our expectations not so
high...and the energy crackeled in the auditorium immediately when Chris
walked on...and we gave him a long standing ovation before even one note was
sung...and then he sang solo for an hour and 45 min!...then after the
break...the orchestra part with chorus took up the rest of time...he sang
his first note at 7:42 and his final note was sung at 11:19...he was
drained...he sang everything in the world...he got goosebumps he told us as
the concert went on...it was AMAZING!
In fact he would have gone on but the Molson center made him stop....
So from Brigitte and Paul and JP and Ron...transmission ends...for now...but
we will be back (as will Chris!)...to tell you more stories...and there are
great ones...you won't believe them when you hear them...so sleep
well...CARRY ON...and it was so great to meet Joe and Andee and Tim and Mark
and Joelle and Jason and Russ and Lynn and Ron and Linda and Art and Joselyn
and the lurker we met backstage (sorry we forgot your name..please say hi)
when we were with Chris...and we think there were a few others...if we
skipped anyone we apologize...we laughed and cried and giggled and everything!
Ron (from Van Nuys)
PS...we have a great story about Joelle...but I promised that I would write
up the story first, then send it to her for editing, and then it will go to
Joe for the page...you are not going to believe it!!!! (...and it all began
with JP's jacket!!!)...and...it has everything to do with the essence of
Chris de Burgh!