Concert Review: Montreal, Canada - May 15, 2003
Helene Dufresne:
Hi everyone, I went to the first Montreal concert yesterday and wanted to share with listmembers about it The concert began at 8:15 when Chris de Burgh arrived calmly on stage, he walked to the front, touched by the spontanious standing ovation he received. He then bowed gently, putting an hand to his heart and walked back to his piano. He started to sing CARRY ON, followed by HERE IS YOUR PARADISE. After those two songs, he walked to the front and saluted the audience with a "Bonsoir Montreal" in french. He said he was happy to be back in Montreal, where he has been discovered as a story teller 25 years ago. He chated a little bit in french (it was the only time of the night) and then took is guitare and sang SAILING AWAY (along with the crowd), telling us that i didn't need a band and back vocals because we where singing so well... ;)) He then sang TRANSMISSION ENDS, SAVE ME and SAILOR (with echo and small lights effect) He went back to the piano and sang THE HEAD AND THE HEART, talked a bit about divorce and sang THE BEST THAT LOVE CAN BE, NATASHA'S DANCE (he did a small russian style dance) He then talked about the places he visited and the restaurants he went in Montreal Back to the guitare he sang SAINT-PETER'S GATE, THE SAME SUN and SPACEMAN CAME TRAVELLING Back to the piano, it wasn't working anymore (he had technical problems because when he stood up after NATASHA'S DANCE, he caught the electrical wire with his foot and unplugged it) He played MOONLIGHT AND VODKA, Talked about war and SARS BORDELINE (Standing ovation) SAY GOODBYE TO IT ALL... At the time, i was the ONLY ONE standing beside my seat, stepping my foot. Kind of embarrassing, specially when, like me, you dance like a drunken biker ... :) Then he sang the song that EVERYBODY know.... you got it... LADY IN RED.. (We can't get out of this one..) very well interpreted I must say. He told us about his fascination of war history and his tour in Russia and played a new song called SNOW IS FALLING with a very powerful voice. It was a great moment Back to the guitare.. we had a great time with SPANISH TRAIN and he got another standing ovation. He was moved and forgot what the next song would be so he had to go get his list on his piano... Despite all the requests from the audience, he sticked to the list. He went on with THE TOWER, introduce and sang LEBANESE NIGHTS, REVOLUTION (asking the audience to step feet for the "running feet" effect), MISSING YOU and closed the concert with DON'T PAY THE FERRYMAN. It was 10:00, he waved to the audience, showing his wrist, saying it was time to go home and sleep. miming a sore throat. He wasn't already out of the stage when the technician came to take the guitares back... (he has been boo) and Chris came back for the only encore of the night He played PATRICIA THE STRIPPER, HIGH ON EMOTION and SNOWS OF NEW YORK. He shook hands of the first row fans, accepted a real nice rose bouquet from a girl at the front, waved again and quit the stage... We had no chance for a second ENCORE because they immediatly light up the lights.... It was kind of unusual of his way to be so generous... I suppose it was because it was his first canadian show in a theatre he didn't know. It may be because it was the last venue to be sold and the TRUE fans will be at tonight concert at the Place des Arts. Anyway, the concert ended at 10:25, which was a very short prestation I hope there will be more interaction tonight P.s. when I passed by the sound engineer's desk, i saw the "official" list of song and remarked that there was small differences. For example, GUILTY SECRETS was in the encore list but he didn't sing it (Maybe it was for the second encore we never had) Again, here is the list of songs he sang on May 15th at the Olympia theatre Carry on Here is your paradise Sailing away Transmission ends Save me Sailor Lonely sky The head and the heart The best that love can be Natasha's dance St-Peter's gate The same sun Spaceman came travelling Moonlight and vodka Borderline Say goodbye to it all The lady in red Snow is falling (new song) Spanish train The tower Lebanese nights Revolution Missing you Don't pay the ferryman -----Encore---- Patricia the stripper High on emotion Snows of New York -----END---- HELENE