I have fallen utterly in love with Andrea Bocelli, again.

I spent my evening yesterday drooling over him, mesmerised by his singing of so many familiar songs, tunes that are close to my heart, melodies that I have listened to time and again. I admit it - I'm an opera freak and he really is a fabulous singer.

We left Nynäshamn quite early for the one hour train trip to Älvsjö where we met up with Lars-Göran's daughter who we had bribed into looking after Lambi while we were at the concert. Then it was a fifteen minute bus ride to Gullmarsplan and a ten minute walk to Globen in the crisp, cold, snowy evening. We were both really glad to get inside to the warmth, even if it turned out that we were ridiculously early. We'd actually arrived with about 40 minutes to spare. A quick walk around the venue revealed stalls selling food and drinks - including popcorn! I really don't associate eating popcorn with sitting and listening to opera and I was stunned to see people buying huge tubs of the stuff to take inside along with huge cups of soft drink. I thought they must have been confused and were a week early for the next ice hockey game.

The venue is enormous and we peeped inside from the rear entrance and snapped a quick shot so you get an idea of this cavernous place. Considering how difficult it can be to amplify and balance the sound of an entire orchestra and three singers, and that it was in a venue best designed for loud rock music, hockey and show jumping, the quality of the sound was amazing.



It has a seating capacity of 15,000 people and by the time the concert started, the place was packed. We had very good seats, with a clear view of the stage (13 rows back) and settled down for a great evening. The very polished Czech National Symphony Orchestra began the evening with the overture from Nabucco by Verdi under the guidance of the energetic conductor Marcello Rota and soon after, the crowd erupted into a big round of applause as Bocelli appeared on stage.

The program was mainly from his operatic repetoire, rather than his more contemporary work. A notable exception was the moving Di Capua song O Sole Mio, which brought tears to my eyes as I recalled my children's dear nonno out in his tomato garden, dusting the plants and tying up the bushes on a summer evening, singing this very song in his clear, strong tenor voice.

Bocelli's very first solo song was Mattinata by Leoncavallo - an instantly recognisable song indeed, and one of my all time favourite operatic tunes.



It was at this stage, as I was immersed in the music that a heated argument broke out in the row behind us as a group of four latecomers loudly disputed with people who they claimed were sitting in their seats. Lars-Göran had to turn around and tell them to shut up as they went on and on about this being section A26 not A24. These same people spent the concert chewing gum and bursting the bubbles, moaning about how hard it was to park (even while Bocelli was singing!) and even humming along to the music they knew (like Bizet's Toreodor, which we in Australia would know as "the B&D Roller Door song"). It actually took away some of the enjoyment for us and made us wonder why they spent the 4,000kr on tickets. Surely it would have been cheaper for them to have gone some mud wrestling tournament where this sort of behaviour was okay. Bush pigs!

Okay, rant over...

Many more wonderful songs followed, with works from a myriad of fantastic classical composers including Puccini, Verdi, Tosti, Bizet, De Curtis and Lehar. After every couple of songs, Bocelli would take a short break to allow the audience to appreciate the concertos played by the orchestra, as well as songs by the soprano Patrizia Orciani and the baritone Gianfranco Montresor. At times, they also performed duets together with Bocelli.

I honestly felt happy just being there, and I saw when Bocelli smiled that he was touched by the crowd’s enthusiasm. His emotional connection to a piece shines through in his performance. I have heard more technically perfect opera singers and felt uninspired by their performance, but Andrea Bocelli has both the voice and the emotion to rivet a crowd of thousands in ways that no others have been able to.

The finale - with all three singers doing a superb version of the Brindisi from Verdi's La traviata was a particular highlight. Bocelli did not conclude his concert with just the pieces featured on the program. He performed three well loved encore pieces, before capping the evening with his famous “Time to Say Goodbye” duet together with Orciani.

Watching an opera performance live is amazing and there is just no comparison to a recording in your car or at home. I've cranked up the sound in both to unsafe levels but the resonating of the performer's voice in your ears is something that speakers simply cannot duplicate. Listening to Bocelli project his rich, beautiful voice was the audio equivalent of seeing him fire unwavering arrows towards the back of the venue without any hesitation. Simply awesome.

We went home sated and happy just after midnight and put on his Ceili di Toscana cd. That lulled me into my sleep…