Il grandioso concerto in Monaco di Bavaria

It’s Monday morning, 2 February 2004, finally it’s time, we can leave to Munich to attend Alessandro’s promotion concert! Marjolijn and I leave with the train to Germany. On itself no problem, but the ICE train is not built for people with a suitcase and an Alessandro standee! We stumble the way to our seats and during the following hours we listen to the music of Alessandro and enjoy the scenery. Arrived in Munich, Ines (a German fan club member) is already waiting for us, at last we can give away our Alessandro standee! After we left our suitcases in the hotel, we got a private tour through Munich from our personal guide Ines. We took a short look into the ‘Festsaal’ of hotel ‘Bayerischer Hof’.

The room was wonderful and we knew Alessandro would show up well in there. Afterwards we relaxed a moment in a ‘Konditorei’, drank espresso and ate a delicious German ‘Kuchen’! After dinner we walked through the city and checked in hotel ‘Bayerischer Hof’ whether our Swiss member had arrived yet. Unsuspectingly we walked into the hotel to be loudly welcomed by, you can guess it already, Alessandro! He wanted to go into town to eat something and we said goodbye for the moment. The next day we had lots of time to go shopping in Munich. It was great weather, so beautiful that we could sit outside on a terrace and drink something. In the beginning of the afternoon we went back to our hotel to get ready for the evening.

We were expected around four o’clock in the ‘Festsaal’, at that time the rehearsal for the concert started and we were invited to be present. The orchestra was already practising when we walked into the room and we waited at the balcony. After about an hour Alessandro arrived and apologised for being late. The interviews for the magazines had taken more time than expected. He started directly with the sound check and we watched enjoyably, sitting on the first row and shot a few nice pictures. At half past seven the doors of the ‘Festsaal’ were opened for the public, amongst them several fan club members. We received a VIP invitation and, as VIPs, we were supposed to sit on the balcony seats. However, Alessandro had requested us, at the end of the sound check, to stay on the first row seats, so that he would have a nice view during the concert! So we did, we can’t say no to Alessandro..

The concert started at half past eight and to pass the time enjoyably you could get something to drink, on the background they played the CD of Alessandro and on a big screen above the stage you could see some wonderful pictures of him. Amongst them some we didn’t see before, what caused merriment! At half past eight Alessandro entered the stage, his fans on the first row loudly clapped their hands and cheered when he started to sing ‘Musica Di Te’. He enjoyed visibly of all the attention and smiled while he saw the big crowd of photographers in front of the stage. During the first two songs they were allowed to take pictures, but they blocked the view of the public. Nevertheless, that didn’t spoil our happiness, it’s all about his voice ..

‘Musica Di Te’ ended much too soon but right after that came ‘Incanto’. Of course he sang more; also ‘Fine non ha Mai’ and D’Amore. We swung on the sound of ‘Como Sol Y Luna’ and All’Alba and dreamed away during ‘Notturno’. We enjoyed intensely on the first row and of course sang along with every song! When he sang ‘Rosa Che Stai Nascendo’ you could see that in thought, Alessandro was with his son Pietro, he performed this song so intensely and full of devotion, wonderful! As first encore Alessandro sang the beautiful song ‘Caruso’, after that he went backstage, but came back immediately because the audience didn’t stop applauding. He asked the audience what they wanted to hear as second encore and he sang again ‘Incanto’. The public was after this song even more enthusiastic and asked for more, so Alessandro started laughing his third encore: ‘Fine Non Ha Mai’. Then the concert was really finished and Alessandro went backstage, but the public stayed on clapping their hands and cheering. Suddenly he appeared in front of the stage and thanked everybody for this wonderful evening. When he walked back he came to us and thanked us personally for our presence and support! Then he went backstage to freshen up and the public proceeded to the delicious Italian buffet.

The true fans waited of course; after a short break Alessandro appeared smiling and sat down behind the table. He thanked for all the compliments and in between he signed CD’s, pictures and posters. He even had time to pose for a picture with some of the fans. When all the fans received his autograph he said goodbye and went to the VIP room to eat something. We went also upstairs by elevator to the roof garden because we had a VIP invitation. Alessandro was not present yet so we drank a glass of wine and waited for him. The other VIP invitees were already eating when Alessandro appeared. He passed everybody and came to us to thank us again. Then he went from table to table to make acquaintance and to pose for a picture with the German celebrities and people from BMG. He was also invited to give a few interviews. Meanwhile we tasted some of the delicious Italian food from the buffet and enjoyed what was happening around us. It was a pity for Alessandro but he wasn’t allowed to eat something... Every time he tried to get some food the photographers asked him again to pose. He agreed laughingly and sighed to us: “The live of a singer is hard!”

Around midnight Alessandro said goodbye to everybody and we accompanied him in the elevator downstairs. When we arrived there we warmly said goodbye and thanked him for the fantastic evening. The next day he had to get up early to catch the plane to Italy because he had to perform for TV in Milan. We were still singing while we walked back to our hotel and talked until deep in the night about the wonderful evening! The next day we packed our suitcases and walked into town with Ines to drink something and of course to chat about the concert. Our train was leaving around half past three so we had enough time to chat! When our ICE arrived we warmly said goodbye to Ines and got in to begin our journey back home. We didn’t sleep much the other night so when we found our seats we laid down and put on our discmans! Guess which CD we were listening .. After a long journey we arrived safely home and enjoyed the wonderful pictures we made during our stay. We had the time of our live!

Alessandro, tanti mille grazie per il tuo grandioso concerto!

More pictures of the concert...