Wednesday, January 17, 2007

Il Divo Live, KL Convention Centre

Czar and I went to KL Convention Centre last night to watch Il Divo in concert. For those who have been stranded on an island/consider music a sin/been too preoccupied with food rather than music, this is Il Divo (pic from http://www.ildivo.com). Read more about Simon Cowell's brainchild HERE.

From top left, clockwise : David Miller (USA), Carlos Marin (Spain), Urs Bühler (Switzerland) and Sebastien Izambard (France)

Arriving there around 7.30 pm (an hour before show is suppose to start), we decided to grab a quick bite downstairs, planning for something more filling later after the show, Ngau Kee Beef Noodles! Ha ha ha...By the time we came back up to make our way to the hall, the entrance was filled with rich and famous people(and some famous but not so rich, hee hee...), video cameras were rolling and cameras flashing. We tried to figure out who's who but I could only recognize a few faces whereas Czar being the "Datin" as she is knew most of the faces.

Well, we settled down to our seats (uh...quite a distance from the stage, ha ha ha...) and waited for the concert to begin. It was 8.30 and we were still waiting. Anyway, I had the pleasant experience of having Zabrina of The Amazing Race Asia sitting next to me for a short while before her friend asked her to move to another area. Czar and I chatted with her for awhile and Czar wanted to find out who the winner was and I told Czar that Zabrina couldn't possibly tell us as she has been sworn to secrecy! Zabrina was glad that we understood as she said that she is constantly asked about it. I asked whether Andy and Laura were really such villains in real life. I will not write down what she said but I personally told her that I was happy that they were eliminated and that it could be that their English accent that made them seem more villainous than they really were (you know, just like in the movies, most villians speak with an English accent!). Ha ha ha.....Oh well, I'm still rooting for Joe Jer and Zabrina or Andrew and Syeon, our two Malaysian teams who are still in the running. It was almost 9 p.m., when the lights dimmed, signalling the start of the concert. The audience gasped in excitement and the show began. Apparently, a lot of us were taking photos of them and no one stopped us. I must have taken about 100 shots of them! Since I was so far away, the pics aren't that clear and sharp (taken without flash). I don't think the audience around me would have been thrilled to be blinded by my camera flashes 100 over times! Ha ha ha...
The acoustic was very good and I could feel the delivery of emotion through Il Divo's renditions. Czar was moved to tears by their music. Well, she is definitely a bigger Il Divo fan than me ;o) Carlos's baritone voice boomed through and sent the notes soaring, whereas David and Urs' tenor voices were slightly softer. My fave, Sebastien seems to be the more playful one as he danced cheekily now and then to the more upbeat numbers.
Accompanied by 4 musicians and a small scale orchestra, Il Divo delivered the goods and made lots of Il Divo's fans happy. No slick dance moves or special effects were needed, just their four heavenly voices belting out song after song, serenading the audience. My favourite tunes were Mama, Nelle Fantasia and Passera. They came out for an encore with another two more of my favourites, Regresa A Mi (Unbreak My Heart) and Somewhere. After being "sophisticatedly" (meaning more gentle, not like by some usual teen crazed fans) mobbed by the VVIPs in front (the ladies gave them garlands, flowers, gifts and posed for photos with them), they bade farewell after 1 hour 20 minutes and left the stage, giving the audience a memorable night indeed. I bet sales for Il Divo's albums, especially their most recent release, Siempre, will increase significantly in the coming weeks.

As we made our way out of the building, we were surrounded by local celebrities and the who's who again. Czar took a photo with Chef Wan who was friendly and chatted with us for awhile. As luxury cars pulled up one by one; picking up the elite of the crowd, Czar and I walked to the modest automobile that was in the nearby car park. LOL! We then made our way to Ngau Kee's stall for that perfect ending to the perfect night! ;p

Music, when soft voices die
Vibrates in the memory -
~ Percy Bysshe Shelley


Update : So far I have had thousand over hits on this post, coming from the Il Divo forum. A note to say Hi to all you DIVOted fans and Divas. And yes, I will try to gather more pics that I took and load them up in another link. I will inform the forum when that's done. Till then, hope you enjoyed reading the article and staring at the photos! ;o) Viva Il Divo!

26 comments:

~*.*~ SaRiTa ~*.*~ said...

wow! great pix! considering u were seated quite far from d stage huh! what camera r u using?

wmw said...

Thanks for the compliment! Seriously, I was seated quite far. I used the max 6x optical zoom for these shots. It's the same small camera you saw me using when we went to Shang! Panasonic Lumix DMC-LZ3, not a DSLR!

Tummythoz said...

Yes, yes, yes! Magnificent captures!

Anonymous said...

Hi WMW,

Nice write up and great pix!! I was at the concert too and I feel there's a need to say something about the VVIP seating issue..

The first 3-rows were not occupied by the VVIPs as was initially planned but by the DIVOted fans of Il Divo as insisted by the guys!!! I should know cause I was seated on the second row!!;-)

You should also check out ildivo forum for more information and reports on the concert by us "Malaysian Divas"!!

wmw said...

tummythoz : Thanks!

Rajanor : Hahaha....DIVOted fans of Il Divo also are VVIPs. As long as you all were given such a privilege, you are VVIPs in my opinion. ;o) It must have been such a thrill being so close to them for you all eh?

I realise I have been getting a lot of hits from the forum. Tell the DIVAs that it's okay if they want to leave a comment on my blog....no worries!

Anonymous said...

Great photos and report, thanks for sharing! I'm a diva from the Forum, check out our reports and pix there too!

IL DIVO ROCKS!!

backStreetGluttons said...

Seb more cute than Daniel right ?

I knew it !

wmw said...

Stella : Thanks for the compliment. Will do.

tonixe : Nolah, Daniel is still my No. 1!

Anonymous said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Anonymous said...

It sounds like you had a great time at the concert. I love your report and photos; they are such good quality. I also love the 'Shelley' quote at the end - he's a favourite poet of mine.

Anonymous said...

HELAIYAHOU,

Wow, you ladies seemed to have a great time by your reports, am so pleased you finally got to see them live.

Anonymous said...

Wow... thank you so much for sharing these wonderful photos.
I came over here after seeing your post on the forum and am, as requested, leaving you a comment. ;-)
Zoom? Really? I would have thought you were in the 5th or 6th row!
LOL, love the little scowl in the 4th picture... And an excellent report too, thank you!
xoxo
Dani

Anonymous said...

Hi!
Id be soooo very pleased to see your pics you have taken, all the 100!!! :-DDDD
Thx, and cheers from Hungary;-)
Szilvi

Rasa Malaysia said...

Wah, more endau eye-candy on your site!!

boo_licious said...

Yeah, these past few weeks everyone has been talking abt them esp my friends who are part of the planning crew. Looks like it was a very good concert since you get to place the visuals with the voices.

Only problem was the concert was priced so expensive that it would have been cheaper to just fly or take a bus to the Spore concert.

wmw said...

anonymous : Thanks !

dark angel: Yes, we had a lovely time! Still very fresh memories, replaying in our heads! Ha ha ha....

helaiyahou: Thanks...glad you like the photos.

szili:The rest of the shots are similarly as I fired up a lot at the same time...maybe I will have to create a side album for this!

RM:Yalah! Hee hee...

boo:How much were the tickets going for in Singapore anyway???

Anonymous said...

You wrote -

Hahaha....DIVOted fans of Il Divo also are VVIPs. As long as you all were given such a privilege, you are VVIPs in my opinion. ;o) It must have been such a thrill being so close to them for you all eh?

... and my answer to that is Divoted fans are not priveleged at all as we paid RM2k for the tickets!!! Some of the ladies seated there flew in from all over the world just to see the concert!!

I applaud the guys actions in putting their Divoted fans first than some VVIP!!!

Kudos to Il Divo - Urs, David, Carlos and Sebastien and their team!!!

Initially I could not understand why some ladies from the forum refuses to go to the concert unless they get the first 3 row seats from the stage... Having seated there myself, I now understand!!! Indeed it is truly amazing to be so close to them when they perform!!! ;)

Yeap, it would have been cheaper to go to Singapore (their most expensive ticket costs only S$288 or about RM500, if I'm not mistaken) and maybe even to Sydney (their most expensive ticket costs about A$299, again, if I'm not mistaken!!)

Only crazy Divoted fans like us would pray so much and travel the world just to see them perform!!!

wmw said...

Hi Rajanor! Gosh, and I thought the you DIVAs were "given" those seats. Now that I know how much the tickets cost elsewhere, the event organizers really "milked" the fans, didn't they?

I read the forum, yes, I think they fell short on the promise of giving the RM2,000 paying audience some private time with the foursome. Hmmm....I guess the event organizers won't be getting any thank you notes from the fans.

boo_licious said...

wmw - much cheaper per discussions with my friends. It was even cheaper in London as my friend who came back for xmas hols was telling me also. A friend of mine worked out it was cheaper to take a bus, do some shopping and watch them in Spore rather than pay for the ones in KL.

wmw said...

Boo...we should have gone to Singapore then! Ha ha ha...but anyway, the hall was full. And after checking out the forum, a lot of the fans are indeed unhappy since they were promised a meetup with them after forking out RM2K but had to resort to catching Il Divo in person on their own initiatives! The event management kept the fans at bay!

MeiyeN said...

oh my god, you went!!!!!!!!! :( their songs are awesome, love it so much!!!!!!!

Anonymous said...

Wow.... great pics !!
Music should strike fire from the heart of men, and bring tears to the eyes of women.
That was what Il Divo's music did to me (*sigh*) at KL.

wmw said...

Meiyen: I think their songs are good but more awesome cos they look good too. Hee hee...

anonymous : Mmmm...Don't be a stranger, leave a name, if not, a nickname next time. Thanks for dropping by and thanks for the compliment! You were at the concert too? So, you were like my friend, Czar, tearing? :o)

Anonymous said...

Hi there - just came across your website this a.m. while looking for pix of Il Divo online. My husband and I have tickets to see them on April 18/07 in Calgary. I'm counting the days!!! We found out about the concert late so our seats are in the rafters of the Saddledome arena in Calgary, but hey, we're going, and after seeing the photos you took I'm doubly excited! I just hope the sound quality will be better than it was for another concert we went to at the 'dome. Cheers!

Anonymous said...

Hi wmw, it's Rajanor again and I need a little help from you.. the ID site for the 2007 concert crashed last Friday and all reports and pictures taken at most of the ID concerts were lost somewhere in cycerspace or probably twilight zone!!

Anyways, I was just wondering if you could re-post some of the lovely pictures you had posted earlier or if not, allow us to repost them for you. Do PM me at the International Thread of the forum under Malaysian.

Thanking you in advance for your trouble and here hoping to hear from you soon... Ciao!!

wmw said...

jangbu2020 : Hope you will have a fantastic time on April 18!

Rajanor : Have PMed you...