As the weeks rolled closer to last night, I did start to have second thoughts. Not only about the expense but for the impulse purchase itself. I didn't know this singing group from shit. I assumed they'd be like a young teen version of the Three Tenors, singing operatic classics with just a slight flavoring of modern flair.
Well last night came. I went. And boy was I disappointed.
First off, this concert did give me, finally, the opportunity to check out the new Amway Center. My impressions: Meh. It's slick and new-millennium groovy in its design and decor, I'll give it that, but it didn't seem all that vast. I think Providence Civic Center was (and is as Dunkin' Donuts Center now) just as big. The big hassle was the fact that you had to take the elevators as opposed to just climbing stairs to get from floor to floor. I was on the Club floor (4th) and the concessions were on the 3rd. I couldn't just walk down I had to take the elevator. Which was manned, BTW. A modern elevator with an elevator operator? That's right, you told him/her what floor and they PUSHED A FREAKIN' BUTTON! That's it. No wonder the ticket prices were so high, they have throw-away jobs like this on their payroll. Oh and the concession prices...they made theme park prices seem like a discount! $9.75 for a beer!
Next, there was the fact that the house was like not even half full. And the people that were here? Italians. I sat next to these two women, probably mother and daughter and at first look, being so familiar with Spanish I thought they were Spanish. (Spanish in the racist sense meaning all people of Hispanic background) But they were Italian, as evidenced by their language when speaking to one another. We were the only people in our entire section BTW.
Finally, when Il Volo finally came out on stage they belted out flowery, saccharine love song after love song. All in Italian of course, save a couple heavily-accented English ditties. Real shlocky stuff. I'd call it teen girl swoon music but it was operatic and over-the-top dramatic so much of the fan base, as I could tell from the audience, seemed to be couples. Couples in love. I must have looked like a fish outta water. I certainly felt like it.
I made it to the intermission because I was at least gonna hold out for "O Solo Mio" which I had seen their video of so I knew they'd do it, but they hadn't in the first half and I was more than ready to book so I did.
Well that was an expensive mistake. Ah well, at least it got me out of the house. 'Been playin' GTA V on my new PS3 almost non stop. More on that in another post.