Becky and I are back from our European vacation, and what an incredible vacation it was!!! There have been some wonderful posts on the board already of the concerts in Europe so we will try not repeat too much of what has already been said. Just got my pictures back today and they have jogged my memory. We have decided to post Michael’s concerts in order. Also, for anyone who may be interested, we will try to post some of our CRAZY adventures in Europe (other than Michael’s concerts and the wonderful people we have met) on the Other Topic board. LUXEMBOURG
We were soooooo excited for this first concert in Michael’s European Tour! (Yes, the one that was first cancelled, so we then bought tickets to the Hamburg concert instead, but it was then re-instated…..well, we couldn’t pass it up, could we???!!!)
The night arrives. Vera, Janet, Becky, Mehdi (who came to Las Vegas but I never met him until Luxembourg and who actually lives near Luxembourg) and myself all piled into Mehdi’s car to go to the concert. Mehdi was so kind to drive all the way into town to pick us up even though he lived about 5 minutes from the Rockhal venue! THANKS MEHDI!!! We drove and drove and drove. We got lost!!! OH NO!!! Mehdi, I thought this venue was only 5 minutes from your house??? We finally found it….late! The venue was actually in another town about 30 minutes outside of Luxembourg! (Found out later that Michael’s tour buses got lost too!!) We were in a long line of cars winding up this huge hill. The scenery around the venue was very very unusual, to say the least!!! It sort of seemed like we were in the making of “Water World”. Industrial buildings with huge smoke stacks looming in the distance. It was quite unnerving! We pulled into a parking area and were incredulous that we had to walk at least one mile (uphill) to the venue! Poor Becky. She was all dressed up with very high-heeled shoes! I think her feet may have been bleeding when we finally got there!!! It took us awhile to walk it! Cold, windy, and rainy. Yuck! But, FINALLY, we were in the concert hall!!! Totally missed the opening act of Jan Arden, but, quietly found our seats!
Sitting in our seats awaiting the beginning of the first notes seemed surreal! I couldn’t believe I was sitting in an auditorium in Luxembourg waiting for Michael’s show to begin! OMG!! It finally hit me! So it was super exciting when the first notes were played! (Every time I talk with Alan I always let him know that his arrangement of the introduction to “Feeling Good” is BRILLIANT!!! I just LOVE IT!!!) Michael was so on! The applause was deafening! After the first two songs, the audience was so very quiet Michael started talking in a whisper! He said, “Are you going to be this quiet all night?” Michael seemed a little uncomfortable with the audience’s quietness, so Becky thought she’d shake things up by yelling, “We love you, Michael”. So Michael laughs and says, “Today you love me, tomorrow its Helmut somebody or other!” The audience erupted with laughter!
The show was very similar to the shows in the states and Michael was AWESOME as usual! When it came time for Save the Last Dance, Janet, Vera, Becky and I all knew what to do! We ran for the stage. But, to our surprise, Michael did not start right into Save the Last Dance!!!!! He started rapping the Volcano Rap!!! I was so shocked! I had never heard this song live before!!! We were dancing like crazy!!! What a TREAT!!! Becky and I waved our American flags during Save the Last Dance and Vera and Janet waved their British flags! The audience was in AWE when Michael sang “Song for You” without the microphone! The audience was very polite and no shoving or pushing was done! At the very end, before Michael did his handshakes, a girl yelled to Michael “Sing Quando, Quando, Quando”. Michael says to her “I’ll sing it if you sing it with me” and he handed this girl his microphone. The band played the starting notes and the girl started singing. Michael was amused and was so sweet to her!!! (If this was you singing, I got a picture for you!!!)
What a WONDERFUL night to remember! After the show, we went out to find the buses in the back. There were 5 of us. When we got to the gate where the buses were parked, a security guard was getting ready to close the gates. I begged him not to close the gate telling him that sometimes Michael and the guys in the band sign autographs. It was very cold and rainy so I think he took pity on us and he left the gate open! Some of the guys in the band came out and walked over to us! They are all great to chat with us! We are so awed by their talents! A few girls from Luxembourg found the buses, too! So there were 10 of us waiting. Michael came out and walked over to all of us. Of course, we never EXPECT him to come over and sign autographs, but, we are always so very appreciative when he does!!! I asked if we could take a few pictures, and he said “of course”! So we each got a picture taken with Michael. He signed autographs for all of us! THANK YOU!!! We so APPRECIATE you Michael!!!
Mehdi and I walked back to the car so that we could drive up and gather the rest of the gang. We talked about the concert all the way back to our hotel!!! Mehdi mentioned that when he saw Michael in Las Vegas, he thought it couldn’t get any better than that, but after Luxembourg, Mehdi said that the Luxembourg concert was the ABSOLUTE BEST concert he had ever seen!!! What a FABULOUS ending to a FABULOUS night!!!
More concert reviews to come!! We will post all the pictures from our trip in a separate post!
