"The Marriage of Figaro" - direction, set and costumes: Kirill Serebrennikov (2026)

Last night I left the opera house a little bit perplexed and confused. (And relieved that is over) How is it possible that the magnificent and intoxicating music can at the same time be completely sabotaged by annoying staging and over-the-top direction? This is how both me and a friend felt as we left the building - and to be honest, the running time of three and a half hours was simply too much, the last 30 minutes was a pure agony. We had such a nice time not so long ago with "Semele" by Handel that this time we were absolutely sure that we will enjoy "The Marriage of Figaro". I mean, its Mozart, you can'y go wrong with him, its one lovely aria after another, right? Wrong. 

OK, let's mention some positive things first.

The music itself is beautiful and no one can take this away. No matter what ridiculous staging or costumes you throw at the audience, the magic of Mozart is indestructible and would work anytime, under any circumstances. I was actually surprised a few times when the voices of two female leads (Susanna and Countess) joined in the most beautiful harmony - and this happened just for a few seconds, just a few lines of lyrics - really dream-like and I would have never appreciated this on record, but hearing it live was thrilling. Most of the performers were excellent - specially earlier mentioned ladies, Björn Bürger as Count Almaviva and I loved the excellent bass singer Anthony Robin Schneider in a small supporting role. Strangely enough, I did not care much for the title role of Figaro (whom I found annoying) and much much more space was given to his girlfriend, a servant Susanna (Emily Pogorelc) so much in fact that the piece could easily be called "The Marriage of Susanna" instead. So, the performers and music were ok but ....

STAGING. 

I knew that Amsterdam's opera house loves to play around with a new modern productions and most of the time learned to accept it; even grew to enjoy it, since this is a classy stage and the magic of music is usually enough to convince me. This time the staging, direction and costumes were work by a certain Russian director Kirill Serebrennikov and I have to remember this name in order to avoid anything he does in the future. He sought some far stretched social criticism in the Mozart's delightful comedy - making it thrice pretentious, like this is some call for revolution and pseudo-philosophy. ("Capitalism kills love" was written on a wall at some point) He divided the stage in some sort of upstairs/downstairs Downtown Abbey world where upper floor is reserved for aristocrats and lower for the servants - but everything is happening upstairs, so what exactly was the point of downstairs, except for cramming it with washing machines and all sorts of ugly scenery (to explain this is servant's area) AND stage was constantly full of silent, non-singing actors moving around aimlessly and confusingly. We just had to assume they were servants. Costumes were modern day and ugly: instead of revealing social status of the characters, they were mostly ill-fitting and clumsy, particularly the annoying title character Figaro who was played by some overweight person running around in tight jeans and was irritating to look at. The director also decided to "refresh" Mozart's original libretto and divided the role of Cherubino into two different people for no apparent reason: so we had a deaf/mute Cherubino (male, mostly pantomime and more or less in a state of permanent nudity) and Cherubina (female singer interpreting his sign language). This Cherubino is here really just to show off his buttocks and at one point he even jumps out of the balcony - stripping naked first. Oh well. The worst of all was another mute character invented by this director, some sort of silent personal secretary of Count Almaviva - it was a completely irritating pantomime character constantly mugging, grinning, making faces and jumping around - if this was supposed to be funny, well it wasn't and I was even a bit angry with the way this particular director assumes the audience will lap it up, as everybody here is so infantile that we will laugh at this. Towards the end the whole concept of staging otherwise beautiful piece of music became so chaotic that I gave up trying to figure it out why are people suddenly walking around with peaces of mirrors, who is this person killing everybody with a knife and why the victims later all got up and sang again like nothing happened. Was it just imagination? Servant's revenge in a dream? 

I always suspected that for all its supposed free lifestyle, Amsterdam is actually a city of well-oiled bourgeoisie and not so progressive after all - it shows last night when at the end everybody gave standing ovation to this mess, I assume because audience is simply starving for operas by famous composers. There is no Mozart, Verdi or any popular composer on the repertoire, as opera house nowadays prefers either modern works or someone from inner Mongolia. But for me and my friend it was a very long performance indeed and we just couldn't wait to get out and shake off the bad taste. Apparently we are not the only ones feeling this way because this article explains everything I wrote much better: 

https://www.opusklassiek.nl/opera_operette/dno_mozart_figaro_corti.htm

We both agreed that previous opera we had witnessed ("Semele") was far more coherent and enjoyable than this chaotic mess. 

 

"Kids, Wait Till You Hear This!" by Liza Minnelli, Josh Getlin and Heidi Evans (2026)

After a long & heavy battle with Walter Scott, I promised myself something light, fluffy and entertaining - and I had a perfect book in mind. I devoured this celebrity autobiography with the greatest pleasure in just a few days, nothing like previous book about medieval England and merry men from Sherwood forrest. Guess what, give me Walter Scott anytime - yes, it was sometimes a struggle but it was a beautiful creation worth repeated reading and it actually transported me in a different place and time. I was thinking this morning that this particular memoirs could have been something else entirely if Minnelli wrote it a decade or two ago, while she was still relatively strong in body and mind. At this moment, she is 80 and very frail, so naturally her focus is on a slow but inevitable decline. And we read about it a lot. Basically the first part of the book is climb upwards and second part is descent. Take it as you want. 

Years ago I read somewhere a description of Minnelli as a "loose cannon" and this had stayed with me since than. We all known and loved her since early 1970s when she at only 26, she won Oscar for her immortal role of quirky and lovable fräulein Sally Bowles - ever since, she was a famous for being famous, forever haunted by paparazzi and often photographed hanging around with other celebrities, though it would be hard to remember when was the last time she actually did something memorable. True, she did the best she could to escape gigantic shadows of her parents and created the individual stage persona for herself - kind of modern day version of her mother (who was a star of musicals and crowd magnet in live performances) - but she might had come along a little bit too late: during the 1960s people were turning to rock music and Minnelli was a throwback to completely different, earlier era of glitzy Las Vegas shows. While Streisand (who had similar background in the night clubs and musicals) eventually managed a smooth crossover to mainstream pop, Minnelli actually never had a hit single or successful movie after that 1972 masterpiece "Cabaret". 

So the first part of the book describes Minnelli's upbringing in Hollywood hills - kind of what people probably expect from her, memories of celebrities visitors, uncle this and uncle that, struggles with notoriously famous mother (who traumatised her for life, although Minnelli continues to write about her lovingly) and climb towards 1972 Oscar. Than something else emerges - the fact that movie industry didn't know what to do with her. Apparently the role like Sally Bowles happens only once in a lifetime. Notoriety and fame guaranteed that she will always have sold-out live performances in her concerts and musicals but both movie and music career basically quietly fizzled away. It's actually quite amazing to think that Minnelli continued performing for decades, even though she never had a hit record or another hit movie. Sporadic flash like silly 1981 comedy "Arthur" or 1989 out-of-the-blue collaboration with synth-pop duo Pet Shop Boys just proved that she was a wonderfully gifted, old-fashioned performer who never found another place to shine. 

I was always impressed with her powerful alto. I remember even as just a teenager, swooning over her early, pre-Cabaret recordings where she would recorded something like "On A Slow Boat To China" or "Stormy Weather" and honest to God I thought she was far, far better singer than her mother (I still do). So I continued enjoying her music and watching her dancing & singing in musicals was always a joy. But I understood that there was a big divide between her and regular big music stars who were selling chart-ruling hits - hers was a world of American Songbook and these things go in and out of fashion. When a surprising number of pop stars eventually turned to Songbook repertoire, Minnelli (who should have been by far the most obvious choice for this) was too busy with personal problems to actually pay attention to recordings. It is a miracle that her career continued as long as it did. 

The second part of the book is, sadly, perpetual fight with addictions, hospitals, rehab clinics and so on. It gets maddening and repetitive to the point that it unbalances the book - however, it is her story and her life. I can't comment on this since I don't hop around Hollywood parties with A list celebrities non stop, like she does. There must have been a lot of sycophants, enablers and whatnot around these people and its surely not a healthy environment, specially if someone is trying to stop drinking - luckily, she found a true friendship and support in Michael Feinstein and it seems they both love and support each other. The book was bittersweet - wonderful when things were happening, sad when they were not. It feels light and breezy but there were occasional reflections and insights that suggested Minnelli understands herself all too well. It takes a special kind of person to decide to give her whole life to a make-believe world. I love Liza. 

Dancing Queen Cover In Medieval/Byzantine Greek BARDCORE (Original by ABBA)

“Semele” by George Frideric Handel (2026)

 

A few months ago I decided to book the tickets for Dutch National Opera here in Amsterdam and treat myself and a good friend. Trough the years I had already witnessed a handful of performances here and I remember that the staging was always spectacularly modern and inventive, however it never overshadowed the musicians. Maybe back than I missed to see the full historic costume performances but now I changed my mind - anybody can put on historic costumes but it takes inspiration to present something classic and turn it into a modern day spectacle. 

“Semele” by George Frideric Handel comes from the times when staged opera was frowned upon and composer smuggled mythological text into Oratorio even though story of Jupiter and his amorous conquests has nothing to do with Catholic Church (the subject was considered scandalous and bad taste back than, hence the work being ignored and forgotten for a very long time). Frankly, the story is ridiculous and convoluted but can be explained like this: Jupiter steals a mortal beauty Semele from her wedding and jealous Juno (disguised as Semele’s sister) convinces her to ask Jupiter to show himself in his full glory, which naturally ends with Semele dying. And somehow she is dead but gives birth to a new God, Bacchus. 

We enjoyed the performance a lot - it was a bit overlong (three and half hours!) and I could easily do without the last act that was just going on forever - but the audiences lapped it up and awarded the cast with standing ovation. As I expected, the music was beautiful (I was already familiar with several most famous arias, like “Hymen, Haste, Thy Torch Prepare”,  “Your Tuneful Voice My Tale Would Tell” , “Oh Sleep, Why Dost Thou Leave Me?” and “Where'er You Walk” ) and I enjoyed discovering the artists knew to me. The biggest discovery was a young Polish countertenor Jakub Józef Orliński who not only possesses surprisingly strong and masculine countertenor voice but also a athletic physique and a special surprise - during one scene, he actually did a breakdance (!) and audience went wild. I had also noticed a brilliant lady who played jealous Juno (Jasmin White) who was excellent - now I must find more recordings of them. 

Josipa Lisac new song

Many lives of The Wicked Witch of West

 

The original was of course the fictional character from the beloved children’s book published in 1900. Because the 1939 film adaption became so ubiquitous, we all tend to go back to that  movie over and over again, so to be honest I am not even 100% sure that I ever read the original book - if I did, it was decades ago and probably the time is ripe to re-read it again. I probably should, as the author created the whole fantasy world that continues into other sequels that I am not familiar with. I read somewhere that it might count as the first originally American fairy tale.

Than came the 1995 book “Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West “ which I bought, read, loved and talked to everybody all the time - it was the success of this book that catapulted Gregory Maguire to fame and he continued mining similar ideas ever since, with the books like “Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister” and “Mirror, Mirror”. It was a wonderful idea to re-invent a famous children’s story and approach it from a different perspective, simultaneously pondering some interesting ideas about the origin of good and evil, etc. The point is (as much as I remember), once you come closer to evil, you understand the behaviour, logic and the reasons - one of the most feared characters in the children’s literature might simply have been misunderstood. 

One way or the other, somebody thought it might make a great musical. Perhaps the shadow of the beloved 1939. movie looms so mighty over the horizon, it looked as a safer bet. The musical turned out to be surprisingly successful but to me it feels more because Broadway is starving for original story and fresh blood, instead of old American Songbook repertoire - I listened the cast recording twice and could not find anything memorable about it.

Than came the movies. 

The director Jon M. Chu explained that the script is so rich, powerful and amazing that it can’t be done in simply one movie, he needed to make two parts. OK, but honestly neither script or musical are such masterpieces that they deserve five hours in the cinema. I watched “Wicked: Part I” (2024) only mildly amused and noted that both Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo were good, but everything else was bombastic, pneumatic and overblown. A friend who was sitting next to me loved it, but I was not convinced. Something about this version struck me as totally wrong and I missed the childlike sense of wonder that the original story/film had - this was all like 1930s Busby Berkeley big production, with things whirling around and Witch not riding her broom but running like a formula one, giving me vertigo. “Wicked: For Good” (2025) stumbles really badly, because a) the rest of the story is really not so interesting to need another full-blown movie sequel, b) depressing and darker sequel does not give anything funny to Ariana Grande to do (in the first part, at least she was funny, here the script goes dark so she can’t be) c) both main characters work very well together but second part keeps them separated. So it was two and half hours of same stuff we saw previously, with even more forgettable music. I had a very strange experience of noticing that people on the screen are singing, but was completely unable to remember one single song - and left the cinema wondering how is that even possible? Apparently movie is still very successful anyway and I have feeling they might continue to milk that idea in some more sequels and prequels, kind of Marvel Universe. Long live bombastic CGI and mediocre music that breezes through your head without leaving a trace. 

Gabi Novak 1936 - 2025

Seriously, it seems as I am only writing about passing of my idols here. Than again, it is my blog and I feel as I should note something that is also a part of life, namely that my favourites are slowly fading away and this is my own personal way of saying goodbye. The latest of goodbyes is Croatian singer Gabi Novak who was always amongst my favourites and her death really saddened me. Not because she was too young - she lived to almost 90 - but because she was heartbroken about passing of her only child, Jazz pianist Matija Dedić who died two months earlier - with them, the whole legendary Croatian music family is now gone. Her husband, a famous songwriter and composer Arsen Dedić passed away ten years ago, now the son and wife joined him. 

Novak was always part of my life - back in the days of my childhood she was one of the most popular singers in the country and she often performed together with her husband, they were inseparable and it was quietly understood that she knowingly put her own music career in the background to take care of her family. Longer before Arsen became known, she was already a big star of the popular music festivals - hence she kept her own name after the marriage - but the nicest story is how she was discovered: Novak was working on a cartoon movies where colleagues noted her singing and asked her to give voices to cartoon characters - just like Cinderella, Novak was heard by big Jazz orchestra leader who invited her to sing with his band and overnight she became a sensation, around 1959. Her music beginnings were jazzy (her idol was Doris Day) but with time she eventually embraced what was known as "schlager" (pop ballads and hits) and was known for her impeccable style, class and sense of fashion - she kept very high standards in everything she did, resulting in zillion awards and respect in the business that admired her integrity.

At her passing, it became clear how much audience loved her, specially female audience - Novak was easy to love, perhaps easier than others, since she kept decidedly low profile and always held herself as a classy lady: something appreciated in a still conservative country where female audiences loved to see a public figure devoted to her family and being so unashamedly motherly (and scandal free). Back in my youth, when I worked as a journalist, I met her several times and she was always a wonderful, supportive and warm person. Her music was always more like Croatian version of chanson and I even witnessed a beautiful open air concert where she performed with her pianist son under the shadow of a medieval castle, truly unforgettable evening. 

Rest in peace, dear Gabi and the whole family. 

Dame Cleo Laine (1927 - 2025)

Sad - but not unexpected - news that one of my all-time favourite singers just passed away at the grand old age of 97. I wrote about Cleo Laine here trough the years, since I listened her for decades and was admiring her voice forever. She will always be known as the British Queen of Jazz with fascinating and long career, mostly inseparable from her husband and musical partner John Dankworth with whom she criss-crossed continents, while experimenting with various music genres and selflessly encouraging potential musicians in the backyard of their countryside home - founded in 1970, what started as a free summer project it is called The Stables Theatre now (performers who played there include Dave Brubeck, Amy Winehouse, Nigel Kennedy and James Galway). Both Laine and her husband will be remembered for bringing Jazz to wider audiences and adding class to a genre that at the time was considered less respectable - even though they never strayed too far from Jazz, by working with wide net of musicians, they refused any pigeonholing and would enthusiastically embrace various music types (Dankworth in film music and classical, Laine in music theatre, pop, classical). Perhaps most significantly, they would set poetry in music (starting with 1950s they would set Shakespeare sonnets to Jazz and worked on this trough decades, resulting in three full albums in 1964, 1978 and 2005) and this surely speaks about their artistic merits.

Besides being totally in love with her voice and charisma (Laine was a very attractive lady with Caribbean father and British mother), I have always enjoyed the sheer wealth of her recorded music - trough the years it was always a pleasure to hear how skilfully she would approach anything from latest Carole King pop to Stephen Sondheim musicals, rowdy Bessie Smith blues to Porgy & Bess, from full-blown big orchestra to acoustic guitar or piano solo, she was always instantly recognisable and brilliant. With all these accolades, it is not surprising that her success in UK eventually opened doors to acceptance in US where she might have been the first Brit awarded with Grammy as Jazz singer of the year - her arrival cemented and immortalised as a guest in a hugely popular "The Muppet Show" that always hosted the biggest names. I watched this as a kid and I could watch it anytime again, its one of my favourite "Muppet Show"  moments. 

Interesting to note how UK media celebrates her, but avoids saying "the best British Jazz singer" - to avoid any possible arguments, they simply proclaim she was "the most successful British Jazz singer ever" which I guess can be no doubt. Her obituary in The Guardian is genuinely glowing and Brits are apparently really proud of her. Reading the obituaries and articles about Laine now, I was touched how many people remember the couple fondly - they were huge stars in their prime - this is perhaps the most important, this is what is left behind: not fame, not material success but to be remembered with affection for bringing beauty into lives of other people. I will love Cleo Laine forever. 

"Let's Do It: The Birth of Pop" by Bob Stanley (2022)

 

A rare and beautiful thing, this voluminous book was captivating from the first to the last page - even though I was busy with it for a month, not once I wanted to skip the page; it kept me engaged to the very end and than I went back once more to re-read about Jake Thackray. I have read in the past books focused on specific genres, however this is the very first time that I have encountered book that covers almost the whole century of recorded popular music - in all its disguises, be it vaudeville, blackface, blues, crooners, swing, rock, Broadway, you name it. It sounds very ambitious and it is - it is also brimming with interesting perception, conclusions, sardonic wit and opinions. "Let's Do It" works as a kind of prequel to author's "Yeah Yeah Yeah: The Story of Modern Pop" but while it starts with the very dawn of recorded popular music, it goes much further than the rise of rock - it covers popular music all the way to the early 1970s and explains what were the seismic changes at that point.

   

Stanley is not only a brilliant writer but also a musician - it is because he is musician, that he has this unique perspective of what is the heartbeat of popular music (as accepted by masses, as opposite to critically acclaimed but unloved cult names) and as a listener, he really unearths rare gems that only nerds like me appreciate: he claims that one of Streisand's best recordings was rare 1966 single "Our Corner of the Night"  which is totally fascinating as its anomaly from her better known work (and never released or either album or compilations). He is also very funny, as for example in this particular paragraph: "No singer was more indicative of America's new-found effervescence than the insatiable Sophie Tucker, who emerged in 1912, aged twenty-six, as ˜The Last of the Red Hot Mamas, though no one had previously been aware that red-hot mamas were endangered."

What struck me as the most interesting conclusion after reading such a massive survey of almost a century of popular music is how transitory everything is - recorded music is simply a recorded document of particular moment in time. And just like every moment, it has its value and than it goes away, mostly to be forgotten. No matter how big or popular certain songs or artists are in their time, eventually the new listeners will find new favourites and their own idols: a perfect example is Bing Crosby who was once a massive pop superstar and is almost completely forgotten now. Name every artist you find important and immortal - this book will show you that its all about perspective and as the time passes, new generations will not give a damn about your immortals. A case in point: musician and poet Rod McKuen : "He may be almost forgotten now, but until Fleetwood Mac’s Rumours, McKuen’s album The Sea was the Warner Brothers group’s best-selling LP of all time. That catalogue included every album by Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin and Sammy Davis on Reprise, not to mention those by Neil Young and Joni Mitchell. McKuen was huge, and now his music is forgotten."  It seems to me this eventually happens to everybody, to metamorphose from current hit to oldies and than slowly to grandparents music. Re-evaluation and clever marketing (like in case of obscure blues artist Robert Johnson who became celebrated posthumously) might bring some names back into the spotlight, but generally speaking everybody has a moment in the sun and than it goes away, we are drops in the ocean, to be forgotten along with our pop stars. 

"Soul Survivor: The Autobiography" by P.P. Arnold (2022)

 

 

Back to reading and its a sort of reading renaissance for me, as at certain point I had a serious slump in reading and now this current year I am on fire. For me its all about the right choice, as I my "to read" pile is definitely bigger and more ambitious than realistic, so I simply have to select something that will not be a task but a pleasure. So far this year I swallowed a complete "Silo" trilogy by Hugh Howey and really enjoyed some random choices, like Nigerian writer Nuzo Onoh, horror works by Robert McCammon and Stephen King, even glanced at historical fiction (Jennifer Saint) but curiously, I stayed away from my real, true love - music biographies. Knowing that this is something I easily gravitate towards, I kind of control this impulse, otherwise my reading list would be just celebrity memoirs. (I did sneaked in a book about Phil Spector and one by Nick Tosches on my reading list this year, but they were short and not demanding) At this point, it looks as I am deserving a threat for myself so I took autobiography of P.P. Arnold and, unsurprisingly, swallowed the whole darn thing in just a few days. 

As a lifelong fan of Tina Turner I am aware of the majority of people who were in her orbit, so I knew about P.P. Arnold - she was one of The Ikettes who was convinced (by Mick Jagger, no less) to stay in UK and try a solo career, instead of going back home. For one glowing moment, Arnold was in the spotlight, with two hits to her name: "The First Cut Is the Deepest" (written by young and upcoming Cat Stevens) and "Angel of the Morning" - but the hits, along the music career, eventually fizzled away and she spent decades floating between UK and US, trying to put her career back on track. 

Even if Arnold herself was just a footnote in 1960s pop, "Soul Survivor: The Autobiography" bursts with fascinating anecdotes and insights of music business of swinging London - simply by being an Ikette, she was instantly fascinating to most of UK audiences who idolised black American artists. She was there with Mick Jagger, Marianne Faithfull, Brian Jones, Cat Stevens, Rod Stewart, David Bowie, George Harrison, The Bee Gees, Lulu and the list goes on forever. There are many interesting stories and observations, but sadly, the book eventually changes tone and becomes quite somber and cautionary, even as Arnold keeps a brave face and philosophically accepts her lot. What strikes me the most fascinating here is the understanding that the talent itself is not enough - it is assumed - but for a success, one needs much more, like right contacts, management, connections and the whole decision how to present yourself not just to audiences but to a musicians as well. It makes one appreciate even more, the later renaissance of Tina Turner who could easily have been just another forgotten casualty, but managed to break away and bulldoze her way to the top again.

"On the way back, we stopped at a quaint little pub off the motorway and sat in the garden for high tea: smoked salmon sandwiches, scones with preserves and clotted cream and of course tea. Marianne was in one of her ‘Lady of the Manor versus the Ghetto Mistress’ moods and began bitchily comparing my Watts roots with hers as daughter of a baroness. I was in no mood to put up with this and simply ignored her. I didn’t want to get into an argument in front of the children. I was hungry and refused to let her spoil the afternoon. Back at Cheyne Walk, I was surprised when Mick rushed Marianne into the house to a waiting doctor, who gave her an injection. This may have explained her behaviour. She needed her drugs and was having withdrawals."

"In 1968, Maurice Gibb had fallen in love with the singer Lulu and she and the family desperately wanted Barry to produce her with Maurice, but she was not Barry’s cup of tea and he had no intention of doing so. She very much wished to be Britain’s female soul favourite. I was this American outsider and she sometimes showed up at our sessions and put out very negative energy, showing me no love at all. By contrast, Dusty Springfield, who was Britain’s actual female soul favourite, was always warm and friendly with me." 

Tribute to Live Aid: 40th Anniversary

 

Well imagine, it is exactly 40 years since Live Aid happened - a bit mind boggling fact, as I clearly remember this as one of the quintessential moments of 1980s pop culture and since I was a teenager back than, a major highlight of my life. I remember everything like it was yesterday, it was this spectacular 16 hour charity concert where simultaneously we followed what was going on at Wembley and JFK Stadium in Philadelphia. I was at the hospital, recovering from a very difficult lung infection and I still remember hushing my mother and sending her back home so I could go back to TV and watch the biggest pop stars in the world duetting with each other. The highlight was supposed to be duet of Mick Jagger and Tina Turner, for which I had to wake up at 5 a.m and sneak into hospital's living room so I could watch it while nurses slept. The pictures of their duet was on every cover page next day, this is how huge they were. Of course, there were many stars performing and it was literary Olympus of the biggest names you can imagine, on both sides of Atlantic. 

I have never been on a Tribute Act concert, somehow suspecting its not the real thing so why bother. However, this sounded too good to miss and I am glad I went - with a faithful Tina fan in a tow - we went simply to check the Jagger/Turner duet but we actually ended up having great time. I explained him this is a venue where I already witnessed The Three Degrees and knew the audience was totally middle aged, happy, relaxed and confident - no youngsters, no kids, simply people of our age having fun. Nothing pretentious. On arrival, I was delighted to hear the sound of Royal Fanfare exactly like the concert originally started and than "Rockin' All Over The World" which was the first song performed back in 1985 - it was just as good as I expected and even more, since glorious 1980s hits simply poured from the stage and the audience was in a great mood. 

When Jagger/Turner duet happened, the performer who sung Turner (Dutch artist calling herself Diva Turner) explained that Turner had only one song on Live Aid, she will nevertheless sing few of Turner's live favourites and almost unbalanced the concert with her strong performance - I watched, fascinated. She was obviously not Tina Turner but she inhabited and very respectfully performed exactly in that gloriously regal and powerful style - the audience loved it and danced away. Later it continued as a 1980s jukebox and I totally got into it, much more than I expected - you see, I was there, living trough 1980s so I rarely listen to this music anymore, but this was great fun and I actually knew every song by heart. I promised to myself to check out other Tribute acts because as long as I like the music, it doesn't matter that is not original artist - we simply celebrate music itself and enjoy a good time. In a way, we also honour artists who are not here anymore. 

Performers: Arjan Janissen

                   Maureen Fernandes

                    Nicolette Junggeburth 

                    Jeroen Kraneveld

                    Richard van der Heijden

                    Charl Dijkhoff 

                    Robert van Asseldonk