Slowly coming to terms with harsh reality: I'm back home from our dream-like adventure in Tuscany, with its highlight being the Eagles concert in Lucca.
As Cricrichan has already stated, "a dream" is the best word that could describe that day. It was hot and sunny, the stage looked so beautiful among the old, historic and majestic builidngs and old trees of Piazza Napoleone; being there already 5 hours before the concert, I felt butterflies in my stomach, expecting great things to happen.
The first notes of "How Long", when Timothy, Glenn, Don and Joe finally entered the stage, just confirmed my earlier fears that Lucca might be another place where Eagles would play it short. Quickly, I made up my mind and decided to be happy with what I got, and even the weak version of TITTL, with no word about Randy, didn't manage to change it. Then came Tequila Sunrise, romantic, smooth and perfectly sung, and after that, when I noticed Glenn taking a seat behind a keybord, I just grabbed my mobile and whith shaky hands started to record the song that had made me travel by car through half of Europe... ICTYW was perfectly done, just like I wanted it to be, Timothy's voice strong and sweet - and I just melted there, with my hand up high, trying to catch as much as I could.
The other song that made a huge impression on me was "Those Shoes", with a video that showed it all. It cut me to the quick and suddenly I realized that some songs seem much better when you hear them live. Although I've found that true during all the U2 concerts I've seen, in case of Eagles it was kind of a surprise for me.
Joe. He was a real star of the show. Bursting with energy and humor, singing in a strong voice, engaging the audience, he was the right person in a right place there.
As for technicalities: I was standing just behind the last row of seats, so I could see the stage quite well. Big screens behind the boys and on both sides of the stage were very helpful. Sound people did their job quite well, both my husband and me were afraid that the surrounding buildings might play tricks with the echo. Luckily, everything was fine.
Funny thing about the audience: people seemed confused about the "sitting rule", and sometimes you could see some of them jumping up from their seats, and then quickly sitting down - unless Timothy made gestures that encouraged them to stand up and dance, and sing, and clap their hands. Right behind me there were two Italian women and a man who were great at singing all the songs - they even did harmonies! Fortunately you can't hear that during ICTYW that I recorded
The last note of Desperado made it clear the show was over.
The dream continues, though...
Beautiful time.
Here's the vimeo link to my video, as YouTube has blocked it in some countries.
https://vimeo.com/100059279
Hopefully Timmy from my mobile will sing to you all!