Coldplay and Andrea Bocelli in Abu Dhabi

Wrote the post below yesterday while waiting for the boys to wake.....don't know why it's all underlined and a different colour - other than I wrote it in Word!

The weather remains terrible here - definately not what one expects!

Not sure where to start….my head is still full last night and Coldplay is running blissfully through my head. So I guess I must work backwards through the weekend.
As we left the hotel last night things didn’t look too bad weather-wise. In fact it had cleared up from the earlier clouds. Arrival into the concert was smoother than the night before which as it was much larger crowd didn’t make sense. We quickly made our way to our ‘standing’ area and found the boys friends and camped out in front of the stage. I had my fingers crossed that we could maintain this position as I could see the stage – might get a cricked neck but I could see.

After an hour on the ground things began to look decidedly dodgy. The first bolt of lightening cracked across the sky. They wouldn’t need fireworks to keep things lively. Lightening provided the pre show entertainment until the opening act came one. I didn’t think much of them and I’ll leave it at that. Just after they left the stage with the lightening still illuminating things the rain came and it didn’t come gently. No it chucked it down. We all stood huddled together covering ourselves as best we could (ds2 thought he took a stunning portrait of me!).
Shortly after nine as the rain eased a bit Coldplay arrived and despite the rain and the humorous references to it (sounds melted into things like Raindrops Keep Falling on My Head and Singing in the Rain). The weather was forgotten as we lived two and half hours of music. The crowd jumped, danced, and sand around me. We were wet and hot but having the time of our lives. Coldplay just did not disappoint. Chris Martin managed a few words in Arabic – Marhaba (welcome) and I’ll do this phonetically as I haven’t a clue Key Fack (how are you?).
How did the concert rate? Brilliant. DS1 who isn’t much of a Coldplay fan became one, DS2 who is had a grin as big as I had ever seen. Of course the big question is – did I succeed in embarrassing them? Apparently not. I have failed. Twice a big hand was put on my shoulder when I was jumping up and down like a loone but as DS2 said to me I was so short that no one could see me anyway.
As we left Coldplay were on their last song and I was belting out the words. Did they gag me? No, they were too busy singing themselves to notice me singing and dancing my way out of the venue.
Now the night before – Andrea Bocelli. Right the rain held off but a high wind carrying sand was blowing not ideal but kept the temperature cool. The show was delayed forever for no apparent reason and the first half of the show was quite frankly disappointing – maybe twenty-five minutes. WE sat during the interval having enjoyed four songs from the man himself thinking this was going to be a very brief concert. Thankfully the second half blew the first away. The power and beauty of his voice carried us away although due to the delay and the lack of zing during the first half DD fell asleep for most of the performance. I managed to wake her for her favorite Funiculi Funicula.
So after a hard time trying to find out where to get a taxi for the return journey to the hotel (the logistics for Bocelli where lacking) I was grateful that we were in the cheap seats 350 dirhams – so not that cheap). His voice was bliss and the baratone and soprano were excellent but I think we would have been better at home with a good dvd of the performance and DH’s surround sound. However the experience of hearing one of the world’s most beautiful voices live is an experience that the lids will remember.
So we head back to Dubai in an hour. I look out of the balcony of the hotel at the stunning mosque with the diggers in front. It has been a wonderful weekend away and even though only an hour and half by road Abu Dhabi is a world away from Dubai. The pace here is less frenetic and more human. I go back refreshed but I will save my classical music for the Royal Albert Hall and await the next big concert to hit the Emirates.