some time ago I started a 4 part cyclus of the concerts I visited in 1999. I promised myself to finish this before the new tour starts, so here goes)
PART III - SCHAFFHAUSEN, THE TIRED ANGELO
In the beginning of March 1999 Angelo gave one of his last concerts of that tour in the Stahlgiesserei in Schaffhausen. Monika bought tickets for us and my husband and I travelled the long way to Schaffhausen.
We met Monika and her family and she showed us her town and the famous Rheinfalle (waterfall).
The evening of the concert we met at Monika's home. Her friends from France, Claude and Christine, long-time Angelo fans were already there. Claude treated us to a short private concert, playing the guitar and singing Il Ciliegio and other Angelo songs. It was great fun.
We went to the concert hall early, because we did not want to miss a chance to talk to Angelo. This proved to be difficult, because he was being interviewed for the regional television and he had very little time to meet fans. But Monika arranged that he would meet, just for one minute, his old friends Claude and Christine, and Monika and I grabbed this chance and just walked in behind them. Angelo looked and acted very tired, he told us that all he really wanted was to end this tour and go home and rest. I took my chance to offer him a small present from Holland, an Edam cheese wrapped in a red, white and blue traditional farmers handkerchief. He immediately knew it was cheese and he thanked me kindly for this with a big smile.
When the concert started, the regional television crew was filming, but they were standing in the way. Angelo got very irritated by this and waved them to the side. When they were in the middle again, he stopped the music, he had just started singing "Now o now". He sounded very angry and he told them to go away , the people could not see him. The audience gave a hearty applause and he started the song again.
After that the concert went perfectly. Angelo' s voice was strong, he was having a lot of fun with the musicians and they all seemed to be enjoying themselves. The part where he introduced the musicians, I had already heared two times, but this time he was improvising even more, it was hilarious, he was really enjoying himself and could not stop. Where was the tired artist? He really gave us all he had, and that was a lot! A fantastic performance.
After the concert we stayed and waited for a while. I talked to Davide, the drummer and asked him why Angelo did not introduce him in a special comical why, like the others. He explained, that after such a powerful piece of music like I Santi, it was not good to say a lot of words. And Davide preferred it this way, he is not important. Well, I don't agree with him, but it shows how modest some musicians can be.
After a long while Angelo came out of his dressing room at last, he looked small, tired, broken, and he did not want to talk to anybody. He said he wanted to spare his voice for the next day, the last concert. I felt sorry for him, he had given his fans what they came for, more than what they came for and now he was exhausted and fed-up. So he hurried to the bus, but his legs up on the seat in front of him and they drove away. I thought that was the last time I had seen him, but........
P.S. this was the first time my husband went to one of his concerts, and he really enjoyed it. Now he understands my passion a bit better ;-)
PART IV - FRANCOFOLIES SPA, BELGIUM
During the summer tour of 1999 Angelo visited Spa, to perform in the Casino during the Francofolies French music festival in July.
Addicted as I am to concerts, I planned a week holiday in this nice place and my husband tagged along.
The day of the concert we met Sandra and her mother and Danielle, a Belgian fan and we spent some time together. Sandra had an appointment for an interview with Angelo, but there were difficulties in the press centre and nobody knew when Angelo would arrive, or even if this interview could take place.
Danielle had managed to hold seats for the whole group in the first row, so again we had the best places. Before Angelo's concert started there was a popular Belgian singer. It was strange to be between people, that did not come for Angelo. He gave a good and swinging performance, we clapped politely but all we wanted was for Angelo to start. In the meantime poor Sandra was still looking for Angelo for her interview, she was very nervous by then, but at last, the maestro was found and Sandra could talk to him. This interview in German can be found on http://home.sunrise.ch/awegen/interview.html
At last, it was time for Angelo. He sat there alone on the stage and started Confessions d'un Malandrin. Because he sang in French, it sounded very different. It was a French festival, so Angelo sang more songs in this language. I don't remember which ones, but maybe Murielle can remember :-) (bonjour Murielle). Christian Toucas, the very talented accordeon player, for some reason did not take part in this short summer tour. So a lot of the music had to be changed and this was done in a fantastic way. We could listen to a whole new concert, French songs, different orchestration, it was wonderful. Christina Scrima played an even more important and prominent part during this concert, taking over, in her own way, the part of Toucas. Cogli la Prima Mela was completely different and the audience was very enthousiastic.
Again a concert never to forget. I think the people who came for the other artist, surely must have become Branduardi fans after hearing this concert.
It was only later that I discovered that Murielle had also been in Spa, and she also made wonderful interview with Angelo. (Sorry Murielle, I don't remember exactly where this can be found, maybe you can mention it again). So our Maestro had again been very busy that day and again he gave a splendid performance.
He is a true artist. Thank you Angelo for all these fantastic concerts, they will always stay in my memory.
Hope to see you again soon during the next tour.
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