ENNIO MORRICONE (1928 - 2020)

Sounds like it was a fantastic night

Does anyone know what the first encore was? EDIT: It's Here's to You from Sacco e Vanzetti

The other encores were the ones he did in London as well (Ecstacy of Gold and On Earth as it is In Heaven). He was much more interactive with the public then that time in London some years ago. Almost 16.000 people and the screaming, applause and footstamping (?) conintued for a long time. Spectacular!

it was indeed amazing, 16.000 people and everyone went nuts.
What an experience, though I hold the Morricone concert in Royal Albert Hall a little higher (probably because it was my first Morricone concert then )

still, fabulous evening, to see all those faces again with an evening of Morricone magic

Ps, I never enjoyed The Legend of 1900, Maddalena and Abolisson from Queimada more then now

Met with Bob and a friend in the center, but it was so busy in the restaurant that we had to wait a little, turned out to be 25minutes, then had good food and beers, and then had to walk along running Christmas men and women, who'd blocked trams, forcing us to take a taxi and arrive just on time.

It's a pity I couldn't meet afterwards. Sorry guys!

Ah.....waiting for the food to arrive. That rings a bell, Bregt & Thomas!

It was a great concert indeed
I am sorry guys I was not able to join you
The fact is we (me and my wife) arrived last minute and we had to leave just before the encores to catch the last train for Brussles (what a shame)
I am sure I will meet you all next time somewhere!!

There was a group shot and coverage of kazoos being exchanged so I'm sure footage will turn up

So here's a dissenting voice.

To be fair: it was an enjoyable concert.
The selections, although mostly overly familiar for soundtrack fans (not a one of my personal favourites was played ), were good, executed with a clear intention for continued audience enjoyment (which interestingly minimised either performace of L'Estasi Dell'Oro to under two minutes, causing some impressive vocal tour de forces from soprano Susanna Rigacci).

And there were some absolutely lovely, very good renditions I wouldn't mind having a recording of, most notably an absolutely rousing variant of Queimada's Aboliçao and a beautiful version of Chi Mai?.
And of course it is quite something to be a participant in an event that features a true living legend and arguably the most prolific film composer of the twentieth century (not the greatest as the rather underwhelming presenter introduced him as. But then said presenter continued to hail Morricone's contributions to The Simpsons and The Sopranos...so...you know...).

BUT

There were several things I wasn't keen on at all.
First off, I think the venue was ridiculous: a sports arena for a symphonic concert?
This should have been a proper concert hall or theatre. Far smaller in scope.
Now the music came to us entirely amplified, with the orchestra only being visible on a huge screen that had been erected at the back of the arena. So the whole experience was more akin to seeing a movie registration than attending a concert.

The feeling of an artificial experience was amplified even more by the sound mixing, which was adjusted and readjusted constantly throughout the concert (even in the middle of tracks), which led to seeing -for example- a bugle player playing his heart out, with his effort actually only coming into audible play three bars later!

On that note: Marie-Lise had an excellent thought that I wish the event organisers had thought of: rather than projecting the orchestra's effort as if it were a concert registration we were watching, they could have actually enhanced the experience by showing stills or film posters for the peices being played. That would have been a far more poignant (not to mention visually less distractive) addition!

Oh, and leaving the concert I found Antwerpen to be pretty much closed!
At midninght! In the holiday season! On a Saturday!
So I was reduced to a late-night cola from the vending machine at the hotel, which was a shame.

But, to end on a definite "up" note, it was great seeing the gang! And to finally meet Elin and her utterly charming family and friends. Thanks for having a Token Dutchie as your mascotte this evening, guys! Believe me, some grumbling notwithstanding, I did enjoy myself!

We still went for drinks after the concert untill 2 am in the vicinity of the central station. Antwerp is hardly closed on a saturday evening, most bars on the tourist squares/streets I imagine will close early, but there's still plenty open if you bother to look.

I agree about the venue being harsh for a concert such as this, there was a lot of noise you wouldn't have in a decent concert hall. Regarding the screen, it was Morricone's wish that no footage of the movies was to be shown (I read in article), he wants the audience to use their imagination; for me I don't like film footage as I'll start focusing if it's in sync or not. The only downside to the small screen was that from where we were sitting, a speaker was blocking it.

So yes, not an ideal location, but the atmosphere and performances made up for it (especially second half).

The concert venue is actually mostly used for concerts and rarely for sporting events. The Sportpaleis is out of the city center, but your hotel was somewhere in the neighbourhood (you said that). I'm sorry I wasn't there after the concert. I was there before, but go not reaction except for Bob and Thomas.

I was there (my hotel was in the neighborhood) and trust me, I wasn't the only one roaming the streets in a mystified fashion! So yeah, you'd probably need to know your way around a lot better than merely casually.
(I did happen upon one or two still open bars, but they looked pretty grim!)

I did walk a bit (well, quite a bit, actually), off the beaten track, basically in expanding circles around the Meir, but no luck, evidently. After an hour I thought I'd had enough excercise for one night.



Oh, I agree completely!
Film clips would have been even MORE distracting than what they did now.
That's why I mentioned stills and posters. Nohting moving at all!
That would have been so much easier on the eye.

Yeah, that was rather unfortunate and happened a few times. You saw that the camera and the screen were focusing on a certain musician trying his/her best, but as a attendee you were often unable to hear the actual sound. Suddenly, someone scrolled a button and there it was: the bulge for example.

It kinda does, doesn't it?

Yes.
That was quite embarrassing.