Visiting the concert on 12th August should have been the final of our personal TTT concert season 2006. However, when there was the announcement that the concerts on Aug 10th/11th would be performed with an orchestra, we spontaneously decided to stay in Hamburg over night and see not only one but two shows on Friday the 11th and Saturday. From the first time I saw TTT in 2002 it had always been my desire to see the guys perform with an orchestral backing, thus I just could not pass up this opportunity.
I knew that on Friday evening there would be cameras all-over the "Schauspielhaus" for DVD filming reasons, so to make sure that we wouldn't be banned on celluloid I booked seats that were far in the back but still provided a great stage view. For a camera-shy person like me, this seemed to be a perfect plan. But well...
Before we had the chance to take our carefully chosen seats a young lady from the "Schauspielhaus" told us that due to the filming a headlight that lighted up the audience would obstruct our view, and that we therefore had to change places. Our new seats were quite near the stage in a loge in the first tier. It would have been nice seats if it had not been for the spotlight in the opposite tier (it was aimed at me the whole concert through) and the camera next to that spotlight. So much for my brilliant plan.
After I got used to the unusual situation of being observed by a camera the whole time, I had a closer look at the stage. In comparison to the former TTT set major changes were visible. The huge staircase had been replaced by a smaller one and there was some kind of ramp on each side of the stage. There were four large TV screens hanging from the ceiling and the back of the stage was covered with a white curtain that was also used as a silver screen. All in all the new stage concept looked quite nice and fitted the new show perfectly.
Being one of the first shows in a 'new style' (that's how TTT's management described it) it featured an amazing new light show alongside with most of the songs on The Ten Tenors' new album 'Here's to the heroes' and also some all time favourites like 'The Boxer', 'Largo al factotum' or 'Bohemian Rhapsody'. The main thing you can say about the brand new programme is that compared to the shows earlier this year it was EVEN calmer. Except for the 'Bee Gees Medley', which is the last encore and thus in my opinion not part of the show in narrower sense, there is not even one song that could be called up-beat. Now this doesn't mean that the new songs are bad. In fact, each song is brilliant. It's just that it was the well-balanced mixture of humorous performances and earnest musical interpretations that used to make a TTT show so special. And a bit of that specialty is missing now.
However, to see the tenors perform accompanied by an orchestra was nothing but brilliant. Even though with it's 30 instrumentalists it was more of a chamber orchestra (I had secretly hoped to see them perform with a huge symphony orchestra), it made the whole show sound so much warmer and 'fuller', simply more 'alive'. I saw the show without orchestra as well the next day, and the difference was huge. Especially 'Les Choristes' and 'Now we are free' were only half as good without orchestral support.
To me finding a single highlight of the evening is a difficult task. Now this is not because there were no special moments, but rather because the whole show was so harmonious, so there simply wasn't one song that was particular special. A song I really loved was the 'Out of Africa' theme 'Places'. It was amazing to hear that Burce obviously regained his vocal strength and that Adrian's strong voice is able to literally blow you away. Also I was very glad to see Stewart singing a solo part again. 'Tick all the days off one by one' - one of the three new John Barry/Don Black pieces on 'Here's to the heroes' - was simply stunning. Shannon's incomparable voice goes perfectly with the emotional lyrics and music of this song and the way he performs it makes you feel, that it really means a lot to him.
The same can be said for Shannon's rendition of the James Bond classic 'We have all the time in the world'. Backed by the orchestra it was even more touching than last time I saw it. This guy is so amazingly talented that whatever he puts his fingers on gains a wonderful distinctiveness and brilliance.
While it was beautifully arranged, the second half's opening song 'Il Gladiatore' was a piece that I had to get used to at first. I was so familiar with Russell Watson singing it that I found it very strange to hear a rendition by ten men. But after getting into the spirit of the song I realised that it was a fabulous and powerful interpretation of a great piece of music. A contrary experience was the second 'Gladiator' song 'Now we are free'. I had heard the beautiful tune from the movie soundtrack sung by a woman and thought that it was much more apt for a Celtic female voice than for ten guys with operatic backgrounds. As soon as I got to hear TTT's rendition however, I changed my mind. With its energetic but yet emotional style it surely is one of the best interpretations I've ever heard.
So although the evening was not exactly what I'd call a perfect TTT concert, I really enjoyed the show and I'm looking forward to the DVD release and the shows next year.
Set list
01. Here's to the heroes
02. You only live twice
03. Boungoirno principessa
04. Largo al factotum
05. Vesti la giubba
06. Au fond du temple saint
07. There'll come a day
08. We have all the time in the world
09. Les Choristes
10. Aussie Medley
interval
11. Il Gladiatore
12. The Boxer
13. Just to see each other again
14. Places
15. Tick all the days off one by one
16. Who wants to live forever
17. Bohemian Rhapsody
18. Now we are free
encores
19. In my life
20. Nessun Dorma
21. Bee Gees Medley
