Delayed Partial Live Blogging Pavarotti

What you see is what I got. A blurry, indistinct sight of a large man who was much warmer than I.








Luciano Pavarotti came to Taichung, Taiwan this last Wednesday, December 12. It was the final concert of the Asian leg of his farewell tour. Why did he come to Taichung and only Taichung? In December? Outside? Well, I think that is due to the influence and work of our mayor, Jason Hu. While not able to do much about crime or scooter punks, he has made it a nicer environment for shootings and rat racing. Nicer parks and all sorts of concerts. In 2001 he got Jose Carreras to perform in Taichung Stadium, and I truly believe he enjoyed it as much as the audience (I was seated in a much closer location than for L.P.). Anyhoo, I think J.H. talked to J.C. and he swayed (very carefully,from a safe distance) L.P. into opera-ing out in Taichung. What follows is my song by song replay, according to my notes. Yes, I took notes and damn near ruined my eyes.

• Song 1 - We are at the very top of the stadium. Pimp and his girl are already seated there. My wife found a seat next to them and I found the wall to lean against and look down and try to figure out who the hell was selling Taiwanese sausages at a Pavarotti concert.
• It starts to drizzle. Great. It's cold. Nipple cracking cold. I wanna go...Wait! The curtain opens and not more than 3 seconds later, the Big Man starts to sing. What the hell is he wearing? A huge beach towel? Is he standing or sitting? It looks like some sort of throne. This question will plague me all night.
• Okay, Song 1 is over. He's saying something. Oh, it's "Thank you." I have been told Pavo is the master of the high C. Or is it Hi-C? I think his fluorescent toga suggests the latter.
• Pimp informs me that it's the former and will help me keep a High C watch.

• Song 2 - No notes for song 2. I checked with Pimp. Yeah, I missed the song, but no High C. I did catch 4 more "Thank you's", however. I decide to keep a tally. So far, no other words.

• Song 3 - Nada. It's over and again I didn't notice. So far, the songs have been soft and lilting. Like a feather in the wind, cradle-rocking back and forth with an occasional quick twirl, the songs lull you into a 4-beer complacency. I want a pick-me-up or at least some dark, brooding, Godfather killing music. The Thank you meter continues to roll.

• Song 4 - Almost tapped my foot. Song ends, I reach for my boot to procure my flask of Jim Beam and Pimp turns around immediately and asks " Got any whiskey?"

• Songs 5-about 7 - A duet with a soprano - Ave Maria. Luciano speaks! " I...peace..umm...like grrrmph world...aaimmth peace" At least that's what I got out of it. The chick is good and belts it out. Sounds like she's covering for Pavarotti on the high notes. An orchestra song. Pimp (ax man for a heavy metal tribute band) assures me that they are gooood. The overs for the Thank you's are in the bag. The chick , probably not good form to call her a chick but it will stand until I buy a program, is singing alone. What happened to Pavarotti? I never see him leave. How does he...What the hell was that? During the middle of the chick's song, Pavi is illuminated and cough/sings out a "Braaahh." That's it. One...umm...word, I think. Maybe he has voice activated lights and some dumplings were backing up on him. Thank God he didn't have any yams. Could this song be considered a duet? Okay, now they're doing a proper duet. Not bad. Could fit in MTV's rotation if it were in English. The screen just showed a partial, full body shot( Yeah, a partial, full - It's acceptable grammar to say that about Luci P. ). He's not standing, but not really sitting, either. Sort of a standing recline. Haven't seen him move anything other than his mouth.

• Intermission to finale - If Pavarotti didn't demand a break the Taiwanese would have taken one anyway. I've never seen so many Taiwanese not smoke for this long in my life. The lights come on. Nope, my bad. That's the illumination of about 20,000 lighters. Now, the lights come on. Pimp thinks the chick is outshining L.P. He also thinks he is lip-syncing. Resuming the concert, there's a couple of short songs, the orchestra and a duet.Not getting much out of it. Hey, he's moving.Doing an over-the-head clap. Trying to get the crowd going? No, just one of those embarrassing I'll-clap-for-myself claps. The chick sings another and nails a high something! The guys watching from a building behind me give her a lot of Wooos! Wow, she does it again and the guys really like it. Big Man back singing a song 1 livelier than death. Next song features flutes, happy violins and bells or spoons or something like that. Makes you want to saunter. Pavlovrotti now singing about Vento? Sounds like a jingle. Shorten it and edit it and I'd probably buy one. What? No friggin way! Pimp says he just hit the High C.I was listening and didn't hear anything above a...um...well, whatever two below a high C is. I finish Jim Beam while he prepares his encore.

• Encores - Thank God it's almost over. Got a long day tomorrow. OOHH! He's talking. Dedicating the next song to Taichung and Mayor Hu. It's Granada. Sounds sorta like Volare, but more up tempo. Next song is dedicated to an Italian inn. I would love a transcript so I could know just what he's saying. His English is just broken and mumbly enough for the Taiwanese to understand and for me to not. Finale Encore - Slips into good English and prefaces this song by asking the audience to "Whatever you do, please, please do not clap." He then goes on to demonstrate what not to do by very deliberately and theatrically clapping for all to see on the two large stage screens. He sings. We all clap - he had it coming.

• Exit - At the end of the final encore, Dean wanders in front of me a offers me a beer in a PJ's coozie. I accept.

Conclusion - While I was underwhelmed, I still mildly enjoyed it. Carreras was better, but Pavarotti is older and more infirm (Wow! There wasn't even a bit of faint praise in that but). I predict Mayor Hu will have Placido Domingo here within 2 years and then I can pull off the 3 Tenors hat trick.