Tuesday

Ludo
Day of the show. We spent it hanging around, basically eating every 15 minutes, pretending to go sightseeing and thinking of the poor girls who had waken up at 5 o’clock in the morning to be in line at the park gate.

Kristine
I got up at 5:30 a.m. Ramona, Jen and I decided we want to SEE the man. We wanted the first row spot. And we got it. And I have to tell you it was worth all the suffering we went through for it. ;)

Jeannette
As we had been at the rehearsals all day the day before, I didn't feel the urge to be in front of the stage again during the actual concert. I knew it would have meant being at Parco Novi Sad early in the morning (which I originally planned) and felt that wasn't necessary anymore. Most of us thought the same way; I think three people did go early and ended up on the first row during the concert. Great for them and when I saw that I regretted for a second, but no longer than a second. Eh...that was then...At the moment, now I've seen the tv broadcast I regret it very much. It's such a nice experience to be close to the stage that I tell myself to be more "brave" next time...next time? Soon, I hope...

Herma
Some of our friends are so dedicated.. they got up very early, or maybe they didn't even go to bed at all. They definitely wanted to make sure they were first row. So being there early with standing tickets makes all the difference. And indeed they made it to the first row, and we could see them on t.v. afterwards. I was very happy for them after this effort, they deserved it.
I do feel very dedicated too, but not that much :) Lucky for me I wasn't the only one, so a bunch of us arrived at the Novi Sad Park around 4 or 4.30 or so.

Bianca
The day of the concert Kristine, Ramona and Jen decided to get up really early to get that first row spot, the rest of us decided to relax and enjoy the day a bit, after all we already had the privilege of having a 'private' concert the day before.

Jeannette
We spent our day in town. We met up with Jana from Slovakia, who joined us during the rest of the day. To be honest, we did absolutely nothing that day...except for eating,drinking and walking around.
At 17.00 hrs more or less we decided to go to get ourselves in line for Parco Novi Sad. Actually, we were still quite close to the first people in line. Close enough for Herma to shout to Kris something about a photo film anyway, although Kris couldn't hear her. The rest of the somewhat hundred people could...Herma got everybody's attention, except for Kris's :)

Bianca
We arrived at the Novi Sad park late afternoon and picked up a nice program which they were handing out for free.

Jeannette
Gates opened at 18.30 hrs. For some strange reason we had to hand over the covers of our bottles of water, as if the security men were afraid that we would throw them on stage... We set ourselves on the grass and I got bored really quickly. The organization should have had some music for the people waiting, as the concert wouldn't start until 21.00 hrs. :(

Herma
The place opened at 6 and then the real waiting begun. We still had a good spot. It took a long time before the show began and in between, since it was broadcast live, there were long pauses too. For commercial breaks and even the news. It was kind of funny, but annoying too. The lady presenter had to talk a lot in between acts, ofcourse to fill the time to get the next artist on stage,but also to talk about the good cause and give the audience at home the phone numbers for the money. This took longer and longer...Also because we didn't understand what she was going on about in Italian.... she would say George Michael every half hour or so.. and I thought several times that he would be on next. But she merely said something like stay tuned still to come after the break.... or something like that. It felt like a very long show, standing all the time.

Bianca
A few hours later the concert started and it was simply wonderful! I couldn't understand a word the Italian presenter was saying, but learned quickly that she mentioned George's name on every occasion, probably saying that he was still to come. :)

Kristine
Luckily enough, at the concert we had a big group of George fans behind us, and they were extremely good at NOT pushing us into the fence which we are really grateful for. We even made new friends there. Those Italian guys are gorgeous… And of course security guys… Who needs to watch a concert if you have guys like that standing between you and the stage!
Lol… Seriously, some bodyguards just made me think – ok, if I jump over this fence, I wonder what he is going to do with me… ;) ;) ;) Of course, when George walked on stage, I was still thinking… if I jump… I think I didn’t even HAVE any security guards between me and him ;)
He looked so good!!! Well, I am sure you have all seen him in that cream colour shirt and tie! ;) Wow… That was all I was able to say… I think I repeated it several times to Jen who was standing next to me. Don’t think she heard me, though… We had George fans all around us, so we could only hear his name being screamed at the beginning. The whole place was kinda quite when he started to sing, but still we had problems to hear properly cause people in the front rows are always very loud. The duet with Pavarotti was really good, and it seemed strange to me it was on so early in the show. It was actually in the first part of the show. So, the “big number” then was considered “Brother, Can You Spare A Dime” that was at the end of the show. And it was amazing performance (that is, as much as I could hear it…). I think out of the 4 concert I have seen, this was the best performance so far. I certainly enjoyed the song much better than at NetAid.

Ludo
We arrived there in time to find a comfortable spot on the standing area and we enjoyed the show. I loved Skin, she’s great, and of course George, but he had already performed specially for us the day before.

Jeannette
Anyway...the concert.
Ofcourse we had heard most of the songs already during the rehearsals, but still the concert was marvellous. The atmosphere was really nice and it seemed like the artists enjoyed performing. Again, Irene Grandi really struck me with her enthusiasm. She was great.
I manoeuvered myself from the others in order to get rid of all the tall people in front of me. I'm not short myself, so in the end I had quite a good view on what was going on on stage.
I loved the Eurythmics too. I've seen them live twice now and I even heard them perform the same songs, but I don't care. "I Save The World Today" is just the perfect song to have many people's attention at a charity's event.

It was a bit guessing when George would appear on stage. When he finally got on stage, he must have gotten the loudest chear of all artists.

Herma
I did enjoy the show a lot. I've been to some other charity concerts and I am positive that this was the best one. As far as the line up was concerned. I've never been a Pavarotti fan, but I guess I am now. Not that I am going to buy all his stuff, but I really enjoyed the way he sung with all the other acts. Highlights ?.... hard to choose.. there were only maybe three artists that I really didn't like. I absolutely loved The Eurythmics, the Italian singer Irene Grandi was grand indeed, she sparkled on stage. I understand she is very big in Italy, but I had never heard of her before. She was soo good. And Aqua were quite a surprise to me. I just thought of them as a kids band, all the kids here in Holland are fans. Like my 8 year old... well I didn't tell him upfront that they would be there..he would have insisted on coming too :)). Anyway, they just did their songs with so much pleasure. I always enjoy watching artists who radiate fun, like Wham! in the early days. I guess it also made a difference that we had seen most of the artists at the rehearsals, the way they acted there and everything. It gives a different perspective. Also Savage Garden, I never paid that much attention to them, but this Darren guy....mmmmmmmmm :) I love him, his singing, but also his shining eyes. Of course Enrique Iglesias, well, I didn't scream or cry for him, but I enjoyed him too.

Eeh, what else? Skunk Anansie were very good... Like I said what was a real pleasure for me were the Italian songs, many done with the kids choir, very good. Like Forniculi, Fornicula and even the good old O Sole Mio..... It was so much fun, I was amazed, I never cared for that kind of music. Maybe I was just biased or I am getting old, but this show was a real eye opener. And then there was George. What can I say? I think he was absolutely brilliant with Brother Can You Spare A Dime. I never heard it this good. Not on the Album or at NetAid.... this was amazing. And he set the people straight there and then who said that he has lost his power. There was a lot of power there. Great too, that like at any other show George got the biggest applause. After he finished, Jeannette and I looked at each other, lol... with such pride. Yeah that's our George. Ofcourse we had nothing to do with his effort, but it feels like he belongs to me, us, our group and maybe some others..lol. But we, the fans know he is good and by doing a show like this, the rest of the world just has got to be convinced too. Don't Let The Sun Go Down On Me was nice, he mixed up the lines a bit with Pavarotti, maybe one day of rehearsal wasn't enough. :) He is used to singing the whole song, understandable. He did sing it well though. I enjoyed his performance tremendously, allthough it is an old story by now...:) It seems he always picks my least favourite songs for shows. Well, I love Brother, but since he had already done that at NetAid, I would have liked to hear something else. But I guess not many people in Italy were in London too, so that makes his choice understandable again.
But overall, I think he was great. I don't really understand why he didn't want this to be in the show on t.v. again. I just heard one litttle note in Brother that didn't go well, just one very little slip that most people wouldn't even hear. But it was shown live, so it is on tape already :) I am just sorry that he didn't do an Italian song with Pavarotti, that would have been something else! And with his voice, that would have been great. I guess we all felt that way a bit. We knew the songs upfront, but longer ago George did say that he might do a song in Italian, and he decided against it, just too bad.

Jeannette
His first song was the duet with Pavarotti: "Don't Let The Sun Go Down On Me". We know now that something didn't go exactly how it was supposed to be (George "took" two lines that were supposedly to be sung by Luciano and forgot to sing his line at the end of the song)...not that I noticed at the time...
To be honest, I don't think the duet was a big success. Ofcourse I liked it, but the interaction between George and Luciano was a bit stiff, as you could notice that they only rehearsed once or twice. Apart from that - and I noticed in other songs as well - is Luciano not used to do uptempo songs. Don't Let The...uptempo? :)) Well, still too uptempo for Pavarotti apparently.

George's second song was the one of the last songs of the evening. In fact, only the Eurythmics performed after George. Brother Can You Spare A Dime was lovely. George must have really impressed the not-knowers by the strength of his (live) voice, as I heard well appreaciating mumbles from the people around me. Maybe George should have put the live version of this song on his album Songs From The Last Century (the NetAid live version which was similar to this performance), as the the strength of his voice in the song is so good, that the song is at its best when performed live.
Now, somewhat later, I've seen the tv broadcast of the show and for some reason, tv doesn't get the atmosphere that the live event had. The sound of the microphone is too loud, so that the music fades away and the children choir's microphone is present too loudly. In other words, people could be mislead when seeing the tv broadcast...audio didn't do his job right :(

Bianca
When he finally appeared on stage the crowd went wild.. he always seems to get the best response of the audience! It was great fun being there... even though it somewhat felt like an after party.. to me the rehearsals still felt like the real concert.

Kristine
And of course, the big surprise – altogether song! It was presented as a big surprise that George will sing. And he was announced separately for altogether song. Too bad he really DIDN’T sing! ;) Come on, George, even *I* know the lyrics for “All You Need Is Love” (well, I can’t sing, so there’s not much of a use in knowing the lyrics)! He had no problems with chorus (which basically is just “all you need is love” ;)) , but the rest of it… ;) ;) ;)
I didn’t hear his voice, put it that way! Well, he was on stage with all the others and that is already quite a big achievement for “Pavarotti and Friends”. ;) ;) ;) Not like there is any sarcasm in my remarks… ;)

Jeannette
For some reason :) neither one of us expected George in the final song.
He wasn't there during the rehearsals the day before, and therefore it was a big surprise that he was re-announced on stage as the first name.
It was quite funny. As we thought it was "over", Herma (she was in my sight but too far away to talk to) and I managed to reach out for eachother and hand over a bottle of water. At the moment we heard George's name being announced, we weren't watching the stage but eachother and both laughed about the eachother surprised faces when we heard the announcement. :D
The final song wasn't really as expected Can I put it like that? Later on, I agreed with Kris that the lyrics of "All You Need Is Love" is known by everyone by heart.
From what we could hear in the audience, the artists holding the microphones obviously didn't know the lyrics...except for Annie Lennox maybe, and even the lyrics on paper and on the autocues in front of them didn't help them. In one word, the final song was "messy". I've seen the final song of Pavarotti and Friends 1999 on tv, which was really good.
Oh well...George was there...standing next to Pavarotti who didn't let go of him ;-) George sang along a bit, although he couldn't be heard. The tv broadcast of this song, btw, is far better than we heard it live...

Bianca
After the concert we waited for the others.. Stefan & I walked up to the other side of the park to say a quick hello to Jewel, Sandra and some other PG fans that were there.

Kristine
After the show it took a while for us to get out of the stadium. Somehow we did meet with the rest of our group. We discussed the show over some hotdogs and beer at Novi Sad park and then headed back to the hotel. I had to leave the next morning and I really HAD to be on that plane!

Jeannette
After the concert we all met again near the gates. Knowing Modena town would be closed we decided to get back to the hotel. I think this time we were with even more than 13 people in two cars! In the hotel we chatted for a bit and went to sleep.

Bianca
Then it was time to go back to the hotel, since most of us were leaving the next day, and we were with quite a large group ourselves at the hotel so we had our afterparty there... :o)

Ludo
I spent the night at a small private party in Herma’s room, chatting, drinking wine and smoking. When I went back to my room I found Paulette and Sonja chatting and laughing as well, so the party went on till 4 am. And we woke up at 8 the morning after!!!! My my, I wonder how I managed to stand and behave quite normally!

Herma
Anyway, not much time for partying after the show, just a little. We had to get up again in time to drive back to Holland.