Bocelli

Photo: The open air Teatro del Silenzio is set in the Tuscan hills near Lajatico

We took just one photo on arrival, then put our phones away. We were in a minority, a very small minority. Thousands were taking photos and videoing entire songs. You can see a selection on YouTube if you wish. I took to closing my eyes just to listen to the music.

Bocelli was fantastic.

Mika not so. We could have done without the Cirque du Soliel acts going on around the maestro, they didn’t add anything, hence not losing out when closing one’s eyes. The big screens director was dreadful. Cutting off artists before the end of the song and cutting back after the next item had started. We joked that the direction was so bad that they couldn’t even follow a blind man on stage.

The organisation was typically Italian. Chaotic. The concert started 50 minutes late, with no explanation. We listened to the last song on the way out and got the second bus to the car park and back to San Gimignano in good time. We avoided the hours of queuing for insuffient buses that so many complained about afterwards. We also struck lucky in that the Saturday night’s concert was cancelled due to a thunderstorm.

Bocelli was fantastic. Both of them. The rendition of Fall on Me with his son Matteo was sublime.