:: Andrea Bocelli - Rod Laver Arena, Melbourne - August 2008

By: Carmine Pascuzzi

I had the unique pleasure of seeing Andrea Bocelli perform at Melbourne's Rod Laver Arena. Having seen him countless times on television, it was a different feeling to see him in front of a joyous audience and accompanied by the Czech National Symphony Orchestra. It was Andrea's only Melbourne performance on this national tour.

It was straight down to business in the first half of the show as he sang duets with baritone Gianfranco Montresor and soprano Paola Sanguinetti - a variety of arias from Il Trovatore, Rigoletto, plus a couple of obscure pieces. Puccini and Verdi are amongst Andrea's favourite composers and they highlighted his selections. Paola Sanguinetti was particularly masterful in her vocal qualities, demonstrating real passion and verve.

There wasn't any banter until the second half of the show when things lightened up somewhat, with several of Andrea's well known songs enjoying great audience reaction, particularly “Mamma” and “Funiculi Funicula”. He even donned a white tuxedo jacket, to great applause, as a signal of a changing of the mood. Pop songs are his specialty as he is primarily an Italian pop singer who happens to sing some opera pieces. He gets great enjoyment from songs like “O Sole Mio” and “Torna A Surriento”. There was even a rendition of “Can't Help Falling In Love”.

Andrea has enjoyed huge pop success with his duets with Sarah Brightman (Con Ti Partiro) and Celine Dion (The Prayer) and these were sung beautifully this night and well appreciated by his fans. Australian singer Tina Arena joined him on stage towards the end of the performance with a duet of “The Prayer” and the Italian star lifted Tina off the ground in a giant hug, to show his appreciation for her performance.

Then, there were two encores - the night could have gone on forever as the audience were completely in love with the music and the voice. It wasn't the most passionate or emotional performance Andrea has given, but he a voice for many people of many music styles. At the end, “Nessun Dorma” was sung with much gusto and it is his way of paying tribute to his late great friend Luciano Pavarotti, who made this his own. The crowd really adored the last part of the concert and, although it was not a cheap night out, they left satisfied in witnessing one of Italy's great modern day singers in terrific form.