Aug 24, 2010- Sacramento, CA

I first heard Michael Bublé (MB) in my car on the radio. Yes, regular AM radio! I remember exactly where I was & my reaction: He was familiar, yet new. The music & his voice grabbed me…I was hooked! So long had I been thirsty for contemporaries to do some of this kind of music and get playtime for a broad audience.

I supported him thru his releases starting with Michael Bublé-the cd, & telling anyone who would listen to me about him. The last time I had seen him perform live was in Reno, N.V., several years ago as his Its Time CD was out. I was just as excited about all his music as I was the first day I heard him sing. It was an excellent concert & his band was awesome- big band/swing style with a jazz flare. MB sang terrifically, he joked- adding some local references, & went into the audience …all things he does still to this day. I had brought other people with me who also now go to all his concerts they can attend & buy his music. They have since shared his music with their families…all hooked!!

Last Christmas I had received his Crazy Love cd, which I of course liked as much as his other music, & now it was show day- Aug. 24^th 2010 at 7:00 pm in Sacramento, C.A. The gage on the car for the outside temperature read 104 as we arrived at the arena. Parking lot attendants had bags of melting ice on their heads while directing traffic. Many people were lined up early for the 8 o’clock show & were thinking about MB but talking
about the heat. A slight scare came just before opening when a security guard announced recording devices, & even cell phones with larger than 3″ displays, would not be allowed into the venue! We, however, walked peacefully & blissfully into the cool auditorium with my phone secure & I decided to buy a signed program. After the purchase, the guy told me “hang onto that tightly, he (MB) only signed 40 of them for a crowd of 15,000″… Already, I was having fun!

We went by the red carpet photo op. provided by Nordstrom where a young mother beamed & told me she was so happy to be bringing her kids to hear him & his music. There were all ages present & waiting excitedly. Walking in we saw the stage, it was exciting & had an edge. Another new addition was the opening band, Naturally 7. Although they did warm the crowd, they can hardly be called a warm-up band as their talent is so amazing. See more @Scout66com .

 Michael Bublé now came out singing, & his voice seemed all the more wider in range. The lows fuller, resonating well even within the huge space of the arena. He said he was tired of concerts & wanted to have a party instead. The band was amazing as always this time, but more jazz-like in style. Before this night I had heard he (MB) had further grown as a performer, now I was experiencing it. Besides all the things that had always made him great & the changes to his shows, his ease with the audience as well as his jokes were even more energetic & confidently polished; yet, softly connecting with a genuine flow & enjoyment-not at all forced. He even joked the audience saying he heard them before the doors opened & teased that they were not really wanting to come in to see him, but how it could have been anyone singing, & we just wanted to get out of the heat into the a/c. Not true, but very funny!

He was the consummate performer going across all areas of the stage. He went from side to side, & middle singing & shaking hands. He shared a cookie that had been made for him & stopped occasionally to hit the MB beach balls going around …then, out into the crowd he traveled slowly to sing a few songs … to be closer to those at the back floor level & farthest bleachers.

Everyone was happy. Not just young girls, although there was that, but even an older gentleman was radiant after MB shook his hand. For me, I was experiencing a lovely mindset. One minute I felt as if I was the one he shook hands with & the next I was happy for the man with which he really did shake hands ..a strangely exciting & wonderful duality of feelings.

Back up to the stage he went for audience sing-a-longs…very fun! He had said at the beginning he was tired of doing concerts & so he wanted to throw a party instead. In the end, it was just that …an intimate gathering, even though there was 15,000 people including us. No longer a concert but a celebration of music, friends & fans.

Post note ..The next day I found out a young friend that I had talked to awhile back about his music, (who normally listens only to rock, rap & various garage bands)went with her friends to the show, one of the many fans in the far away bleachers. She called me the next day so excitedly, sure that I had been there, to tell me how much she liked him. She’s now sharing him with more family & friends…Hooked!!! I am even writing this now because of other friendships I gained through the mutual liking of this music. The party continues…Thanks MB.

@Ellepiari

Paris on May 18th, the cancelled show…

“WE HAVE NOT MET YOU YET..” PART ONE
 
IT WAS A WONDERFUL SUNNY DAY.
 
PARIS:MAY 18TH,6:30 PM.
 
WE WERE HERE TO SPENDT THE MOST THRILLING EVENING EVER (WE HAD BEEN WAITTING FOR SO LONG..)
WEARING THE MOST BEAUTIFUL DRESS,ARRANGED MAKE UP,READY FOR THE SHOW(EVEN IF IT WAS ONLY
TO WATCH IT..LOL!!!)
 
DECIDED TO RELAX A FEW MINUTES BEFORE GETTING IN,DRINKING A GLASS OF CHAMPAGNE,AS WE WERE BLOODY
EXCITED,WE NEEDED TO COOL DOWN…
 
STARTED UP BY THE FIRST PART AND NO LESS TALENTED ARTISTS”NATURALLY7″.
ENTERTAINED BY AN EXTRAORDINARY FLOW OF ACAPELLA VOICES; WE COULD NOT STOP THINKING THAT,WITHIN
A FEW MOMENT NOW,HE WOULD BE STANDING HERE,IN FRONT OF US,SINGING FOR AND WITH US.
HE WOULD BE HERE, WITH HIS WARM,CHARMING AND SO SINGULAR VOICE,FOR US AND US ALONE.
 
FIRST PART IS OVER,SUDDENDLY LIGHTS TURNED ON(!…)
 
THERE HE WAS, THIS MAN ON THE STAGE COMING TO US …BUT WITH THIS SAD ,UNFORGETABLE AND UNUSUAL
EXPRESSION ON HIS FACE”MAN!! IS THIS MICHAEL???” WE THOUGHT.
 
HE UTTERED A FEW WORDS IN A VOICE FILLED UP WITH EMOTION,AT THIS MOMENT WE UNDERSTOOD THAT
SOMETHING WAS GOING WRONG,THE NEXT SECOND,NO OTHER OPTION :THE PARTY WAS OVER.
 
NO MATTER HOW DISAPPOINTED WE WERE,HE CAME BY HIMSELF AND TOLD US;HE DECIDED NOT TO LET US WITHOUT ANY EXPLANATION AND FOR THAT:
MR MICHAEL  BUBLE DESERVES OUR TOTAL RESPECT.
THANK YOU MAESTRO!!!!
 
SYMPATHECALLY,WE TOLERANTLY APPLAUSED AND LEFT THE BERCY ARENA.
 
WAITTING FOR THE NEXT TIME WHEN THET CURTAIN EVENTUALLY RISES UP AGAIN.
 
LET’S SAY THAT, FOR US,IT WAS JUST THE DRESS REHEARSAL.
 
SEE YOU FOR THE SECOND PART MB,THIS  HAS  NOT DECREASE OUR LOVE FOR YOU AT ALL…
 

MISS O. KARI

May 15 & 16th at London

I have been quite lucky to have seen him in small intimate gigs in Toronto. I have been able to speak to him, and get a hug from him. This tour is the first I have seen him in concert though. I have heard how great he his in concert and seen tons of YouTube clips of his concerts and have been just itching to go!!! I went onto the message board towards the end of 2008 to see if there were any shows near me that I could go to. As it turned out no but I did get to make some wonderful friends based on one common interest… Michael Bublé. Over the last 2 years these friendships have really grown and developed into something way more then just an interest in Michael. So when this Crazy Love tour came about, there was no doubt that we would be getting together to see Michael somewhere.

Not only was I excited to go to England for the first time but super excited to see Michael again!! If you haven’t had a chance to see him yet, do it because you will NOT be disappointed!!! Even though I saw him in NYC on this tour, I was just as amazed and enjoyed these shows just as much. I won’t bore you with the details of the songs because we all know that they are just awesome! Also I will just go on and on and on… LOL!! What I will say is just my personal experience. First Saturday night… I accepted a dare from my friend at work to make it known that a Canadian was in the audience. So I accepted that. Anyone could have brought a Canada Flag but I upped the ante… I brought a Team Canada Hockey Flag that Michael would definitely know what that meant. I thought that by being in the second block on the floor, he might have seen the flag from the stage but I was a little too far back. But… I still had the small stage. My friend and I had aisle seats at the aisle he walked down to go to the small stage. Right as soon as he walked past us, we tucked in right behind him and made it right by the stairs he walks up. No one was in front of us so we had the perfect view. He then came right to the railing and I got to hold his hand and then he put his hand on the railing as he was singing. So I took that as a chance to put my hand on his. He looked down, smiled and winked at me. Then one of the security guys swept my hand off his. Now… if Michael objected, don’t you think that he would have moved his own hand? Oh well… it was still sooooooo cool!!! I didn’t see this until the next day but he saw the flag. My friend has video that he looked our way and went to walk away and then he did a double take and sang right to us. See the clip with the entry for it and you tell me if he noticed!! I got some great close up pictures of him (see the links). It was AWESOME!!! Sang and danced the whole show.

Now for the 16th… I decided to have a backup flag plan just in case he didn’t notice the first one. I decided to bring a Toronto Maple Leafs hockey flag to the show on Sunday. Now for those that don’t know, Michael loves hockey. He is a Vancouver Canucks fan so me bringing a Toronto Maple Leafs flag is like waving a red rag in front of a bull. So… I was hoping he might see that from the stage but he didn’t. I did cheer at anything Canada he mentioned and my friends heard me loud and clear!! LOL!! Right when he started to sing All I Do Is Dream Of You, I saw two of my friends run up the aisle ahead of him. I was like… what the heck are they doing? Then, DUH realized they were running ahead to get a good spot. So my friend that I was sitting beside joined them and so did our other friend sitting near us and beat Michael to the small stage and we took the same exact spot. We had to move to let Naturally 7 and the security guy that sat on the steps onto the stage. Then Michael is singing away and the girls behind me were pushing a bit. Nothing rude or mean or anything like that but they were trying to get ahead to hold Michael’s hand. Can’t blame them for that one!! But that meant I kept pushing into the security guy’s arm that was sitting on the stairs. I said to him that I was so sorry but I couldn’t help it. He said that he knew that I wasn’t doing it on purpose and it was cool. When Michael was doing his talking before singing Home, he saw my Maple Leafs flag. He laughed kind of an “oh boy” kind of laugh and gave me a mischievous smile. He didn’t say anything but the look on his face was he was thinking of it. LOL!!! I was still pushing on the security guys arm. He had to adjust his grip on the railing and when he did that, the girls gave a push right then because Michael was right there. I lost my balance and because of that I fell on top of the security guy, got Dino’s knee and hit my own hip and knee onto the steps. Michael saw but he was singing at the time and couldn’t do anything and I wouldn’t have wanted him to stop singing because of me. He did give me a sweet look of “OMG I am so sorry” kind of a look and those cute eye brows. I was going to get up but there wasn’t a spot for me to stand anymore so I asked the security guy if I could just stay where I was and he said yeah I could but for me not to rush the man (DAMN IT!!! Foiled that idea… LOL!!!). Easily the security guy could have been quite mean and rude about the whole thing but he was really nice! Later, Michael grabbed his towel and wiped his face and he looked around at the crowd and then looked my way. Because I was closest, he looked right at me. He smiled again and dropped the towel on the steps. I was a little slow on the draw not really thinking of getting the towel at the time. It was far down on the steps and no one else could have got it unless they climbed over the guard to get it. The security guy shuffled over and nodded at me to get the towel… so YES WOO HOO!!! Got the man’s towel!!! When Michael headed back to the stage, my new security guard friend and another security guy made sure that I didn’t need a medic and I said that I was fine. I made a joke that out of all the people, just throw the Canadian into the stage. Both of them laughed and went off to do their thing.

All in all, I had the best time at those two shows. Not only did I get to see the shows with great friends, but I got to go to a city that I have always wanted to go to. Out of all the times for me to pick to come to London, why not see my favourite singer at the same time! Now I just have to wait for Michael to come to Toronto. Hopefully another adventure will happen. Stay tuned!! LOL!!!

May 6th Sheffield, the UK Opening night!

Let me start by saying this was my first of hopefully many Michael Buble gigs so I didn’t know what to expect I would love to say I had followed Michael’s career right from the beginning and saw him in some smaller more intimate venues but I haven’t having said that being lucky enough to be fourth row from the front a few feet away from the man himself on his opening night in the UK was pretty damn amazing.

I always knew who Michael Buble was but was never really into jazz music don’t get me wrong I have a varied music collection and I always remember my grandfather playing Sinatra, Dean Martin and Sammy Davis jnr it was just never my cup of tea it wasn’t till I saw Michael on his promo tour for Crazy Love I saw him on the Graham Norton show, Loose Women, Paul O’ Grady and X -Factor and saw what a very funny entertaining guy he is so I went out and bought Crazy Love immediately and then proceeded to buy his entire back catalogue and searched for interviews and video clips on youtube and became slightly obsessed with the man!

So I proceeded to scour the Internet for tickets for his sold out tour and got tickets at an incredibly inflated price and I don’t regret it was worth every penny for me and a friend Lynda to Sheffield his opening night on UK leg of his world tour and counted down the days booked in to a hotel, which according to cheeky barman MB and band apparently stayed in for a few days before gig and we missed him!

We got to the venue and I couldn’t believe how close to the stage we were first Naturally 7 took to the stage you cannot call them the support act these guys are absolutely phenomenal full of energy and a totally original sound, I cant wait for them to tour I am there, they are amazing its hard to believe these guys don’t use instruments.

Then as the lights went down the drums for ‘cry me a river’ belted out the hairs on the back of my neck stood up and shivers went down my spine as the shadow of MB could be seen conducting the band the curtain went up and the crowd erupted and cameras flashed as he belted out the song I was mesmerized just couldn’t believe he was actually so close in front of me. The first thing that came in to my mind was I thought he would be taller and then WOW! what an amazing voice. I wasn’t prepared for people to also just sit and listen to the music I wanted to get up on my feet from the beginning and dance my ass off it wasn’t till I think ‘Everything’ everyone got to there feet

As all of you will know MB likes to talk a lot to his audience and try’s to get to know them, well as much as you can with 12,000 people and told us he was here to party,when he spotted a little 8 year old girl sitting right next to me with her parents named Teagan he was soooooo sweet to her and much to my embarrassment found my found my big face on the big screens !! But when he stops singing that’s when you realise what a funny, charming, flirty, sexy, naughty, genuinely down to earth and just completely nice guy he really is. He appreciates that fans spend their hard-earned cash to see his shows. He says thank you, a lot, and really means it although I would like to hold him to the part when he says he considers the whole audience friends, Ah if only. He made me laugh at his jokes and silly ness and made me fill up a bit when he talked about his fiance Lou to which certain people in the crowd booed at you would think any genuine fan would be happy he’s so happy and obviously in love. As the saying goes ‘ every guy in the room wants to be him and every woman wants to sleep with him’ me id like to take him for a drink the man is a phenomenal entertainer and showman. 

Favourite Quotes of the night

Did you enjoy the opening? Good. I’m gonna pass around the collection plate, ‘coz that shit’s expensive!”

 “I see Naturally 7 in the locker room. They’re more like Naturally 10-1/2. Hey, not like that, you sick bastards!”

Michael said he wasn’t sure about going from theatre to large arenas on tour but at times I felt as though he was only singing to me and we had made eye contact maybe it was because I was singing my heart out to most of the songs or maybe it was just my imagination but it worked for me and he does make you feel like a teenager again I am sure I screamed a few times! I should also mention his impression of Michael Jackson when we were treated to some crotch grabbing and fancy dance moves which I thought were rather camp! well he cant be an amazing dancer as well. But I was to slow off the mark and to far away when Mr Buble went walk about to a small stage at the back of the arena to give the people there a treat I have to admit the guys got balls to do that with only one security guard but I got nowhere near and thought it wasn’t a good idea to follow the hordes of people who did as there could have been a stampede.

So to Michael if you ever read this thank you for introducing me to jazz and the Great American Songbook thanks you for taking the time to tour the world and sharing your music with us and in your words ‘ ill love you till I see you again’ which I believe is 126 days or 18 weeks WHOOP WHOOP!!  🙂

Love always

Michelle B X

Philly, PA

Michael in Philly March 16, 2010

 The last time that I had seen Michael live was in April 2008 in Atlantic City. The two shows from the Call Me Irresponsible tour  that I did see were great . When I first saw him, he was coming into the audience and walking around greeting fans. Of course the venues were smaller and security could handle any craziness. When he came to Atlantic City, things had changed. Gone were the days of coming into the audience.

I read some early posts of the Crazy Love tour and saw that he was coming back into the audience.  To say that I was excited to read this was an understatement.  For the Philly show, I was able to get two floor seats in the center of the arena and better yet, my seat was the first of the row! With my camera charged, I was ready to go to see what I could capture.

As the lights dimmed and the show was about to start, I turned to my husband and said, “Get ready, this is going to be a good one! And  Michael sure came through. When he opened with Cry Me a River, the place erupted. He sounded a bit under the weather but he nailed the song and continued to dazzle everyone song after song.  The place really never quieted down until he sang, Best of Me. It was beautiful and touching song that I hope he releases so we can all enjoy.

And then the best part of the night! He started to sing, All I Do is Dream of You, and I noticed he was getting off the stage and moving down the main row. I was in denial for a few minutes and as he was getting closer I was thinking, “with my luck, he will never come my way”. Well, luck was on my side that night. He was getting closer and closer and I though this is not really happening. As he was walking right towards me, I turned to my husband who turned to me and said, “See ya later and have fun!” I continued to follow him towards the smaller stage in the back of the arena to watch him sing Home. I swore the whole place sang with him.

By this point, the whole crowd was on their feet for the rest of the show. It was amazing to see people who had never seen him before and those, like me, who had seen him many times. Everyone was saying the same thing, this guy is a phenomenal performer and showman.  He makes you want more and for the concert to never end.  

All in all, this was clearly the best concert I have seen of his so far. When I saw him in Atlantic City, I had the opportunity to stay at the same hotel as Michael and the band and meet some of the band members. The guys were a class act and I thought that show would never be topped. Well, I am glad to say that I was wrong.  I have attached a copy of the video that I shot when Michael came into the audience.

Enjoy!

Cindy