Maastricht: The Concert

Maastricht: 13th July 2010

We had dinner in the pavement restaurant of the Hotel de la Bourse, which is set slightly apart from the others in the Markt. We chose it not because the excellent food is any different to the rest, but it was the only one with places available.

In common with many other places, the ‘DLB’ offers an ‘André Rieu’ menu around this time of year; how this differs from other menus, I don’t know; I’d guess, especially chosen for those who want to eat before the concert.

Anyway, we had the chicken shashlick, which was superb, served with a salad (which included redcurrants) and … of course … chips.

André Rieu had just returned from his tour of South Africa, and we’d just bought the DVD My African Dream, which we reckon was the best he ever made … so far. And, he brought several of the South African artistes who featured in that tour back to Maastricht with him; the Bloemfontein Children’s Choir, the Hout Bay Music Project and the soprano Kimi Skota.

There was massive audience participation in the rendering of the Dutch football song Hup, Holland, Hup! … even though Holland had been defeated by Spain in the World Cup Final a couple of days previously. One of the most enthusiastic was the man in the Spain football shirt, draped in a Spanish flag. However, the good humour with which he was greeted, and the fact that he got out of the Vrijthof alive lead me to believe he was a deliberate plant.

And, why the illustration of the chicken shashlick? Well, I don’t usually take my Nikon to concerts, and to post the video I took would be a breach of copyright. So, I’ll just post a link to one of my favourite pieces, performed at Maastricht on an earlier occasion

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C_TfW0yzQSA 

and the evening’s most amusing song, as previously performed at the Schönbrunn Palace in Vienna.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dj7oHvYdyD0