Ennio Morricone, 3 Arena - Dublin

Awhile back I wrote about getting tickets for Ennio Morricone who was due to play on December 12th.  Unfortunately, the concert was cancelled and then rescheduled for now.  It felt like forever for the new date to come but finally the day was upon us!

Ciaran had to travel to Limerick during the day and I was afraid he wouldn't be back in time.  I felt it would be too rushed and put too much pressure on him so I didn't book a restaurant but instead made arrangements to cook at home before the concert.

He got home from Limerick in plenty of time but went for asleep at 4.30pm and then I made dinner for about 5.30pm.

We got a taxi at about 6.30pm as I was afraid the traffic would be bad at the venue.  Traffic was fine because we had left so early - we were inside by before 7pm for the 8pm show.

I brought my Tommy Bahama flask with me because Ciaran tried to convince me that there would be no vodka for sale, only wine and beer.  We hadn't been to this venue since it was called the Point.  Of course it has had a major overhaul since then and has been through two name changes from the O2 to the 3 Arena.  

When we arrived we were pleasantly surprised by the venue.  It is superb and had full bars and a range of concession stands.  There was even a prosecco concession where you could get a glass of prosecco for €7.  I just bought a bottle of Ccoke Zero for my vodka.  During the interval, I had a drink from the bar.  I didn't want to get another vodka as they only had Absolut (bleugh) so I had a Malibu & Diet Coke (1980 called - they want their drink back!)

When we entered the seating area, Ciaran asked me to guess the capacity (he had already googled) - I said about 20,000 which wasn't a bad guess because it actually holds 23,000.

The show began just after 8pm with the choir walking on to stage (possibly about 70 singers) followed by the orchestra (by my count there was about 80 musicians).  Then the maestro himself walked on the the stage (very jauntily for an 86 year old) and with a quick bow the music began.  

Do you know Ennio Morricone?  I would imagine you are familiar with many of his pieces from films including "The Mission", "The Untouchables" and "Once upon a time in America" and of course "The Good the Bad and the Ugly".

All of the songs were amazing but I especially liked Come Maddelena and Abolisson.  My favourite, however, was Here's to you  which was sang as the first encore - the crescendo that it builds up to is sensational and to see it live was breath taking. 

I think that Gabriel's Oboe from The Mission holds a special place in many Irish people's hearts as it was used in an Aer Lingus ad (the National Airline) in the 1980's at a time of high emigration in Ireland......the music is very poignant.