<h3>Patrizio Buanne Rules Il Mondo</h3>

On Wed night, M and I had our hearts melted by this tall, dark, handsome, Italian man who was in town for a one-night concert. I've always liked songs from the Dean Martin, Paul Anka era and this guy's voice is soooo so sweet, I think honey comes a distant second. We had great seats (thanks to M) 5 rows from the stage and we got to see his face up close and boy! he looks like he came out of GQ magazine. We were surprised to note the Gold 95 deejays were in the row behind ours. There was Mr and Mrs Brian Richmond, Yasmin, Hubert, Audrey & even Hamish Brown. And so was the Minister of Health who was there with his wife and all the Mediacorp bigwigs.


The orchestra was a bit of a let-down and un-deserving of the Italian names Patrizio coined out for them. But the concert was definitely one of the very best I have ever attended. The venue was way smaller which made the whole experience warm and intimate and unlike the Indoor Stadium, the sound system was crystal clear, the way it is supposed to be. Patrizio came armed with red roses and all the ladies (and one man) who came forward to give him gifts, got one each. M and I contemplated finding something to give him but all we had were half-eaten muffins and a bottle of peach tea. Didn't think we'd get red roses for that!!

Patrizio sang all the songs from his album plus a few from the upcoming one. Despite being quite new in the limelight, he is very adept at speaking to his audience. He joked and bantered with the audience throughout his concert, and even the conductor, Patrizio's music director, Michael Stevens joined in at times. One guy in the frontmost seat, stood up to sing the chorus of Il Mondo and Patrizio quickly took off his jacket and joked that he just lost his job. He even mocked the Esplanade officials for not allowing him to mingle with the audience for security reasons. "Security? Why do you need security? I am no criminal!" he asked to roars of laughter from the audience. He jumped from the staircase-less stage, not before asking the audience to promise "Don't Attack Me Ok?" and further mocked the no-camera policy by asking us all to take out our cameras and take his photo. The Esplanade officials stood helplessly at the corners seething with fury. Needless to say, the crowd loved him to bits.

To be honest, before I went for the concert, I only liked "Il Mondo" and "Man Without Love" But I left the Esplanade that night so mesmerized, I am now a Lifelong Fan. When he started singing "L'Italiano", for a few seconds I even forgot I was married, hehe. When the Don came to fetch us after the concert and take us out to dinner, I told him to forgive me in advance if I say out Patrizio's name in my sleep that night.