Day by day, hour by hour, minute by minute...

1st day: Friday 10/14/05

h 04:00 am: allarm clock and departure.
The alarm clock rings, it’s time to start this wonderful adventure…
The phone rings and the nicest Hilton Rome Airport's (where I work) night duty manager Cristina, wakes me up (I asked her to call me, to be sure to awake…) by saying: “Good morning dear… you look beautiful… ah ah ah” and I reply: “good morning, thank you, I think my eyes look like Willie coyote ones, after a bomb outburst… cracked…”

I’m tired, indeed, I actually stopped working at 00.30 am and slept just a few ours, but I’m too overjoyed to feel it…
I’m supposed to take off from Rome to Paris (Charles De Gaulle Airport) at 7.20 am, then take the shuttle from CDG to Orly airport (Paris), then take another plane to Avignon.
I'm at the airport, ready to leave...
A pretty take off delay apart, the trip from Rome to Paris is ok.

h 09:50 am: traffic jam in Paris.
In Paris there’s a terrible traffic jam, delaying the way to Orly airport… my anxious starts getting higher and higher… “This is important … no telephone calls, no high fives, no champagne… you get to the airport, you make that plane… you got a plane to catch!!!”
I arrive in time to check in for the other flight to Avignon… I also have time to smoke a pair of cigarettes (I’m a big smoker… as a well known friends of ours…)

h 02:50 pm: meeting new friends.
Waiting at the gate, I start talking to two nice ladies going to Avignon on holiday, they ask me my reason to Avignon, and I tell them because… and invite them to join us…
While chatting, I notice a pretty red hair girl staring at me, since I mention Cinderella man, I look at her, I see she’s with a young boy…. I realize
"Excuse me" I tell her "Aren’t you the German girl who wrote on Murph’s GIG forum, saying you would have gone to the concert with your son?"
Great she was her, Babette accompanied by her beautiful and nice boy (as she calls him) Lukas

Ok, I’m not alone any more in this fantastic adventure.
We start chatting and sharing all our joy for this trip and also start talking by Russell movies quotes.
I’m very happy I can do this, at home, my friends can’t understand me when in the middle of a speech I say a quote, most of the times they look at me in a blank way… ahhhh, in the end I can be understood by someone who’s speaking my same “language”: Russellish

h 05:00 pm: getting the ticket.
After a safe and funny trip, in the end we arrive in Avignon and we straight storm to the Auditorium de Vaucluse to get our previously purchased tickets.
There we find Madame Martine, the nice and patient Auditorium employer, who kindly faced all my bothering calls from Roma, to know if I got the ticket.
“Madame Martine? … I’m Sabrina” and she replies: “Dragoni, we finally met” we start laughing and I do apologise for bothering her so much in the last few days.
She laughs and forgives me… We ask her how many tickets have been sold, so far, and she answers smiling: "Sold Out!!!"
Wooooahhh... I've got my ticket in my hands!!!
The Auditorium hall is a modern but beautiful place, there's also a lower level small bar reached by a few steps

Friday 14 evening:

GATHERING AT WOOLLOOMOOLOO RESTATURANT IN AVIGNON:

It seems to be Xmas...

Here we are, at the Woolloomooloo Restaurant in Avignon, ready for this previous private night with "The girls". Many people coming from all over the world, (France, Spain, Sweden, Germany, Portugal, Wales, U.K., U.S.A. etc. forgive me if I'm forgetting someone) in occasion of this EVENT are about to meet each other.
The idea to have dinner all together is by Carol from Florida, a nicest blond lady posting on PERCH, who has arranged this gathering from USA and prepared a lot of beautiful surprises for all of us: a concert badge, , where we put our name and where we're from, luggage badge, (front and back), beautiful 2006 calendars, with any sort of Russell pictures, on which she personally worked on Thank you Carol!!!
Carol is not the only one who have prepared surprised and pretty gifts to share, many of us did the same and it seems to be Xmas, with a pretty but huge difference, the most of us have never met before, and this is great!!!

These are Russell people, unknown persons from all over the world, ready to meet each other as old friends, sharing smiles, hugs and even help if it's necessary. I'm very honoured to be part of them and I start feeling all the emotion I've hidden in these last few days even to my self, too busy to set this journey.

We are having a lot of fun and a very good meal.
The French girls are very nice and help us with the language. Everybody's tired but happy.
Babette's son Lukas , our mascotte after the dinner goes to sleep on a small sofa, he's exhausted, but he's behaving as a big boy, not a kid... great guy!!!

After so much fun, we're about to go back to the hotel, Avignon by night is beautiful place, very old and antique, (early middle age), but we're too tired to go in around, even if the bravest of our do.

Tomorrow will be the Great Day, I'm looking forward...

2nd day...

Saturday 10/15/05:

THE PRODIGAL GREAT DAY... ARRIVES

I slept very well last night, so tired I was

h. 08:30 am:
We get up early and after a very good breakfast we decide to have a pic-nic at the Auditorium apple wood in order to be on line very soon.
We're over excited...

The very Concert

Well... all our efforts, tiredness, delay and so on will soon be at an end... highness... ops... will be soon rewarded.

We see the service employers setting the stage for the imminent show, there's a sort of strange silence amongst us... a silence full of wait...

The black panel, concealing the back part of the stage is taken away... still silence... Lights change... first chords of "Weather with you"... 800 people voices blend as one in a huge roar, that rises, rises up like... like a storm as if we were the thunder god himself...

All the band members enter the stage:
Billy-Dean Cochran (guit. – Tofog), Dave Kelly (drums - Tofog), Stewart Kirwan (trumpet - Tofog), Stuart Hunter (Silverchair), Bones Hillman (bass -Midnightoil) and Alan Doyle, co-author of MHMH (guit., vocals and backing vocals, from the Canadian band Great big sea)
welcome by our big applause and scream.

They’re very elegant in their dark suits.
All these members are great musicians, a mixture of classic studies, rock and blues background. The contribution they give the present band is the result of different musical experiences that gives the band a unique and very personal style. Besides, they’re very well blended in this experience and we’ll see they’re having a lot of fun playing at the concert; and this is a most important thing: if the musician is enjoying his/herself, the audience can feel it and enjoy too;
after all, instruments, or even the voice itself are “just” tools to communicate feelings… and this band, from the professional point of view is great, but not only… they also are naturally skilled to transmit feelings… Congratulations!!!

Now our Great Man enters the stage… the applause gets higher and higher…
I do apologize if sometimes, from now on I won’t be able to follow a chronologic order, but my mind, heart and all my self were carried by a multitude of feelings I’m still under, when I think of the concert… please forgive me…

Well… our great man enters the stage I was saying and…

He looks gorgeous, very elegant in his soft white lined black suit, black silk shirt, beautiful and very elegant round point black shoes, a central parting (as "One good year" shooting requires), his natural hair colour, medium cut in front and short cut on the nape of his neck and his typical beard.
He gently smiles at us and in a perfect French says: “Bonne soir, madames et monssieur” (sorry for my French)
Then he keeps in English, promising he’ll speak slowly and not in Aussie, and teasing Alan by saying Alan is going to translate his words from English into French, then Alan actually translates from English into English…. (the audience laughs a lot) and from English into a French Quebec slang…

While Russell was entering the stage, Mrs. Danielle, who went out for a bit before, was coming back to her seat, and as he saw her, he gave her a full of love and intense glance (lucky chance to sit so close to the stage)… That glance would heat a planet for a whole year… “This is great” I thought. In Italy we have a way of saying: “Love, Beauty and money are three things that cannot be concealed”
He’s a terrific professional, each field he touches and I was absolutely sure he was going to give the performance of his life, but I think we also love, respect and admire him, because he seems he never “lies”, he’s the way he is, a professional, a husband, a father and a man completely fell in love with his beautiful wife: "Gentlemen… meet a Man!!!"
When I think of the few but meaningful glance he gave her, I still feel touched... Eyes talk...

Looking at the music stand in front of him, I think it’s not very nice to putting it there at a live concert, besides he’s the author of the lyrics and… an Oscar winning actor, got used to learning skirmish of words and quotes by heart...
As he sees it, he disappointedly moves it back and…

THE WEIGHT OF A MAN
Wonderful beginning, Russell is at most of his vocal ability, the song is beautiful, great job by Alan for the music and arrangement, deep and felt lyrics, sang with a hint of emotion we can all feel and share.

Big hand to the sound engineer (the one who also recorded MHMH album). The sound was excellent. Perfectly managed, terrific stereo effect and pan pot, each instrument was clear and perfectly melt with the others. Russell’s voice was well melt with the instruments too, as rock concert tradition requires.
There was a terrible moment during the concert, when Russell had some problems with his auricular, he couldn’t hear his own voice, the drum and Mr. Alan’s guitar anymore, and it’s a very problem. In this way you can only shout and not sing, forcing your voice and risking to sing out of tune, but the excellent stage sound engineer, Tony Wall (who also recorded the album) managed the situation in a fast, discreet and very good way, quickly changing the auricular set, keeping calm Mr. Crowe, who was becoming a bit nervous… Normal reaction when you find yourself in a situation like that, the audience in front of you, you got to make a great show, without listening anything but “chhhhhhh” (he actually told us on the microphone).

The concert song list

(thanks Babette for fast scan and delivery) is amazing, they play the whole MHMH album, some Tofog songs, and the last new born: Testify.

Before singing HOW DID WE GET FROM SAYING I LOVE YOU there were some people waiting at the entrance of the hall, close to the stage, Russell friendly tells them to get in and take seat somewhere up on the left, where there're some empty reserved seats. He also teases with one of a guy from US and shakes his hand.

During the concert there're some quotes jumping on my mind I want to shout, but, unless singing with all of us, my mouth is shut.
"Russell, Russell the merciful" I' thinking now

Sir Ridley Scott, Mr. Branko Lustic and Mrs. Giannina Facio arrive a bit late and take their seat up on the left at the reserved seats too (ahhh, they were for them).
As Russell sees Sir R. Scott, asks us to cheer him, (the audience replies very warmly) and also kids with us by saying if we don't mind if they start the concert from the beginning again... Why not?

I'm stunned... In my movie-mania (always watching movies and reading books on directing and cinema) Sir R. Scott is on of my favourite myths (I also dreamt once I was talking to him about a shot...nuts).
I think he's a genius, a terrific story teller, a pure director, leading us to the heart of the movie situations by a deep taste and an accurate but simply as result way of showing pure images... Great!!!

Well... he's simply there now...before my eyes, with his sweet and ironic look on his face.
I'd like to shout "Great Ridley" but I decide against doing it, 'cause I know he's a very "shy boy", hating to be at the centre of the spot-light, I don't want to embarrass him.

LAND OF THE SECOND CHANCE
Russell introduces it telling us a bit of the story behind it and start singing...
The band is rocking, Russell's perspiring and moving as a perfect rock star. We're all dancing and rocking even if we sit...pretty difficult. I'd like to stand up and dance but everybody's sitting...arrrgh

MIKEY, SWEPT AWAY BAYOU (song by TOFOG), WORST IN THE WORD
the audience is getting warmer and warmer, we're all involved, then...

RAEWYN
Magic moment... Russell performs it in a very intimate and felt way. At "I love you more, thanks to my Charlie Crowe" He gives Danielle another meaningful and breathless glance, heating all our hearts again, and again, and again.
Petra rises her cig-lighter and lights it up. I follow her. It seems we're at Woodstock!!!

MR HARRIS
Another touching moment, profound and felt lyrics.

WHAT YOU WANT ME TO FORGET,
THINGS ARE GONNA CHANGE,
MEMORIAL DAY (Tofog songs)
Amazing. There're some people, coming from Spain, Usa, etc. who were at Texas concert, they jump and scream. The 'temperature' is getting higher and higher.

ONE GOOD YEAR
The notes flow as honey and Russell's warm voice pervades us all.
Petra and I rise again our cig-lighters. At this moment Russell's singing keeping his eyes closed. As he opens them, he seems to be looking at my direction.

As Babette says in her report at Murph's, while performing, he doesn't look in around, he seems to aim directly at you. A very linked way to be in touch with the audience.

TESTIFY (the new born)
Russell introduces it being auto-ironic on his past intercourse with the justice in NYC and tells us about a project he and Alan Doyle had about making a video-clip of this song. They were thinking to set it in a crowded amphitheatre, but it'd have been pretty expensive to hire 600-700 people, then Alan gave Russell a good hint: "Why don't you give a concert, mate? So we can have so many people for free, providing that you tell them they're paying and not being paid to make the video-clip..."
Everybody laughs.

Russell tells us to as rise and wave our hands at a certain point of the song as he does and to do it very well, otherwise we have to re-shoot it "ten more f....ing times!"

This a rock and a very good one song.
We all rise, at last... and start dancing and rocking... The audience... the band, we're at the climax of this wonderful happening. We make a very good job at rising and waving our hands.
There're three cameras shooting. We're all hoping the dvd to be released. After the concert I talked to the sound engineer, he told me the Concert in Le Thor was the best of the three ones they made from the audience receptivity point of view...Well a dvd is required I think!!!

Russell tells us they have a song list and it's about ending, but since they're good guys and are going to dance for us all night long...

MY HAND MY HEART
Russell goes to the back stage and then comes back, smoking a cig and drinking a cold beer.
At the "Cheers" moment he rises his glass and... magic moment for all of us. I think everybody did the same.
As far as concerning me, because of a strange light effect and my central seat I have this 'image-vision':
as in one of the last deleted scenes of ABM, the Nobel speech, when he says : "you're all my reasons" all the audience but Alicia fades out at once... Well at the same time Russell rises his hand with the beer, I do the same with my empty hand, says "Cheers" too and suddenly... everything else fades out, but him (I've never used drugs nor alcohol and I never will... power of movies and imagination... nuts again)

Alan Doyle gently asks us to sit and sings a beautiful Quebec song, guitar and voice. He's terrific!

TESTIFY re-shoot
Have we done a wrong job at waweing?
Russell goes inside the back stage and comes back again... transformed:
Armani black jeans, round point black boots, a French football team t-shirt and its scarf too he rises and waves it. The French audience goes crazy.
Running, he reaches the back of the centre of the stage, turn his back on us and strips it off, only remaining in his famous black concert shirt...
We all do apologize to Danielle... There's a huge roar invading the hall.
We rise again and the party's on again.

Everybody's going crazy, Russell and the whole band are performing Testify even better than before.

As we can read in many press article, "Russell's main daily job" is to be the fantastic talented actor he is... he's a terrific showman too: he and the band as involve us as at a very rock happening!!! Congratulations!!!
It's amazing to see everybody (even ladies, grown up girls and gentlemen) dancing, going crazy.
Nobody can resist the power of such a good and well performed music, lyrics, and this force of nature on the stage, as performing as a brilliant rock star.
He also teases himself and us turning his back on us again and waddling or taping from a foot to the other.
Live, he's even more charismatic than on the silver screen.

The concert's ending. We're all perspired, exhausted but happy... happy!!!

As the hall lights rise again and the concert's over we start going out, but stop for a little while at the stage passage, and talk to Dean, who comes out again, he's very nice to us and we have a little chat.
After a bit, the security kindly asks us to go out... sigh sob!!!

What a great concert... what a great experience!!!
THANK YOU ALL!!!
WHEN THE NEXT CONCERT?!?!?!?!
We'll be there, all of us and even more!!!

After the concert I have a little chat with the band and the sound engineer who tells me, the band is going to shoot THE WEIGHT OF A MAN video, directed by Russell (see at MURPH'S Wheight of a Man video) at the Colosseum in Niemes. We have a lot of fun when I reply: "Colosseum in Niemes? Why don't you come to shoot it in my own town, next time, we also have a pretty Colosseum... the real one!!!"

It's about 03:00 am, close to Russell's car there's still a bunch of aficionados, waiting for him.
He goes out of the Auditorium accompanied by Danielle, they're going to the car but, as he sees the fans group, says something to the security, talks a bit to Dani, he seems to gently apologizes for attending his last "duty" and leave her for a little more while... He kisses her and looks at her as if they were going to be apart for a month... and smiling goes to the fans... Kind till the end... he's very nice to his beloved wife and also he's rewarding his aficionados, paying a due of respect towards their faithfulness and long wait, by spending a little while talking, signing autographs and letting people taking pictures...
Babette e Lukas are the first ones and have the autograph (thanks Babette)

Night is over... memories time... already...

3rd day: home again

h.10:00 am: wake up
We wake up at 10:00 am, have our breakfast and ready to go back home.
We're still thrilled and excited for last night but pretty sad...it's over and we're about to separate from each other.
Viviane, Kathy, Cicile and the other French girls arrive at the hotel. We take some photos and say good bye.
Lots of warm hugs and tears. We don't get bored to repeat: "Let's do it again, let's put the clock back at Friday morning again...

h. 12:15 pm: at the Auditorium again
Petra kindly drives Babette, Lukas and me to Avignon Airport.
We have a little stop at the Auditorium again, just to say good bye and try to find and feel some of the magic of yesterday again...
The weather is fine and it's a very sunny day: "Yesterday it was raining 'cause we all had our sun here..."
The nice Madame Rosy by Auditorium de Vaucluse let us take 2 concert posters, son even Babette and I can have ours too, and let us in the auditorium to take some pictures.
There's a hint of melancholy in us and we're already collecting memories.

h. 12:40 pm: Avignon Airport... Bye Bye Petra
Bye Bye sweet Petra. I'll never forget you, nice, pretty, funny cig-smoker mate...
At the airport we meet the Swedish girl and go to Paris, Orly then to Charles De Gaulle Airport together: The small trip is quite happy, remembering last night: Sometimes Babette and I open the concert posters and laugh.

h. 02:30 pm: Charles De Gaulle Airport
I'm the first to leave. Babette, Lukas and the Swedish girl have a lot of patience with me, going in and out of the airport to have my cigs.
They accompany me to the gate, Lukas embraces me as an old auntie... I'll be missing you too, dear.
Time to say good-bye... We're at my gate.
warm hugs and tears again. I check in and I'm on my way to the plane...
I turn my head back, open the concert poster again... I waddle a bit as Russell did last night on the stage... make the strength and honour gesture and go... I still can hear our last laughter...

h. 09:30 pm: home again
I land in Roma again, my old, beloved home town town. Happy to see you again, even after such a small time we've been apart.
You have different colours from the Provence beautiful ones I still can keep into my eyes... My mind is blending yours with hers...
Tomorrow evening I'll be back to work again and I know I'll be singing sometimes wearing a melancholy, funny and dreaming look on my face.

The treasure I brought at home from this experience

To the nice security and the kind bodyguards
To all the Auditorium de Vaucluse staff , in particular Madame Martine and Madame Rosy.
To all the people kindness in Provence and France.
To The band, you made a great job: Congratulations!!!
To the sound engineer, all concert cast and crew for their professionality.
To Mrs. Murph for continously updating her site, also putting forum to let us meet and organize.
To dousse Viviane, Cecile (very special thanks, you know why...), Kathy, sweet Carol, the two Spanish and the very nice Swedish girls, great Petra (perfect main entrance guard), energic Babette and lovely Lukas...
To all the people I'm forgetting now but as I switch off my pc will come to my mind...
To you all...I'll be always keeping your smile inside of me...

THANK YOU ALL!!!

Sometimes, at present , I go out for a walk, listening to the song list and remembering of all the beautiful moments we shared there... the corners of my lips automatically rise... I still have the whole journey and all these people flowing into my eyes as a movie sequence...

To all the people who weren't at this event:

I tried to do my best making this long and detailed report.
On purpose I did it as a 'script', to make you feel the magic of this experience...as if you all were there with us... after all... you were.
Thank you!!!

Last but not least...

Dearest Mr. Crowe,
thank you so much for giving all of us this opportunity and honour to meet each other, share this experience and be a part of this event.
Thank you for existing and make us feel all these variety of multiple emotions, through your art, way of performing and writing at most of your highest talent and way of being. We're all very proud of you!!!
We'd really pleased if there were another concert soon, very soon...please.... We're all eager and looking forward... We'll be there!!! All of us and more...

I wish you all the best for everything, and may all your dreams come true...
God bless you, your talent, profession, beautiful wife, lovely son and family, and always kept it as sane and close as it is now.

Thank you.
Sabrina Dragoni

At TOFOG myspace site, Testify video... Terrific!!! There can also be some of us who can recognize themselves (Thanks Babette)

At RCAV by Darrin, Testify video to download, HERE (yellow page, 3rd line on the right)