Il Divo


Some of you may or may have not heard of them. If your music taste buds have dipped into contemporary opera as of late, you would definitely know them. And even if contemporary opera ain't your cup of tea, some of you may know them simply as the four handsomely dressed guys (ok..downright gorgeous! There...I said it!) who could more than hold a tune. These guys' voices are clean, pure, and well, just plain romantic.

I first heard of Il Divo from my good pal, Oprah. I missed the actual show where they were basically introduced to America, but thanks to the wonder of technology, was able to enjoy (over and over and over again...) their performance online.

They were awesome. No wait...they ARE awesome.

The story of how they got together stood out, too. Simon Cowell, as in the sarcastic Brit who speaks the truth on American Idol, was responsible for getting these four guys together. Four guys from four different countries with musical backgrounds ranging from classical, opera, and pop. Take one from Switzerland, France, Spain, and the U.S., and you've got yourself one damn good looking all-male contemporary opera singing group who could sing like you wouldn't believe. Makes me respect Simon a little bit more than I already do. Lol!

Again, contemporary opera may not be your thang...but it's mine.

Okay...not only mine. The faithful following includes my sister, my bro, my aunties, my niece, my nephew, and myself. Talk about going through the grapevine...after I watched the Oprah performance, I immediately bought the cd and told Ate to get it. She did and then she told the aunties about it and I can only assume that they have spread the word as well.

Well, wouldn't you know it, their U.S. Tour has just begun...and they were scheduled to stop in Minneapolis. Hubby thought it would make a great post-Valentine's Day treat (and it WAS!)and bought us two tix to their concert!

The day of the concert happened to be one of the COLDEST days of winter in Minnesota. The day before, the temps fell into the negatives and basically stayed there. I want to say that the highest temps was -12 with a wind chill of -35. Ain't that bananas?! The concert was to be held at an auditorium on the University of Minnesota campus, but considering that we've never been there before, we didn't know that we'd have to walk from the parking structure to the hall.

And boy, it was FREAKIN' C-O-L-D! To our dismay, we didn't come prepared with our outdoor gear. Shame on us! Seeing that this is the third winter we've experienced, I'd like to think we would've been smarter to have at least our gloves. As we walked into the ass biting cold, a news anchor's voice rang in my ears,

"Exposure to extreme cold may result in frostbite within 10-15 minutes."

Totally NOT cool! COLD, in fact. And the walk from the parking structure left our fingers, ears, nose, and lips numb. Sometimes I can't figure out which is worse- being in the cold and having all those parts of your body numb OR going into a warm place after being in the cold and having those parts of your body get shocked back to life and defrost. Either way, there's an unspeakable pain that accompanies both. In the cold, besides the dull numbing of the fingers, there's a tingly sensation that convinces you is going to be followed by a snap and a crack as the appendage in question supposedly falls off to its death. In the desperate immersion into the warmth after being in the extreme cold, again there is a tingly sensation, but this time, it's as if the blood flow is too quick and that my body cannot adjust and it almost feels like a part of my body is going to explode. Makes me think of those deep sea divers who are warned about surfacing too quickly....ok, maybe not.

Bottom line- we almost lost our fingers for these guys.

(And it would've been well worth it!)

The concert itself was AWESOME, AWESOME, AWESOME! It didn't matter that we were seated up in the balcony because I honestly believe that the venue couldn't contain the power of their combined voices. When I closed my eyes, it was as if I was listening to the cd...but ten times better! Their songs are just so utterly romantic and being that more than half of them are sung in a different language, it makes them even moreso. They sing in English, Italian, French, Spanish, and I think Portugese. Even though I can't follow what they say, hell, it doesn't matter. Their voices are enough to melt your heart...was it a coincidence that the majority of the concert attendees were female???

In any case, here's a pic that I was able to take via my digital cam. Not bad for being taken from the balcony, eh?



Left to Right: David (U.S.), Urs (Switzerland), Sebastien (my fave from France!), and Carlos (Spain). Notice the Greek columns going on behind them...tres romantique!

Do yourself a favor and check out their website.

*To Doh: Thanks for the awesome post-Valentine's Day gift! It was memorable beyond words.