An emotionally charged weekend! The initial panic of logging onto the Forum and discovering the news of the Valencia concert, the anxious hours of waiting for news of his health finally turned to sheer joy at seeing Leonard run onto the stage on Monday night.
The band were greeted to huge cheers as they took their places on stage and when Leonard ran out, the volume in the stadium increased ten fold. We all sang Happy Birthday immediately while Leonard looked around, took it all in and beamed. When he launched straight into Dance Me then and it was a great relief to hear how good he sounded.
Each and every member of the band were in top form, as always, but there was a definite "extra" in their performance, they sparkled.
At one point in between songs Leonard started to speak he only got as far as "We don't know when we will pass this way again ..." and he was treated to a second rendition of Happy Birthday.
The vastness of the arena melted as he bound us tight. THE most magical moment of the night had to be when Leonard started to sing Suzanne and the thin green candles held by Forum members, lit up dotted throughout the venue. That's when my tears started, I had to get a grip as I literally couldn't see very well for a while and I needed to take it all in. (Ann, thank you for posting that great photo).
It was an amazing surprise at the end of the night when Leonard thanked the Forum Members, tears again, bursting with pride to be part of such a wonderful group.
Great to be greeted by Maarten at Sala Vivaldi, I was really impressed with the name tags, which were worn with pride by Forum members at the concert and a lovely touch from to Ann (Womanfromaroom), giving us all a postcard souvenir.
The tribute concert was a treat, thank you to Jorxc for a great performance and interpretation of Leonard's songs and to all involved in the organisation of that event.
Catching up with lots of people we already knew from previous events and to finally meet many others was hugely enjoyable.
Albert is busy uploading today.
Hallelujah is up..
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lzo4lCmZKsM
Marie