Biodome

Here's the ending! They also played Merry Christmas, Merry Christmas! It does make a dent in my finances, and now especially with the krone, it's very noticeable, and a full-time job is barely enough. Nevertheless, I think it's worth it. I wasn't even going to London because of Home Alone, though. It was an afterthought, as I noticed that there luckily was a concert today at RAH. I went with some family to see Phantom of the Opera yesterday. That one was also a great experience. Here's the conductor doing a little performance for us after the end: VID_20231202_220226_HLG.mp4

John Williams is being performed live in London once again: https://www.royalalberthall.com/tickets/events/2023/home-alone-in-concert/ I'm just waiting for today's concert to begin!

The official reason given was "to protect the guests' privacy", although I'm not sure how pictures or videos would violate their privacy. The participants were announced publicly well before the event, and they looked happy to be there. I guess it's more to do with the organizers and Mike not wanting any of the photographic/audio/video content presented during the event to be distributed outside of their control.

They told us to take no pictures, no video or audio recordings, and to not post about the event on social media. Without going into the actual content, I can say that the LSO musicians and Mike were amazing to listen to. You can really feel the love they have for John Williams as a composer, conductor and musician. I remember @bigjimwilson asked about the elitism/snobism that is prevalent within some Classical music academic circles and orchestras, such as the Berliner Philharmoniker. Well, there was none of that LSO! I can also mention that my brother was lucky enough to win one of the smaller prizes. He didn't have enough space to take everything aboard the plane, so we split the loot! It was several CDs, Blu-rays, booklets, artwork, a Legacy of John Williams t-shirt and a box with E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial merchandise.

It was a great concert!

I'll be there!

Yeah, there are too many hurdles, both in terms of price for travel, and acquisition of tickets. I'll have to let the fans in Japan enjoy the concert this time.

As soon as I get back home from work, I'll measure it and tell you. By the way, I uploaded some audience applause moments from Monday: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xLzeiLtl7Kk https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ihYS5T1xidw https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N5Fzwa6S-xM https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_I2jWaOc39o

My brother managed to pick up two of them. He said that at the end of the concert, the staff placed a bunch of them on the table where the programmes were, and people started grabbing them really quickly in what could be described as a frenzy. A random person even tried to take the two posters out of my brother's hands. It was crazy. He even had to hide them! Anyway, I gave one of the posters to @Martinland during the meetup. He has a massive John Williams archive, so the poster will feel at home there. It would be nice to digitize it in high resolution, but I'm not sure how to go about doing that. Maybe it would be easier to just ask La Scala for a .pdf. They should have one.

For the history books, I feel the need to mention that those ridiculously tiny bowls of risotto cost €35 each, and we realized that only when we got the bill at the end.

I managed to get a picture with ASM during the interval!

E.T. is my favorite! I'm never able to hold back the tears when I hear it live. Such an emotional sequence!

I'm 28. I tried to look around for older people who might have snuck inside, but all I saw were young people. The staff did briefly check the tickets upon entry, but didn't scan them, and didn't ask for IDs or passports. I guess that even if you're above 30, as long as you look young enough, it would be easy to get inside the venue.

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Encores:

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There are microphones and cameras!

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Almost got assassinated by a pigeon while trying to film the Duomo di Milano VID_20221211_120102.mp4

Is there any dress code for the rehearsal? I was thinking to just turn up in casual clothing, I hope they won't throw me out!

I'd love for Home Alone to make an appearance in the concert. It would be so appropriate for the Christmas setting. Alas, it doesn't look likely that the wish is going to be fulfilled. In any case, have a pleasant flight, and I'll see you in Milan!

Thank you! I'll be there!

Are you sure about that? I've checked on TripAdvisor, and there seemed to be plenty of restaurants that were open for dinner from 6 pm. There are also some that are open until midnight, so a post-concert dinner could also be an option. Of course, as a non-Milanese, I cannot vouch for the quality of those restaurants, though.

I decided to settle the argument with a conclusive proof that John Williams wrote the trailer music. I simply asked ChatGPT, the world's most knowledgeable AI chat bot: UPDATE: After voicing my doubts to the chat bot regarding its last reply, it suddenly decided that Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny is a non-existent film, and, thus, no trailer, let alone trailer music, exists for it: