Fran Healy Concert - Rome

So folks,

here we go after a long time! And this time I have a real good story to tell; yep yep, me and my lovely girl, Steph, went to Rome this week to see Fran Healy in concert!!!

It was great!

So we left for Rome on Tuesday the 22nd. Our flight, a Ryanair flight, was going to leave at 17.55 and we planned to be at the airport at 16.30, but as always, I was late... so half hour later than scheduled I was there while Steph was waiting in the car. We met and after wasting 10 minutes fooling around and saying already silly things, we thought we had to go through security check.

So we said bye to our fathers, who were there with us, and went through the security checks. After 20 minutes together we were already laughing and having the usual fun we have when going through these kind of things like travelling and being at airport.

We walked to the airplane after cueing and we tried to understand where to sit... we actually found out that places were not booked, so we could sit wherever we wanted, but after all we sat in the back of the plane: in our last few flights we were alw

ays sitting in the back, so why changing that tradition?

I won't be bothering you with too many details, but I can tell you we spent the whole flight chatting, disturbing others. This time we even had the chance to learn assistants' names and to "fool around" with them; they were Orazio - the metrosexual one, Alessio - the Chris Martin alike, Chiara - the red headed Irish looking woman, Liam - the British one. Liam was the nicest one with us, just playing bit with us everytime he was passing by our seats, Alessio was the coolest one and we really had to tell him he looked like Chris Martin, so we were getting off the plane...

Me: "you look a bit like Chris Martin..."

Alessio: "Who is that?!"
Steph: "I can't believe it!!! It's the singer from Coldplay!"
Alessio: "ahhh, I see"
Chiara: "Oh no, no way! You really need glasses, cuz I think you can't see that good! He doesn't look like Chris Martin!"
Steph & Me: "A bit, we said a bit"
Steph: "Just somehow the shape of his face!"

Chiara: "no way, no way..."

LOL we went off the plane and we were quite early. So we had to take a bus to get to Rome, we booked online, but we checked if we could get on the bus before the one we booked for, and luckily at 19.20 we were on our way to Rome Termini station.

Alessandro, Steph's friend and the guy having us in his house, was going to meet us at the station to go then to his house. So we arrived, waited 10 minutes and then he arrived and greeted us. After 15 minutes on a bus, we were there. His house is on Via Eritrea, no. 65. He lives in a basement, a small one, but lovely and very warm, cozy and welcoming. His flatmates are 3 other guys, all coming from towns around Lecce and they keep the house incredibly cleaned and tidy. 2 of them were not there in Rome, so when we got home there was just Andrea, this guy looking very mediterranean and somehow Spanish but with a touch of egyptian colors. His style is okay, not really our kind, but he is a good funny guy, a musician, a creator, since he studies to be a director and he welcomed us in a nice way.Alessandro set his other flatmate's room for us; the room was amazing. This guy is an artist so there were paintings made by him everywhere on the walls, and every inch of the room had a detail or a little something that he created and that made that corner special and unique. We loved the room and we spent 15 minutes just looking around and taking pictures when we got there.

We were happy with our new room and we were hungry as well. So Alessandro cooked for us a lovely dinner. Pasta with tomato sauce with sausages in it: lovely!

Alessandro... I have to say a few words about him. Defenetely a great guy, very sweet, serious, tidy, clean, nice, and welcoming. I didn't know him, but I was happy to meet him. He's the real kind of "good guy" and boy next door everyone wants to meet. He acted like of an old brother and he took care of everything, making his schedule fitting with ours, even if he had to study and he was simply amazing with us.

After dinner we went out for a walk through Rome with Alessandro and Andrea. It was nice to walk, to enjoy Rome by night, with no many turists and people around in the streets and the city was quiet and just walking and chatting was a relaxing way of starting this trip. I think that both Steph & me loved to be on the Pincio, just looking at the whole city from one of the highest spots in Rome: lovely and stunning somehow!

When we got back home we were ready to get in bed and get some rest... we were planning already what to do next day and we wanted to get up on time and go around...

23rd February - day of the gig!

...but we woke up and got up late, so we decided to just go for a walk around Ale's house and we ended up (following Alessandro's advice) in front of Villa Ada, which is a lovely big park, full of fields, trees and little lakes. So we got in and had a little walk down a hill, taking pictures of new-born daisies in the fields, reaching a big open space with some benches, and we sat on one, taking silly photos, enjoying a bit of the sun and just looking around.

Half hour later we were back home and we had another good meal (pasta with tomato sauce and meatballs), that made us feel full and happy. Steph brought Alessandro some great cookies baked by her mother and I have to say that having them with a nice tea after lunch was something that made me happy =)

In the afternoon was again we wanted to go for a walk, and we were planning to go and check out a shop in the heart of Rome, where you can buy tea and these kind of things in a nice little shop that a friend from Ale told us, but after my radio show we had a little "power nap" and when we woke up, after checking online some things, we realised it was not possible to go back and forth from home to city center and still being on time to wash, change and be ready for the gig.

So we decided to just stay around, walk, relax... we got in a book shop and checked around, then had a long walk chatting, we stopped buying some important things aka gummy bears and Smarties and then we got back home, already excited and in hurry to get ready for the concert.

Alessandro was studying with his friend, so we got ready and then we had to wait for him; looked like his friend didn't want to leave. So we planned to leave at 19.30 or 19.45 to go to the place, but just almost after hour later than planned we were out of the house and dealing with buses it's not always easy. To me looked like the trip was neverending and I was really afraid that we were going to be late and be late when the gig was about beginning. Luckily we made it and at 21:00 we were at the place, took our tickets (we've had already booked them) and got in. Not too many people were there when we arrived, but still it was early and we got the chance to be in the second row, which made us very happy, hehe.

We knew that there was going to be an open act, a duo from

somewhere near Rome, called Sprained Cookies and we were not really in the mood to listen to them, because we knew it was not going to be that nice for us. But when we saw a young boy coming on stage we were very surprised and wondered who he was. It didn't take long to get to know it. He had a guitar, a Mac computer and he stood in front of the mic, then in a shy way said: "Errr... helo everyone! My name is Foley!" ... and the crowd (yes, the room got full) was just quite, till someone said "Hi Foley!" and so he went on speaking in a funny nice italian with an American accent and he told us bit bout him and told us he was going to perform few of his songs.

We were happy that the supporting act was him and not Sprained Cookies and after he started playing, we were even happier that he was there: so young and so good. We loved him and we were just getting in the perfect mood for listening then to Fran.

After half hour and about 5 songs, Foley left the stage and the crowd was just clapping for him, showing some good love and appreciation and even showing that the excitement for Fran was growing... but then.... but then... Sprained Cookies got on stage. This girl, the singer, arrived with a beer in her hand and we could tell she was already drunk anyway -.- not something you want to see and especially not something you want to listen to when you go to an acoustic Fran Healy gig. They were terrible! Let's say the guitar-line of each song was not that bad, but her voice and

her way of being on stage... oh my god, what a weirdo!!! We couldn't really stand it and we just wanted them to go off stage; people were not really happy and just a few were clapping. After half hour they said bye and finally went away.

So the time for Fran to be on stage was finally coming!!!!!!!! He got on stage with such a natural feeling, not anything lookig like a star getting on stage or whatever... so ordinary and easy-going... lovely! We were screaming like hell and I bet I've never seen such a big smile on Steph's face!

He said hello, talked a bit with the crowd and then started straight away with the first song, which was "20", the first song ever he wrote. And song after song we dreamed away... He played songs from his new album, and a couple of old ones, and after about 1 hour and 15 or so, he stopped and said he was going to play songs we were going to request.

Here's the setlist:

1. 20

2. Holiday

3. Writing To Reach You

4. Anything

5. As You Are

6. Fly On The Ointment

7. Side

8. As It Comes

9. Sing

10. Buttercups

11. Last Train

12. Moonshine

13. Sierra Leone

Encore:

14. Tied To The 90's

15. Before You Were Young

16. Driftwood

17. Love Will Come Through

18. Baby One More Time (Britney's cover)

19. Flowers In The Window

20. Closer

21. All I Wanna Do Is Rock

22. Why Does It Always Rain On Me?

People, it's quite hard to describe the feeling we and I got throughout the whole concert. All I can tell you is that Fran had a story for every song, which made it somehow more special then to hear to that track just played live from him and of course he's a great guitarist! That's for sure! A

string went off his guitar, he went on playing and then he tried playing with a 12-strings guitar, and after 2 minutes he stopped and said, "no sorry, I cannot do it, this is shit, just give me a minute to change that string on my guitar!", hehehe, and he did! He was just sooooo cute! And during the last song... another string broke, hahaha, poor Fran!!! I loved every song and Steph was screaming out loud singing! I took million pictures and made a few videos...I had a lot of fun and had a little emotional moment on Closer, which is a song I really like. I screamed at him I wanted to hear My Eyes, but my voice probably was covered by other people and I was bit disappointed he didn't play that one, because it's one of my favourites for real!

However... the show ended, after 2 hours, because he said he was a little bit tired with his hand because of the guitar. Someone screamed "Fran, stay with us to take photos!!!", he didn't reply but just smiled. We thought then he wasn't going to stop with us, but after thanking everyone, he got on his knees and then sat down to sign tickets, albums and whatever... but after 10 minutes, when finally me and Steph were getting closer to him, someone from the staff told him he had to get off stage... so he said, "okay okay, I have to go, but I'll meet you all backstage!" ... People, he did!!!!!!!!!! We all went backstage and he was soooo nice to be there! We got closer, I handed him Steph's album and he signed it, then I asked him if we could take a picture and he took the camera from my hand and took the picture himself!!!

Then Steph said we had something from him and handed him the drawing she did for him. He took it and said he loved it and signed the two copies we had for us! And of course then I said, "can we also get a kiss?", he said: "of course!" and we even got a little hug and our kisses! Lovely, kind, easy-going, on earth guy!

We got out of there and we were feeling crazy, hyper, very happy! All smiles and songs and just keeping our papers, cameras and the album tight!

A taxi took us home and we couldn't stop thinking over and talking about the whole show! And getting in bed was easy because we were tired, but sleeping was harder, because we were still excited about the evening!

24th February

The next day we packed everything, went to university with Alessandro and then after a quick stroll through Villa Borghese, we reached Piazza del Popolo and we had a walk after saying bye and thanking Ale, just checking bit around and enjoying our time before leaving. And after a bite, we got on the metro and to the station. We spent some time trying to look for the place to take our bus tickets for the airport (we were lost!) and after maybe a hour I think, we finally took some fruit, sat on a bench and waited for the bus, which was perfectly on time and we left for the airport.

When we got to Ciampino, we sat and spent time just singing and thinking of what to do, and that's where we met a 18 years old Columbian guy, Julian, who was all alone and bit bored, so started to chat with us and we gave him some tips to earn money while travelling since he was going to go around Europe but didn't have enoguh money! After that I realised I had to be on my show and I was late. So we ran to the check in and that's when Michele called me to be live and I won't tell you how funny it was to be live and go through the security check!

However, we waited and then got on the plane. We sat next to a guy that we already saw (and disturbed) in the bus taking us from the gate to the plane and he was very nice with us, he talked with us, we had a laugh and we discovered that he was from Lecce as well and that's where we saw him before.

We arrived in Brindisi just perfectly on time (even if we left late!) and after that, under the rain, we drove (or better my parents did) to Lecce, where we were planning to have a karaoke night. I forgot my keys and I couldn't even get in the house, but didn't matter after all, we found a way to go in....even if I was already stressing and I stressed out even more when we heard that there was no going to be any karaoke! But our night was not bad at all, since we ended up screaming and shouting to the moon doing karaoke at home with our computer! So funny... as always!

Our 48+12 hours on the run with music was going to finish soon, just on the next day, when finally we were going home and we were going to sleep in our beds, taking some rest and still smiling from all that crazy good time we went through!

So happy about this gig and Fran was simply amazing... and Steph was simply great as well!!! For sure words cannot express properly how good it as and how it felt to be at the show... but we'll keep all the emotions in our hearts! hehehehehe

Hope we can soon do it again!

Love,

your Music Gipsy Mary

xXx