Julio Iglesias still has star power at age 70.
Twenty four hours after his much-anticipated one-night-only concert at the Dubai World Trade Centre
was called-off at the eleventh hour due to a technical glitch,
legendary Latino singer Julio Iglesias stormed back on Friday night to
charm the pants off a sell-out crowd with stellar renditions of some of
the most beautiful love songs every written.
The Spanish heart-throb, who
turns 70 this year, was in fine voice as he relied on his trademark
light, lyric tenor and generous use of vibrato to deliver classics like
‘Crazy’, ‘Nathalie’, ‘Je n’ai pas change’, ‘Let It Be Me’, ‘When You
Tell Me That Your Love Me’ and ‘To All the Girls I’ve Loved Before’.
With
over 300 million albums sold Iglesias has a vast repertoire of music,
which would take a lifetime to fully explore. So it was interesting to
note that he depended, for the greater part, on his Spanish and French
catalogue of hits to entertain his Middle Eastern fans at the two-hour concert.
“Tonight
was going to be a very special night, because there are so many
different nationalities at this concert,” he told his enthusiastic
audience. “Hello to the people from India, Pakistan, the Philippines,
Italy, France, Britain, Lebanon and Dubai.
“You
are so lucky to be living here in this beautiful city among so many
different nationalities. I once passed through Dubai many, many years
ago, and somebody told me that one day something special was going to
happen to Dubai. And it has, this is one of the most beautiful cities
that I have seen.”
Iglesias made
admirable use of his charm to keep the audience entertained all night
with his infectious humour, illuminating anecdotes and sheer brilliance
on the microphone. However, I would have to admit that the sound quality
in parts of the Shaikh Rashid Auditorium truly let the singer down on
the softer ballads only to be rescued during his trademark up-tempo
flamenco-tinged chansons like the seventies hit Mammy Blue that has been
covered by the likes of Demis Roussos, Celine Dion and Lara Fabian.
Despite
his age Iglesias showed that he can still embrace a melody with a rare
tenderness to have the women in his audience swooning in exaltation.
Cries
of ‘we love you Julio’ frequently rent the air as male members on the
audience made unsuccessful attempts to restrain their partners who
seemed only to have eyes for the incredibly handsome man in the
spotlight, who for the most part, stood almost motionless, holding the
microphone his left hand and using his right hand to express a thought
or emotion.
Particular highlights
on the night included Iglesias’ version of George Harrison’s My Sweet
Lord, from his 1970 multi-platinum selling triple album All Things Must
Pass, an upbeat adaptation of the George Michael debut solo single
Careless Whisper and his own monster hit Je n’ai pas change (I Haven’t
Changed).
It was a mixed effort and
Iglesias, who has an extraordinary ability to phrase a song, was on
fairly sold ground. As a vocal stylist Iglesias showed that he is still
capable of handling almost any kind of material, even if he does handle
them pretty much the same way – exhibiting flawless technique and
complete emotional involvement.
It
was 43 years ago that he had his first single with the Eurovision song
Gwendolyne, but Iglesias’ proved that his gifts have not diminished one
bit.
By Leslie Wilson Jr
(Source: http://www.albawaba.com/entertainment/julio-iglesias-dubai-479748)
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