Concert For Diana Review
The long awaited ‘Concert for Diana’ finally came to fruition on Sunday, and I have mixed feelings on the whole event. First off, the idea of it and the cause is excellent. To mark ten years since Princess Diana’s death, a concert featuring a mix of some of her favourite musicians and a new breed of stars vying to pay tribute to her is very fitting. But in my opinion there were some major problems with the whole thing.
For starters, some of the performers seemed weird choices. I can understand Elton John, Bryan Ferry, and The Feeling, but why were Pharrell Williams and Kanye West there? They just seemed slightly out of place, with their music a world away from what Diana stood for and was associated with.
Regardless of which bands and singers were on stage, the next thing to annoy me was the crowd. For 63,000 people, they really did produce a lacklustre display of singing, cheering and getting involved with the on stage performers. At one point, I thought half of the audience had fallen asleep, it was so quiet. If I’d have been there, I would have got in to the spirit of it, and had a bit of a party, although be it respectful. I think the problem was the crowd were of such diverse ages, with the people who seemed to get tickets being mostly “of an age“, to put it politely.
The crowd were never given time to get in to the groove of each performer as they only ever got to sing one or two songs. I’d rather have had a smaller amount of quality acts performing for longer.
One thing I could have done without was the constant cutting to the royal box where Princes William and Harry were sat with their entourage of posh friends and hangers on. It provided some comedy moments where we were treated to some stuck up twerps trying to dance to music they’d clearly never heard before. Interestingly Kate Middleton was present despite the fact she and William supposedly split up in April.
The last thing which made me go off the whole thing was it’s length. Six hours was just too much for it, with no sense of purpose or intensity. I think three hours would have been a much better length for the concert, as that’s about when my eyes (and ears) started glazing over.
All in all, it was a good event, but if they ever do a ‘Concert for Diana Two‘, I think they should make it a more exciting and fitting tribute to Princess Diana.
If you missed the concert and want to see if I’m talking out of my arse or not, VH1 are showing clips from the show. Then head on over to my friend Heather’s VH1 blog to check out news on the channel.
Concert for Diana, Princess Diana, Elton John, Bryan Ferry, The Feeling, Pharrell Williams, Kanye West, Prince William, Prince Harry
July 2nd, 2007 at 10:33 pm
[...] the Concert for Diana that aired on VH1 this past Sunday and posted a review. Head on over to his blog to read the good, the bad, and the ugly from a Brit’s [...]
July 3rd, 2007 at 5:42 pm
Well, I did not see this event, nor am I particularly interested in doing so in the future. I am however leaving this comment to question the integrity of the review itself.
The tag on Netscape’s homepage which links to this article reads: “Is it just me, or did the Concert for Diana suck?”
So, intrigued by the tag, I clicked and read a rather tame review in which you listed everything that didn’t work about the show, only to sum it up with “All in all it was a good event…”
What?!? Seriously, man.. you need to make up your mind. You can’t just go airing a list of complaints only to backpedal completely on your closing statement. It makes you look wishy-washy as the saying goes. If you really felt that it was decent, then you should have stated things you both liked and disliked about it, rather than just focusing on the latter.
Please don’t tell me you actually get paid to write.. and if you do, please tell me that this was a rare occurrence for you….
July 3rd, 2007 at 8:02 pm
I thought Joss did a really good job and a few other artists as well.
July 3rd, 2007 at 8:17 pm
Will F, thanks for reading, and commenting.
I take your criticism on board, but the thrust of the post was to point out what the concert did wrong. I think this is likely to become a regular event and so was detailing what, in my opinion, could be improved upon.
Overall though, it was ok, which prompted the closing statement. As for the title on Netscape? Well, it caught your attention didn’t it, and that’s what was intended.
You ask me not to tel you I get paid to write, so I won’t.
July 3rd, 2007 at 8:18 pm
Kiki, she did ok, but wasn’t given enough time on stage. I’m going off the girl rather quickly though as she seems to be turning very divaish!