Concert - reports & impressions

[crobarbie]

Well, I am doing some twitter search, and here are the first impressions... it seems the some of the public did't like the fact that the concert was "interrupt" with musical "Moonshadow" preview

"Cat Stevens was fantastic. A lot of the crowd booed and walked out during the wonderful West End musical performance. A brilliant show... Only the best get booed in Dublin; Bob Dylan, Freddie Mercury and tonight Cat Stevens. Totally ridiculous from the audience."
(David Doyle via Twitter)


"Parents just came home from Cat Stevens at the O2. Apparently it was a sham. €100 for half an hour of him singing, and then some pantomime... Needless to say, they walked out."
(Cian Mac Mahon via Twitter)

"What a fricken awesomee concert ! I love Yusuf Islam "
(Anscarter via Twitter)

"Parents @ Cat Stevens in the O2 apparently loads of people have walked out. Came on for 45 mins introduced his musical of other people"
(Jamie via Twitter)

[crobarbie]

Well, it seems that tomorrow we'll have a very mixed opinions in press about the concert Well, I am thinking... I would be dissapointed if Cat Yusuf would not play minimum 80 minutes on his own, and some 30-40 minutes for musical... about 2 hours concert would be fine with me. But, if Cat Yusuf is only playing about an hour... I would not like that. Other opinions?

[JaneB]

Walked out? I don't even know what the heck to say about that. I agree with crobarbie - we are likely to see some very mixed opinions in the press tomorrow.

[crobarbie]

Some more from Twitter:

"Parents loved Cat Stevens tonight - enjoyed the mid show performance of his west end musical"
(Jamie via Twitter)


"brillant cat stevens gig..pathetic dublin audience"
(caromcpartland via Twitter)


"Just back from seeing Cat Stevens live - really good show altho the audience behaved like baying cretins"
(creygor via Twitter)


"That Cat Stevens gig was the best gig i never didn't go to never ever. So glad i didn't decide not to not go or might have gone or not"
(Ronan Jackson via Twitter)

[SuzieQ]

Why were they surprised by the break in Yusuf's singing? It has been publicised enough that it's what would be happening, it just goes to show, you can't please all of the people all of the time.

I don't understand why some would walk out half way through, why not at least wait until the end of the performance before judging!

[frmsaturn]

I'm as anxious as everyone here to hear how the concert turned out. Reading the mixed reviews something comes to mind about Yusuf as a man and performer. Yusuf chose to do these concerts to reconnect, to share his most inner thoughts with his fans. Have the fans that walked out forgotten that "Moonshadow the Musical" is also his work, even if he isn't singing it?
Yusuf has told talk show hosts that he has been working on this for 10 years. All artists at one point or another in their careers evolve into the next step which often is the producer, the writer, the mentor to the next generation of artists that will "Wow" us in their own right.
This reminds of a favorite song listed by many on this website as their all time favorite Cat Stevens sad love song "Where Are You?" This song wasn't very popular when it first came out and at one point Cat Stevens put his career on the line to have it produced. I guess just as then only time will tell.
I so wish I was able to go. I guess I will have to be happy with vicariously experiencing the concert via another's opinion and reviews since that is the best I can do!

[SuzieQ]

More from Twitter

I saw that Rowan was rumoured to be there, so I asked and the reply was...

DavidMJTDoyle
@sueljt Ronan came on during the encore and sang "Father & Son" with him. Ronan got a great reception from the crowd when he came on.

[SuzieQ]

Nov 15, 2009 20:06:26 GMT -5 yoriyos said:

Great concert. There were a few members of the audience that were either too drunk, impatience or just plain stupid to understand what was being presented tonight. It was made clear that a preview of the musical would be part of the show. As a magic act was once part of his show. He played over 40mins of a more acoustic style, introducing the band half way through that. then there was an intermission, whereupon he played a song introducing the musical. it was the first time i had seen it myself, and it was breathtaking. great performers, classic songs sung beautifully. Half way through this the few booed while others responded with supportive applause. maybe they thought he wasnt coming back on for the second half of the his show, either way, they missed out. He then came on for the second half, playing the classics, ending with a duet of Father and Son with Ronan Keating. He said to the audience he now knew how Dylan felt when they didnt approve of him going electric.

Paradoxical, as they didnt want him to leave the stage - but didn't give the time to see the whole show through

Thanks for posting, Yoriyos, You just can't please some people eh...
I bet they are kicking themselves now!!!

[Vivian]

WOW! It's such an honor to se a review from the son himself! Just reading all these reviews from Yusuf's performances have helped me in emotional support after losing my Dad. Even though I have not shown much excitement as I was and still am in a state of grief.

Now, I agree with statements made here. There will always be mixed reviews, but one would think they would at least watch the entire performance first.

Peace,Vivian

[Fireowl]

About halfway through the performance participants in the tiered seating began to hiss and boo. The performers did not falter and carried on as if nothing were going on. Yusuf was quite gracious in addressing the situation when the preview concluded. He did not apologize, (he certainly did not need to) but he did say that perhaps the preview was a bit long. He gave an extended curtain call, so I hope those that had not been prepared for the preview of Moonshadow felt they got what they wanted, to see and hear more of Yusuf.
It was a very good to hear him. The crowd absolutely went wild when Ronin Keating came out to sing Father and Son with Yusuf.
I think there will be mixed reviews about the storyline of Moonshadow. The songs, from different parts of Yusuf's career, work well together as a narrative. It is a kind of Luke Skywalker meets the Matrix with autobiographical bits of Yusuf's life melded together. Dogon Ur's artwork is reminiscent of Yusuf's drawings. We will have to see if the timing is right for the look and feel of this story.

[mjwestha]

Hey Fireowl can we have a setlist. Appreciate the information so far.
-Mike

[Fireowl]

I did not write down the list, but I can tell you he included Boots and Sand, All Kinds of Roses, Father and Son, Tuesday's Dead, Roadsinger, Peace Train, Where do the Children Play, Bad Breaks, Don't Be Shy, Lilywhite, This Glass World and Moonshadow.

[mjwestha]

Thanks! A few different songs, including bad brakes, tuesday's dead and this glass world nice.

[richina]

Oh my gosh...he did Tuesday's Dead?? My all time fave!! And people walked out after all that?? All I can tell you is that if my sister and I had been there...the first hiss or boo would have been taken care of! How dare anyone treat him that way! And what fools they felt like when he came back out to finish the show. I only worry about Yusuf, I hope he wasn't backstage feeling heartsick that all his work was for naught. At the very least, out of respect for the artist, the audience should have watched the show and given their opinions at a later time.
Don't worry Yusuf, come back to the U.S., we won't boo anything you do. We're just happy you're back and performing!!
As far as I'm concerned...Dublin can just kiss my ___!! They don't know a great thing when they see it!
My 2 cents,
Richina
Sorry it's the Louisiana coming out in me! ;D

[Fireowl]

As we were all walking to the shuttles there was a lot of chatter. It seems that many did not see or read the pre-sale information about the inclusion of the musical. So, while I am not excusing the behavior, it would appear that people came expecting one thing and receiving another. It was, by no means, the majority of the crowd.

[richina]

Sorry, I didn't mean to be ugly Fireowl! I think common manners should have prevailed, that's all. I hate that any of it happened in the first place. I take back what I said about Dublin! But the ones that walked out and acted a fool (you know who you are), don't mess it up for everyone else and especially for Yusuf!!

[SuzieQ]

You will always get a few in a crowd, that spoil it for the majority! As a certain person said, There were a few members of the audience that were either too drunk, impatience or just plain stupid to understand what was being presented tonight!!!

But still, there is no excuse for bad manners!
~~~

Fireowl, what a great showcase of pictures for Yusuf's latest venture. Thank you.

[JaneB]

Nov 15, 2009 21:35:56 GMT -5 richina said:

Oh my gosh...he did Tuesday's Dead?? My all time fave!! And people walked out after all that?? All I can tell you is that if my sister and I had been there...the first hiss or boo would have been taken care of! How dare anyone treat him that way! And what fools they felt like when he came back out to finish the show. I only worry about Yusuf, I hope he wasn't backstage feeling heartsick that all his work was for naught. At the very least, out of respect for the artist, the audience should have watched the show and given their opinions at a later time.
Don't worry Yusuf, come back to the U.S., we won't boo anything you do. We're just happy you're back and performing!!
As far as I'm concerned...Dublin can just kiss my ___!! They don't know a great thing when they see it!
My 2 cents,
Richina
Sorry it's the Louisiana coming out in me! ;D

I am right there with you, Richina, except in my case it would be the NY coming out in me! I can't imagine walking out on any performer that I went to see, but to walk out on Yusuf is just insane! I certainly hope his next three shows are better-received and that people don't get drunk! This is Yusuf, not a Motley Crue concert!!

[windofmysoul2]

There is no excuse for anyone walking out at a performance, for it is plain rude and sometimes beyond comprehension. I suppose one can try to understand why this happened, and it seems that the reason it did was not because "they" did not like what they heard from Yusuf, but that they wanted more as they felt they did not get enough. Can one view this as positive? Perhaps.

[helen]

"I'm not sure what to say"

Must admit when Yusuf announced his
"Guess I'll take my time tour"
That seems like a full concert which a lot of people probably got excited about.
After tickets were sold then it was announced that he was going to introduce his musical
"Moonshadow" during the concert.
Maybe people felt that he was not on stage long enough, who knows?

But its very rude of people walking out a performance.
"Don't worry Yusuf, they are not your true fans, we are"

[aurelia]

I am sad of reading that this morning. I do not understand Yusuf did not lie during the promotion in this concert. It was always question of a musical comedy. In all the case this kinds of behavior is inadimissible. I hope that will not have demotivated it too much.

[tediber]

What a shame that a minority behaved badly - I hope everyone else had a great time and didn't feel their evening was spoilt by the rudeness of some.

Thank you so much for sharing the reports (and the fabulous photos) with us.

Jo

[G-One]

Who's able to read always has a big advantage - we say...

We know whats's coming and will enjoy every minute

[Django]

Ok this is my two cents:

First up, it was a fine show. Yusuf was in great voice, really. At times I thought I was actually in the Majicat '76 DVD he even re-used one of the stage tricks. His voice was so like it was, it even had that childish quality from the old days. He also seemed relaxed and confident. I get the impression he was never as relaxed back in the '70s.

As to the controversy. People didn't really know about the mini- musical and as a result there was a number of walk outs, slow clapping and heckles. However, this pretty much came after 20 minutes of the show. People were prepared to put up with so much but they tired of it. The musical did have some highlights though like Remember The Days of The Old School Yard. That worked really well. People felt they were being cheated, they thought they had paid quite a lot of money to hear somebody else sing Cat Stevens songs. It's a fair criticsm. And some people walked out because they did not know Yusuf was coming back for a second half.

I gave a standing ovation ot the musical as I wanted to show a bit of support, the heckelers were rude. But a lot of pepople are not life long super fans and I understand they were upset. When the musical cast sang things like Father and Son and Wild World, people felt cheated as they thought Yusuf wouldn't sing those and therefore it was alike a tribute act.

Yusuf's return was great including a rocking version of Bad Breaks an old favourite of mine. Very cool. However, I do think the musical, the heckling and the time spent resetting the stage destroyed the momentum of the show and prevented it from turning into something really special.

Still amazing in it's way though.

[juliette]

I agree with Helen

After this tour was announced we were then informed that there would be a "small excerpt from the musical "Moonshadow" included in the performance. It was mine and various other people's opinion that this would probably only last about 1/2 hour.

With the price of these tickets I would have expected him to be on stage for at least 1 1/2 hours overall. I can understand some people's reaction to how much "Musical" was added to the performance, but there is absolutely no excuse for people to boo and walk out of his show. How small minded they are.

The Dublin crowd are hard to please anyway as I have heard and when I was at the O2 last month in Dublin I know the crowd were mixed at the performance I went to.

I only wish I could have been there last night. Being a massive fan of Boyzone (and I am not young) I would have given anything to have seen Yusuf perform live with Ronan. Oh my God that would have been worth £125 alone seeing two of my favourite singers together.

I hope the other reviews will be more favourable. This musical has been years in the making and I have been looking forward to it ,but I hope it does not overshadow his return to touring.

As Helen said - they can't have been his "True fans" if they walked out during the performance.

I am sure Yusuf will have nothing to fear from us lot when he starts the UK leg of the tour. We just might be kicked out for cheering too loudly.

[crobarbie]

Well, here is one... i think... very realistic review from the blog
swearimnotpaul.blogspot.com/2009/11/live-review-yusuf-islam-o2-dublin-15.html

"Cat Stevens has long been a divisive fellow. From his name change to Yusuf Islam and his conversion to a different religion, he's always gotten strange gasps from even his most ardent followers. Last night at the O2 in Dublin was no different. It was definitely one of those "you had to be there" moments. Billed as Yusuf/Cat's first ever live performance in Ireland, it half lived up to the billing.

To sum up what happened (how can you really sum up what happened?), Yusuf Islam performed for around twenty minutes acoustically, then introduced his band, and played another twenty minutes with them. After that, he introduced his intermission act, 'Moonshadow the Musical'. The musical was a treat, it really was, but a lot of the fans who paid almost a hundred euro for tickets did not want to see the Irish debut of a West End performance when they had paid for the Irish debut of Cat Stevens.

Following the musical, he and his band returned to the stage again, by this time however, some of the disenchanted audience had left (they had booed too), but those who had stayed on heard him joke that he now knew how he fell when Dylan turned electric. They also got a very special encore performance of 'Father and Son' where Cat was joined by Ronan Keating.

The musical itself is a bit unusual, the story is quite complex, but allegedly what we got last night was a preview of it. I doubt many people will be going over to London especially for it, nor will a quarter of the audience plan on seeing Yusuf Islam in a live setting again. (It wasn't a fifty-fifty split, although some of the people who did stay on were only holding out hope he would return.)

Everybody else though, seemed to really enjoy it. Especially when Cat Stevens was on stage himself doing what he does best. I did not know too many of the newer songs, such as 'Roadsinger', but old hits such as 'Peace Train, 'Where Do The Children Play' and 'Moonshadow' went down a treat. 'Tuesday's Dead' was a real highlight of the show, and Islam/Stevens was really in flying form once he got going.

The tour was billed as the I Guess I'll Take My Time tour, and it certainly lived up to its name. But for some people (not the majority) far too much of their time was taken up. It's an awful pity that the return of a legendary performer didn't go down better."

[portabello4]

The pre-sale information in no way indicated that a large portion of the show would be a musical or, more importantly, how long Yusuf would be absent from the stage.
The couple on my left had travelled from Chicago and the couple on my right from L.A. Both were entitled to feel short-changed so this is far from being a 'Dublin Thing'.
I am also at a loss as to why Yusuf thought it worthwhile to include a brass section and backing singers for a performance of 3 songs on a TV show last year (Jools Holland) but not for a concert of 10,000 people.
An unrequested encore speaks for itself. Yusuf should attend a Leonard Cohen concert in Dublin to see how it is done - a big band doing a 3 hour show giving the audience what they came for.

[crobarbie]

Well, this is interesting... from one Forum

www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?s=eb770726e9812905ae0265a492b09c6f&t=2055685783

[crobarbie]

Uf, uf... another post from the forums...

"Just back from Cat Stevens in the O2. Know some lads here mentioned him last week. Was really looking forward to it after getting my tickets months ago (€97 each).

Started off slow enough with one or two of his classics (Where do the Children Play, Lillywhite) but mostly some newer stuff. Not too bad but he really needed to up the ante after the break, where he has promised a SURPRISE.

So after the break he tells us he has written a new musical (had heard of it) and he wanted to give us a sneak preview. On come some kids and singers who stay on stage for 40 mins and procede to sing about four of his good numbers (wild world, matthew and son, father and son !!!!!!).

The crowd then start going ballistic, some leaving, lots booing, slow hand clapping. Finally the 'preview' finished and he came back out (although he was on and off the stage with small cameo appearances for the musical). In fairness he did apologise for the length of the preview and I thought ok, redeem yourself for the last half hour.

Not our Cat. Mostly new stuff with the odd good one thrown in. It got to the stage when he said I think I'll do this new one next, the whole crowd groaned. He surely must have known it was going down like a lead balloon. After Peace Train, Moon Shadow (again with one of the musical cast) he said Shalom and went.

Came back for encore and proceeded to do more NEW stuff. FML. Finally left only to return for Father and Son again, with guess who, Ronan Keating. Summed up the night really. Think Ronan was probably there as a punter and someone thought he might save the show.

Overall it was like a comedy and most people were actually laughing leaving, although I reckon Joe Duffy will be bombarded tomorrow.

Songs he didn't do off the top of my head

Hard Headed Woman
Morning has Broken
Sad Lisa
Tea for the Tillerman. "

But, on the other hand, Cat Yusuf will get a big bonus (unexpected) publicity now ;D

[bookworm]

Here's another review:
www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/music/live-music-reviews/6580765/Yusuf-Islam-at-the-O2-Dublin-review.html