Every concert Fayrouz has held in her 30+ years career has been a major success and a night for all to remember. Back in 2010, people stood in line for hours to attend Fayrouz’s performance at Biel, and she managed to exceed their expectations even after 4 years of absence.
Having said that, the last two concerts Fayrouz held at Platea in Jounieh on the 9th and 10th of December were pretty disappointing, or not as expected, from what I heard, and they were not marketed as well as a Fayrouz concert should be. Indeed, I was surprised to hear many Lebanese unaware that she is holding new concerts.
To begin with, this new place “Platea” is unheard of and its location (Sahel Alma) is a nightmare for concerts. There are 4 restaurants facing it (Schtrumph, Al Balad, Tilal al Sahar and Serail), no parking lots, poor residential areas around it and small roads leading to it.
Second of all, I was told this place is supposed to be an opera house in the near future, but from what I heard, it is still unfinished and not well prepared to host a concert worthy of Fayrouz. Lighting was bad and there were black drapes all over the place.
Third, a friend who went there told me the orchestra was not that good and Fayrouz took a break between every 2-3 songs while they continued singing her songs. Added to that, she did not surprise the audience with new releases.
Fourth, even the closest seats were far from the stage and you could barely spot Fayrouz. No cameras were allowed and there were security everywhere monitoring those who take pics. I never really understood why we are not allowed to take pictures in Fayrouz concerts. I guess she likes it that way and we have to respect it.
Having said all that, watching Fayrouz live is a dream for many, and I am sure fans were pretty happy to see her perform again on stage, but it seems as if those concerts were rushed and badly managed and not worthy of a legend like Fayrouz.
PS: There are still two scheduled concerts at Platea on the 16th and 17th of December.
From what I heard the shows sold out in a matter of days even without the advertising. In Lebanon everything is about word of mouth I guess..
But anyway I wouldn’t have expected Fairuz to sing a whole set without taking breaks, it’s unrealistic to expect her to have the energy of a 20 year-old. Ya3tiya el 3afyeh she can still sing beautifully, and that’s why people pay to see her..
I went to the concert and I wasn’t disappointed. Last year, she did it in BIEL which can fit up to 7000 and she dis 2 concerts. This year platea can fit up to 3500 so she s doing 4 concerts. I
Don’t know about this friend of urs but I was seated in the 90$seat(there were 150/200and 300 in front of me) and I was seeing perfectly.
I was expecting her voice to be weak for. Woman her age but I was wrong! You should have gone to her concert and judge urself bfore giving a comment
Based on a Friend’s opinion Najib 😉
Alf,
If you had read carefully what I wrote, you would have noticed what made my friends that disappointed were the location, the setting and the place and not Fayrouz herself.
I mean we are used to Fayrouz singing in Baalbeck or in amazing places even outside Lebanon, we are not used to her singing in an unfinished building right?
it is irrelevant where she performs.
if she performed in my back yard it would have aslo been a great event! Fayrouz is a living legend!
Of course it’s relevant where she sings because honestly if it wasn’t Fayrouz, I would have thought this artist needs money and is throwing concerts at some cheap location with very expensive tickets.
I heard Fayrouz’s daughter owns Platea, maybe that affected the choice of venue..
Was she again singing in playback?
Com on Najib! I’m not here coming to defend Fairouz, but the location wasn’t bad at all. It’s less than 2 minutes from the highway, there is a huge parking lot, which I didn’t need bc I found a parking spot on the way to z parking. It was very crowded on the way to the entrance but the organizers did a very good job and we were escorted to our seats. I went on the second day, maybe te first day wasn’t that organized.
Chou daroure ykoun bi biel ta ykoun class???
Alf,
Location is an unfinished building and soon to be opera house but it’s still all concrete. They added some lights to its front and that’s it. Where’s the huge parking lot?
I got stuck the first day for an hour trying to get to Crepaway from inside Sahel Alma and had to come back through a different road, and I was dropping someone at the concert the second day and it was a bit better but still bad.
It’s not about “class” or not but just look at where she sang before and you will understand what I mean. It’s about what Fayrouz represents and where she deserves to be performing.
My friend Najib,
First of all this is a one man work. It may have been uncomplete but it was pretty good. Did you see the facade ?? It was amazing ! The valet parking was friendly, none of my 12 friends complained on anything along with their wives. I talked with some guy who had some info about the venue, he said that the sound and lighting were provided by Fayrouz’s daughter.
There were some parking glitches, but the overall was fairly good, don’t forget that it was raining.
I don’t know about you, but for me it was an amazing concert.
Karl,
That’s exactly my point. Why did it have to be a one-man work? Why was it rushed and organized in an incomplete building?
I heard the venue was for Hbeish and Fayrouz’s daughter was operating it. Is her daughter in some sort of financial problems?
I never said Fairouz sucks or doesnt know how to sing. All I said you expect perfect and not “fairly good” when you get Fairouz to sing.
Look, I don’t know what’s your big problem with the venue. I mean you did came to watch Fayrouz not the venue, why are you complaining about such pathetic things ? Personally I liked everything and mostly Fayrouz, and if I were you, I would give Hbeish or whoever is the owner, a chance to show his complete hard work (maybe in the mext event).
Had the chance to see her live when she did her comeback in the 90s alongside the Baalbeck Festival. despite the fact that i don’t like hew r music, i was in awe for most of the show.
I’ve also seen/heard her sing in al balamand over easter the year after that (if i remember correctly)
Oh…my mom is a big Fayrouz fan so we had to go
I saw her in concert last year. She took breaks between every 3 songs as well. She would go back stage for a few minutes while the choir would sing a sing… either one of her old ones or a rahbani song.
As for surprising people with new songs… never heard of a time of when she did that.
I can’t discuss the points of venue and seating since I haven’t been to the new place, however, at Biel I got the most expensive ticket and I needed binoculars to see her.
I remember at first I was worried she would be frail and week but she blew my mind away. However, the audience was not worthy of her performance. People kept moving, talking, laughing, and being obnoxious which I tried my best to ignore so I could just enjoy her.
The parking lot was all muddy and dirty. The security guys unfriendly (read ‘rude’). The venue incomplete. The bleachers where I sat (60$) shook like crazy when people were clapping. The seats overcrowded. The flashing lights on the rent-a-cops’ biceps were annoying to say the least. People all around me were clapping wildly and singing at the top of their voices all the time, I didn’t really get to hear Fayruz. The sound and lighting was very bad. The first part of the concert was probably playback (I could be wrong), and the sound way too distorted to hear anything clearly. I could go on…
Don’t get me wrong, I’m a huge Fayrouz fan. But this concert was a major disappointment for me personally. It was the worst concert I’ve been to this year.
Fayrouz has been known for lip synching…
It is of no surprise that cameras are not allowed in there. Nowaways a small digital camera can record up to 30 minutes of video performance and this will affect her negatively in many ways.
1- People will upload it to youtube and the sound quality in most cases will be bad.
2- People will refrain from buying her dvd and so on..
As for the place, It is true that we are used to hear her sing in Baalbek and many prestigious places, but I like the fact that she is modest enough to sing in other mediocre places when she has to. In the end its all about performing to people!
Wow! I never knew she had 4 children. Only knew about Ziad Al Rahbani because he composes her music.
Ziad Al Rahbani
Hali Al Rahbani
Layale Al Rahbani
Rima Al Rahbani
Taken from:
http://www.katagogi.com/mid6966
thats kinda sad you are talking bout feirooz not as expected . SHE is 90 ! how is she not expected to take an hour 2 break. And she can barely walk , let alone sing anymore. Give her a break. stop complaining damn lebanese critics!