Thursday, November 24, 2011

We saw Yanni! ... ooops, not THAT Yanni

A couple of weeks ago, I saw an ad either on the web or the Weekly Abu Dhabi magazine for a free concert at Brighton college (which is within walking distance of our compound) put on by the Abu Dhabi Big Band group and featuring Gershwin. Specifically Rhapsody in Blue with guest Yanni on piano. I thought, how cool! I love Gershwin and the chance to see Yanni? WOW!

In hindsight, I realize that most of you would immediately assume that this wasn't THE Yanni (or at least you'd have a fair amount of skepticism and ask a few questions). I didn't and did indeed think we were going to see THE Yanni and here's my defence:

1) Yanni (the real one) was scheduled to perform in Dubai earlier that same month so I figured he was friends with someone in Abu Dhabi and agreed to come and do this little concert for free. (yes, I know how lame that sounds NOW, but it seemed perfectly reasonable at the time)

2) Who calls themselves Yanni that isn't the real Yanni? That would be like Mary Cher Smith calling herself Cher and expecting people to know she wasn't the real one!

3) In the last 2 months Britney Spears, Paul McCartney, Kim Kardashian and Micheal Bolton have visited Abu Dhabi. And Tom Cruise is scheduled to visit Dubai in a couple of weeks for his Mission Impossible movie debut. So, celebrities come here .... often, so why not Yanni?

4) Now that I'm working full time, I have fewer brain cells to dedicate to logical thought.

Weak defense, but that's all I got. What's great is by this point, I've convinced Brian that we're going to see the real Yanni. Well, actually he was quite skeptical, but being the perfect husband that he is, kept it to himself and just nodded and smiled and came with me to the concert.

So off we went to the concert, which was fantastic - I love Gershwin and the Abu Dhabi Big Band Group is really good. Rhapsody in Blue was the finale of course, so I waited expectantly to see Yanni. And of course I did see Yanni, and he was a very good concert pianist, but he was not THE Yanni. By this point of the concert I was pretty sure that I had been mistaken so wasn't overly surprised, but Brian and I did have a pretty hearty laugh about it on the walk home.

Next time, I'll read the fine print. :)

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