An Enormous Applause

"Don't go just yet," I think as some patrons get up and make their way to the exit. "The show's not over. They haven't played 'The Radetzky March' yet." And anyone who has watched more than one DVD of an André Rieu concert knows he plays that piece at every concert.

André Rieu is a star performer. He has a winning formula which gets a quiet appreciative audience on their feet baying for more. His formula works like this: turn out a brilliant performance straight off the bat with an hour long first and second half. At the end of the second half let the audience know you are playing just one more piece. Some people will leave, the uninitiated that is, but the majority will stand to applaud and call you back for an encore. After some encouragement, you concede and offer up a rousing encore like 'The Radetzky March'.

Of course, the audience is delighted, standing and clapping, and from there you just keep upping the ante until you have a crowd of classic music patrons resembling a rambunctious rock concert. Give them the most reverent rendition of 'Amazing Grace', accompanied by a piccolo and a bag pipe, they will ever hear, pop champagne on stage, play a salsa piece, get them to sing their own national anthem and show them just how much fun can be had in only half an hour.

Pop, pop, pop. Adults pop the colourful balloons dropped from the ceiling like happy kids. M and I hoot and holler. Even though it is a week night, we don't want to go home. Oh what a blast! We're having a good time. When the orchestra eventually leaves the stage, Jean says to me, "That was a long encore." I smile, "That wasn't an encore, that was part of the show."

André Rieu entertained us so well, we're already talking about getting tickets for next year's show in Vancouver and making this an annual tradition. And so, in André Rieu's own words, give him 'an enormous applause', he knows how to get us coming back for more.