Sade...need I say more?

Natova and I have recently added a date night to our routine, an idea we adopted from some friends of ours.  Things can get pretty monotonous hanging around the house and watching Hulu or Netflix.  And you can only go to the malls so many times.  So we’ve implemented date night, a time for us to formally do something with each other.    So far it’s been pretty good.  We’ve done the Christmas concert and now we got to experience Sade.

When I first saw that Sade was coming to Abu Dhabi, I knew we were going, no question about it.  We ended up buying the general admission tickets, which means you are standing, but you get a decent view of the stage.   Natova brought up a pretty good point that because the music is more mellow and not as fast and exciting as say a Janet Jackson, that we may feel the effects of standing up for a long period of time.  Point taken, a good point actually, but we had to do it.  I don’t know when I would ever get another chance to see Sade so why not check her out in Abu Dhabi. 

The concert was at the Yas Arena, which is right next to Ferrari World (a theme park based around Ferrari cars.  It has roller coasters, rides, the whole nine.  It’s yet another activity we still have to get around to doing).  The turnout ended up being pretty good.  It was doubtful at first as we saw wide open patches of grass where we were standing about thirty minutes before the concert, but that closed up quickly once the lights dimmed and the show began.  The concert was supposed to start at 8 and it did but it there was an opening act, a rock band.  They were okay and it probably would have been nice to hang out at a bar and casually hear them in the background while you’re talking to friends and having a drink.  However we had been standing there for an hour (gates opened at 7) and every song they did we thought was the last song, until they would strike up another. 

Finally, after another thirty minutes of prepping the stage after the rock band, Sade hits the stage.   From where we were we got a pretty good view of everything.  We weren’t close but we weren’t that far either.  The video I recorded actually makes it seem we are farther away than we actually are. Natova and I took bets on what Sade would open with.  Natova thought “Soldier of Love” and I guessed “Smooth Operator”.  She won.    Then Sade did another new song, and then she dug into some of her hits.  She stayed true to them for the most part; she didn’t change too much of the songs just as I hoped she didn’t.  All the saxophone parts were right on point.  And some of the visual elements were really cool.  She did a montage during “Kiss of Life” that I thought was really nice.

 

Standing up for four hours was about as uncomfortable as I thought it would be, and during the transitions and brief down time, my feet would remind me of it.  But during the performances of the older hits I completely forgot about it.  I tried to get pieces of some of the better songs so I hope you enjoy them.  My camera isn’t the best at night, nor is the sound HD quality (they sound best with headphones), but I think you can get a sense what it was like to be there from the clips.

Kiss of Life

One of my favorite songs by her, and I loved the video that she included with it.  It showed how sweet and playful she is. It was great hearing it in person.

By Your Side

Pearls

For all those, like me, that knew this song as “There’s a woman in Somalia,” yeah, it’s that song.  Very somber,  but also powerful.   Song is amazing but if you look closely toward the end of the clip you will an interesting surprise that will serve as ,our “WTH!” episode for the evening.  Won’t spoil it for you but I will include that there was about a two minute break after this song which begs the question what was so urgent that what happened had to happen right then? The more I watch this video, the more ticked off I get.  It interrupted the drama of the song, which incidentally was at its highest point.  I swear to you that is how it is every day in this country, you just find yourself asking “Why?” and you can never come up with an answer.  

No Ordinary Love

Is it a Crime




Smooth Operator


The Sweetest Taboo

Your Love King

Another one of my favorites.  Good performance, but I will need her not to forget how the song goes.  If you watch in the middle, somewhat towards the end of the video you might catch it.