I am dreaming a dream or this is Paradise and the Abode of Peace!
January 29 2004 - Washington DC - MCI Center
By Scarlett Hartley

Never were such true words spoken (or written, as the case may be!)! Sarah Brightman’s Harem Concert was unbelievable. It was truly the best night of my life.

I live in the Washington, DC area, where the concert was held. I was so excited that Sarah was coming HERE back when I first found out about the tour. My mom and I ordered the tickets in October, when the special “pre-sale” was in effect. We both could barely believe that we had just got tickets to see SARAH BRIGHTMAN!!

The DC area is notorious for being stopped in its tracks whenever wintry weather hits. That was the case the week of the concert. We had a lot of snowfall early in the week, and in fact many of the tri-state area schools, businesses, and offices were closed for the better part of the week. My mom wasn’t sure we would be able to attend the concert… it all depended on the roads and the weather. The night before the concert, we booked a room at the Hyatt in DC and packed up lots of games for my brother to play with (he and my dad were going to wait and then come pick us back up after the concert)… because we were GOING TO THE CONCERT!! (We decided to stay overnight because we were afraid the roads would get too slick by the time the concert was over.)

I actually went to school the day of the concert – it seemed like it would never end! I got home and we got ready to drive in to DC. I fell asleep on the way over, listening to FLY and getting more and more excited that we would be at the concert in less than two hours!

We checked into the hotel, and as we walked around a bit, we heard groups of people talking. Every once in a while I would hear “…Sarah Brightman…” and realized that they were going to the concert too! It seemed like everyone had decided to wait in the Hyatt before the concert!

Anyway… we went to our room (very nice!), got something to eat (very good!), and set out for the MCI Center. It was only a few blocks from the hotel, so we walked and ate at the same time. That was an experience! :)

My dad took a picture of my mom and I holding the tickets in front of the entrance, and then my mom and I went through security. I was intent on finding the souvenir stands, because there was no way I was leaving that concert without the Tour CD! I saw someone holding a CD with a gorgeous picture of Sarah Brightman – this wasn’t a CD I’d seen before! My mom and I dashed through the crowds and found one of the souvenir stands. There were some beautiful things being sold: shawls with the “Harem” logo, several styles of T-shirts, a set of signed lithographs, the program, the DVD and VHS copies of “Harem: A Desert Fantasy”, and of course the Tour Edition CD! There were other items but I can’t remember them – it was all so surreal! My mom bought me a lovely T-shirt, a program, and the CD – I was so happy!

We then went to find our seats. Section 101, seats 17 and 18. They were very good seats: we were able to see the whole stage (see image!) and everything!

And what a stage! The main stage was a half-moon, then connected to that was a catwalk, and then at the end of the catwalk was a star-shaped platform. The curtains around the main stage were beautiful and fit the Middle Eastern theme! They were like the curtains of harems from old movies, with tassels and a lovely pattern. On the star platform sat a gold pot of incense. While we were waiting for the show to start, Middle Eastern-esque music (percussion, sitars, vocalizations) played softly while the curtains were lit by projections from the stage.

A voice came over the loudspeaker, saying the show would start in a few minutes. A few minutes later, the arena lights went down, and a spotlight shone on the incense pot. What I now know is Kama Sutra started playing (the song is the first track on the Tour CD). You could almost FEEL the anticipation! Towards the end of the vocalizations by Sarah, I could see a figure walking, arms outstretched, along the catwalk. The figure stopped after arriving at the star platform. It was Sarah! At the last, low note of Kama Sutra, the lights began moving toward Sarah, as the note ascended (kind of like that THX sound at the movies?). As the note climbed higher and higher, the lights illuminated Sarah, and we all applauded. I started crying! I couldn’t believe it! There’s SARAH!! She was wearing the glorious light lilac satin gown with the diamond detailing, along with what looked like the La Luna crystal tiara/headdress. Absolutely stunning!

The first song performed was Harem. It was amazing! The dancers really added to the atmosphere, and the lighting was integral to the performance. Sarah dropped the gown to reveal a lovely, shimmery bustier and mini-skirt kind of thing, and looked gorgeous as she danced to the music! I loved it when Sarah used her operatic voice at the conclusion of the song for the vocalizations! Those high notes!! The lights grew dim again as Sarah moved to the rail to sing Beautiful. The lights lit up the stage as the sheer curtain (a “scrim”, as my mom called it – technical term, I suppose!) pulled around the stage. Falling rose petals were projected on the sheer curtain, and Sarah twirled around a bit! Towards the end of the song, real rose petals were blown around the stage. I only wish I had been sitting closer to grab a few petals! It was wonderful!

The next song was It’s A Beautiful Day. A man came out to “attach” Sarah to the pedestal (the lights were dimmed). When I heard the opening strains of the violins, I almost jumped out of my seat – I love this song! A “fire” type background was projected onto a large screen behind the stage as Sarah ascended on the pedestal, wearing the cape of the gown again. The “wind” (fans, I guess) blew the cape around, making her look like she was flying, and when she sang the Un Bel Di section of the song, she looked and sounded like an angel. The spotlights mimicked lightning and when Sarah came to the “With every new day…” chorus, the stage was filled with lights! It was so neat!

We all applauded and Sarah descended back to the stage and greeted us, thanking us for “braving the snow and ice” and for welcoming her to “your capital, Washington DC”. Someone in the audience shouted “I love you Sarah!” and Sarah chuckled sweetly and said “I love you too, thank you for coming!” and waved. She then introduced the next song as a song about “human frailty”, a song from her Eden album, which we all applauded, and she said “Oh, a few of you have heard of it!” or something like that. She was so polite and gracious!

The next song was Dust in the Wind, and two guitarists sat on stools on the star platform and played the intro. Sarah stayed on the main stage for most of the song, and then walked to the star platform and back to the stage. I think it was this song when the percussion was really strong during the little break in the song where the violins play, and the dancers were fantastic again!

Who Want To Live Forever was next. When those first notes played, I poked my mom and whispered “Who Wants To Live Forever!!!” (I did this to my mom a lot during the show whenever one of my absolute favourites was sung!). The audience applauded even before she started singing! Sarah was raised on the pedestal on the star platform. When Sarah was on the star platform, I could see her better, as the platform was closer to where we were sitting. Watching her sing WWTLF, raised up on that pedestal, was amazing – surreal! I cried during the song, it was just so lovely, and I was still in shock that I was actually seeing and hearing Sarah Brightman! Towards the end of the song, smoke started billowing out of a hole in the platform, making Sarah look more ethereal than ever. I thought at the time that it must be difficult to sing when you have smoke blowing in your face, but Sarah didn’t seem to mind! :)

The lights dimmed again, and the orchestra played while the dancers carried and placed lanterns around the stage, catwalk, and star platform. Then the opening notes of Anytime, Anywhere played, and we all applauded again! I noticed that throughout the night, Sarah’s songs from Timeless, Eden, and La Luna (and of course POTO!) got the loudest applause, as well as applause before she began to sing! If I didn’t want to get dirty looks, I would have applauded at the beginning of every song!

Anyway… Anytime, Anywhere was gorgeous. Violet, Shweta Shetty, and another lady came up through the floor and sang background vocals and moved their arms around. The lights perfectly suited the song (again!), and Sarah’s voice was spectacular!!

The next song was Nella Fantasia, which got a lot of applause at its opening notes. Sarah stood on the main stage and sang it like the angel that she is – it was a lovely moment in the evening.

For the next song, Stranger in Paradise, Sarah stood on the rail and sang. Her voice was so clear and angelic on this song; it was spellbinding!

Sarah sang La Luna next, and an image of the moon and stars was projected on the screen behind the stage. La Luna is a favourite of mine, and it was amazing to hear her singing it. I held on to every word, never wanting it to end! The stars started moving in the second half of the song, and gave the stage a truly ethereal feeling. So, so beautiful. After Sarah hit the high note on “…luna, scomparira!”, the lights went down and all that we could see were stars, literally, as projected on the stage! A short pause, and then…

The opening notes to Nessun Dorma prompted loud applause from everyone in the audience! I can’t recall if Sarah walked up the rail, or was already at the top of the rail, before it started swinging out to the audience, which also received a loud applause. She was wearing the shiny, gold lamé kimono. Sarah sang amazingly, I couldn’t believe I was hearing Sarah singing Nessun Dorma! It was fantastic! My mom cannot listen to that song without crying (it’s the high note on that last “vincero” that sends her into tears!), and when Sarah hit that note, my mom started crying on cue!! ;) Shivers went down my spine (actually, that happened all night!) and I stood up along with several other fans and clapped as loud as I could! It was announced that “we’re going to take a 20 minute break, so why don’t you?” by the same person who announced that the show was about to start. My mom and I stopped off at the ladies room and hurried back to our seats.

Violet rose up out of the star platform, and said the opening lines of No One Like You. I prefer her voice to whoever did the narration of NOLY on Timeless! Sarah then descended from the ceiling on the main stage, like a bird (well, she had a costume on that in shadows make her look like a bird!). Sarah was on top form and captivated the audience. She was lowered to the stage, and Middle Eastern percussion began booming. I had an idea that it was Arabian Nights, and when Voyage started, I almost leapt out of my seat! Arabian Nights is one of my favourite tracks from Harem. I suppose that Scimitar Moon was left out so that No One Like You could be sung, and it worked, because it was a good lead-in to Voyage. Sarah danced and just looked like a vision while singing Voyage, swaying her hips from side to side, moving her arms gracefully. The lights went down and a spotlight shone on Sarah for Promise, which was great! After Promise, Shweta Shetty vocalized while Sarah made her way up to the star platform, striking poses and looking lovely! When she reached the star, the spotlights shone on her and she sang Hamesha. I was tempted to get up and dance along, but I would have looked terribly silly!! She danced to the song just as I would have imagined. She made her way back to the main stage and Alone started playing. It was a great moment in the evening when she sang Alone, with the orchestra giving it their all! Shivers went down my spine again as she sang “…ending where we start” and hit that glorious high note. Mini fireworks popped above us when she finished singing – it was the perfect end to the song!

Sarah then introduced her next two songs, which she co-wrote, and which are about love. She said Eli Barrak would accompany her on The War is Over.

Sarah sat at a piano and played wonderfully as she sang The War is Over! It was just lovely. And Eli Barrak rose out of the stage and sang the Arabic lyrics – beautiful! It was so neat to see Sarah playing the piano!

The next song was Free – the shadows of the orchestra were projected onto the screen behind the stage. Sarah stood off to the side and sang this gorgeous song. Free is also one of my favourites from Harem, and it was lovely to see her and hear her sing it!

A short pause followed while the orchestra played and the dancers scattered rose petals along the catwalk and star platform. The swing was lowered, and Sarah made her way out to the star platform where the swing was lowered. Sarah was wearing a fantastic black satin bustier and light pink tulle skirt, with long black stockings. She sat in the swing and began to sing What A Wonderful World. What a wonderful performance!! She sang the first verse, and then two of the dancers pulled long strands of fabric attached to either her or the swing, I couldn’t be sure, and she began to swing over the audience! We all applauded. It was magical! Sarah then walked and twirled along the catwalk and stood on the main stage.

The next song was Whiter Shade of Pale, and “psychedelic” projections were featured on the screen behind the stage. I love WSOP and seeing it live was amazing!

Then… Twisted Every Way. I think we all knew something special was coming, and it did. After the line, “In this, the Phantom’s opera?”, there was a great tension-filled pause – and then the lights flashed as the first note of the overture boomed through the arena! I’ll never forget that moment! We all cheered and applauded as the dancers came back out in masks and danced to The Phantom Overture. I was so excited at this point, I knew I was never going to forget this night!

Sarah came back out in a GORGOEOUS white beaded dress and veil. She sang the first few lines of The Phantom Of The Opera (like in the La Luna and Eden tours) and the orchestra played on, then the bells started playing as Sarah sang Little Lotti.

Wishing You Were Somehow Here Again was the next song, and I cried throughout the whole song… it was just so beautiful, and the emotion in Sarah’s voice! Wow! We applauded for several minutes after she finished singing, and she seemed pleased! She then introduced her next song by simply saying “Ladies and gentleman, Time To Say Goodbye.” The room just about erupted with applause!

It was glorious to hear TTSG live! I can’t even explain, it was just amazing! Her voice was angelic and when she hit the high note on “Io con te”… wow!! When she finished, we applauded and cheered, and she kissed her hands and stretched them out to us, and clapped for us!! We knew this must be the “last” song of the night, so we stayed standing and clapping until she reappeared to sing The Journey Home! She was wearing a pretty green dress with diamond embellishments. She sang the song mostly on the star platform, turning so that everyone could see her. The song was short though, and the heavy dance beat was kept out… I think this was because it would have taken the thrill out of what was too come!

Sarah left the stage and the lights went down after The Journey Home. Two or three spotlights began twirling around the arena as we stood, applauded, cheered, “WHOO!”-ed. I was terrified that the concert would end without Question of Honour. To me, twirly spotlights will from now on represent true fear. When would they stop – and did we want them to stop? We spent several minutes (it seemed like hours!) clapping and hoping that she would come back out. I heard people saying “I see her!” and “She has to come back on!” all around me. Surprisingly, some people left. I think they must not have been familiar with Sarah’s stage shows! Somewhere in the back of my mind, I knew that she was going to come back out, because the lights were still going, and the orchestra pit was still lit up, and there was a lot of movement behind the curtains. But I was still afraid that she might not come back out!

I’ll never, ever, ever forget when that opening note of QoH sounded. YES! The room erupted with even louder applause and cheering. Sarah stood on the main stage and sang the opening of the song (glorious!)… then, as the song began to play, Sarah began to rise above the stage, as her (huge) skirt was pulled out to reach across the stage. It was unbelievable. Absolutely amazing. I’ll never forget the image of Sarah rising above the stage with the skirt!

The song was shorter than what was on the La Luna DVD – she didn’t sing the “ebbene…” line as the music built up, and she didn’t sing the “sol a e lontana!” bit that’s usually right before the guitars and drums start booming. But that didn’t matter, because it was fantastic! She flipped, like she did in the La Luna DVD! It was so neat! Then confetti shot out of the ceiling and it felt like we were in heaven! Sarah then descended to the stage and sang the closing lines, hitting that GLORIOUS high note! Then fireworks popped again and we were on our feet again (if we hadn’t been on them while she was singing!). The dancers came out and bowed, then some of the orchestra came out and bowed, and then Sarah came back out and bowed along with them! We clapped and clapped… and then the curtains came down and the arena lights came back on.

It was over, but the memory of the night will never end.