Eric Clapton Concert

We had Eric Clapton in the hotel this week and I was lucky enough to get a few tickets and go to his concert. Unfortunantly Clariza was feeling sick, so she did not go, but was happy for me to go anyway with my brother -in-law, who I think was pretty happy Clariza pulled out. But in any case, I had tickets to another concert in Seoul as there was another famous band in the hotel, and I knew even if Clariza was sick she would go to this one!!! Your wondering who it is right.... stay tuned..

Anyway, we were 10 minutes late to the concert thanks to the wonderful traffic of Seoul, and a no brain taxi driver. Oh what to do!

Borrowd the photo above from a fan website. I hope they dont mind. Not trying to make money!

The concert was good, but not amazing. They played a of of "their" songs, and not so much crowd pleaser songs. Was a shame. He never even did Tears in Heaven. But what I can say was the musicians, including himself on guitar was excellent, and the talent on the stage was immense.

Anyway, very happy to add Eric Clapton to the list of people I have seen live. Would I go and see him again??? No, I dont think so.

Metallica in Korea

Ok, I will say it from the start. I was not a huge fan of Metallica, and never have been. After meeting them, watching them, and learning about them a bit more .... has it changed? Yes! Now I have a greater respect for the group, their professionalism, and some of their music which I actually always liked, but really never knew it was Metallica.

So let me start from the beginning, and hope I do not get in trouble for metioning what I say!! Two weeks before their arrival in Korea I got an email saying they were going to stay with us. Cool, this should be fun. As a hotelier I of course start thinking of all the logistics, potential problems, etc.. To cut a long long story short a few days before their arrival I met with the tour manager, and band manager who went through all the requirements, and that was that. Very easy, and really really nice people.

Day of arrival for the group, all went very well. The group arrived from Japan throughout the day and the main band members arrived early evening. I was there to meet them and take care of them. All went well. (Lots happened in between, but best keep that out of the blog. All I can say is that over the next two days I got to talk to the band and they were a really fantastic bunch of guys, so humble, and nice to work with. I really wish I could tell you more!!)

Concert day the tour manager called me and said all is great and if I need tickets for myself and friends just let him know how many. So I rounded up a few of the boys plus a couple of others and had tickets waiting at the door. He also told me he would take extra special care of me!! I wonder what he meant??

We took a taxi to the stadium and found the ticket area. Gave our names and got our tickets. There was an envelope for me also, and to my joy inside were three backstage all access passes! Fantastic!! So we joined the thousands trying to get in, flashed the All Access passes and we were escorted right through.

From then on we enjoyed the concert, the crowd, the heat!!! and of course most of all getting right next to the stage. I have put some photos into the blog, but they really really suck. I have a cheap rubbish camera that let me down on the night. Actually in the spirit of Metallica the shots kind of represent their music. We were so close to the band that at time James Hatfield was standing right above us. For a while we stood between the crowd barrier and the stage. I am sure if this concert was in Europe, US, or even Aussie we could never have gotten this close.

So concert all done, we went home very exhausted, but very happy. Next day I caught up with the group on their departure, thanked them, and in turn they actually thanked me and the staff for a really good stay.

See, there are some benefits for working in this hotel industry!!!

James Brown in Concert

"Its great to be back in Shanghai" ! The quote was like someone running their nails down a blackboard! This was one of the first things James Brown said last night in his concert here in Seoul! I actually felt a little embarrased, but he did try to cover it up, and would be interested to see if others thought it was a joke or a f... up!

Anyway I should not let that take away from an amazing concert last night. What a fantastic band, great sound, lots of fun, and a crowd that really got into it! The concert was almost two hours long, and we were entertained from the greatest Soul Man of our times, and his band, and back up singers who were outstanding.

It was held in the Jamsil Indoor Stadium, with a crowd I reckon of about 3000. They played a wonderful variety of songs, from the classic hits, to lengthy jazz / soul numbers with the sax player at times stealing the show. He was just unreal. I closed my eyes and was just mesmerized by his skills on the sax! Wow!

Its funny, I never thought that I would see James Brown in concert in my lifetime and listen to some of those classics like "I feel good, I knew that I would", that I have listened to since I was so young. Good one you Seoul, and the promoters for bringing such a great concert here.

This guy above was the MC for the show. He really only spoke at the beginning of the show, but you could tell, he was most likely James Brown right hand man. He had the Soul groove going on!

The Soul Sisters! These ladies had voices that could have stolen the show if they were allowed. The danced and danced, and sung back up like they have been doing with James Brown all of their lives.

This guy on the saxaphone was just fantastic. I just loved every solo that he did, and he just drove the crowd crazy. Amazing talent, and was privelaged to hear him play.

Busy Social Schedule

It's Saturday morning and the Seoul freeze continues. Its about -12 outside, and was a cool -18 last night when we came home around 10pm.Let me back track to Thursday evening...

Thursday evening Clariza and I went and watched Memoirs of a Geisha. Our hotel had rented out one thetre at the COEX Megabox, and we hosted about 400 of our key bookers. I had read the book several years ago, and of course the movie was differant, but some of the acting as well as the scenery was fantastic. I highly recommend that you take the time to see the movie.

Then last night (Friday) we went and watched a Live Performance called Paris Can Can. It was held at the COEX Convention Centre Auditorium, and had a cast of about 15. It was a very lively show, from tradional Can Can dancing, french classical singing, to a comendy skit that was very funny, to a few acts that reminded me a little of Circ De Soliel (spelling?) Overall the 1 1/2 live show was great, and again worth going to. We had a few tickets from our hotel, but the show would have otherwise been quiet expensive.

Then Saturday night we really actually paid to go to a performance, which was STOMP. Stomp is a great live performance doing many differant skits using everything from brooms, matchboxes, rubbish cans, to plastic bags, to make unique noises, and dance, or perfectly choreographed together. It was about 1 1/2 hours long, and was a great show.

This is how their website describes the show -

Music, Dance, Theatre, Choreography or Performance Art? All of the above! Or is it none of the above. Well, both are sort of right...In a way. Confused? read on...
STOMP is a movement, of bodies, objects, sounds - even abstract ideas. But what makes it so appealing is that the cast uses everyday objects, but in non-traditional ways.
There's no speech, no dialogue, not even a plot.
So why go see STOMP? Well, have you ever composed a symphony using only matchbooks as instruments? Or created a dance routine based around sweeping? You may have done this a little, but get a group of rhythmically gifted, extremely coordinated bodies with definitive personalities, and you have the makings for STOMP.

What a week! Bee Gees Concert, Nanta Show, Itaewon, and Great Food

I know we struggle to get new updates done on the blog but thanks to a 5 day visit from mum morley there is lots to mention.

Mum came in Tuesday evening and Clariza and I suprised her at the airport. We have a limousine company at the hotel who so very kindly offered to pick up mum for free, so we had a lovely limousine ride back into Seoul and went home.

Wednesday I headed off to work and Clariza and Mum spent the day visiting Namdeamun Markets, a few palaces, and Insa-Dong. Then in the evening the three of us were supposed to go to the BeeGess concert via Robin Gibb, but unfortunantly Clariza ended up with a migraine early evening so it was mum and I to rock on! We teamed up with three other guys from the hotel and went to the concert at the COEX.

I just got to say I am so glad we did not have to pay for the tickets. (Our hotel had the group staying with us) We had in our hand 165,000 Won tickets but we sat in an open convention floor that was not only not carpeted, but we sat on plastic lawn chairs! Man, if I was in Australia paying the price we were paying for the tickets, there would have been a riot!

So the sedated crowd sat for the first hour as we had all predicted and finally when the concert was over, and when the encore began did the crowd finally stand up and begin to boogie! They did about another 5 songs and it was over. It was a fun concert, glad we went, but all of us said we would have never paid that price if we had too.

Thursday, Mum & Clariza shopped all day at the COEX, including some manecures & pedicures! (Oh, the hard life!) and in the evening we ate at our hotels buffet restaurant, the Grand Kitchen. I tell you it has to be the best buffet in town. I know it is my hotel, but still we have eaten at a few buffet restaurants and this is the best by a mile,

Friday, Clariza and Mum did some walking around Gangnam area where the hotel is, COEX mall again, and visited the temple across the road form the COEX InterContinental. In the evening I had a early function to attend at the hotel and then we met up at the COEX InterContiental and had dinner at Asia Live Restaurant. A great restaurant as has a huge menu with Korean, Chinese, Japanese, and Indian dishes.

Saturday, I got to sleep in, and then we headed into Iteawon. Of course we took the subway and in 45 minutes from our station (Samseong) we were there. Actually after being here three months now it was the first time that we actually went to Iteawon during the day time. We started as everyone does at the Hamilton Hotel and worked our way around the streets of Iteawon. We found a few clothing places in the back alleys that had great womens black market clothing and Clariza spent about 100,000 on some great winter jackets that had the cut out Italian labels! We then ate at the Outback SteakHouse, had a great meal, and then walked around a little more.

Now for the expats, especially the Americans and Canadians I found the store that sells all the foreign foods like Pop-Tarts, etc.. If you stand at Hamilton and look across to Burger King, cross over there to the Burger King side and walked down the street that is where burger king is and walk past a few antique stores and after about 250 metres there is a clear glass door with a red painted frame with no sign and you walk in and it is a very small shop with all the stuffs you need.

Anyway we then walked to the main road and took a taxi to the Nanta theatre for our 4pm show. The theatre is very close to the City Hall. Nice theatre, very mixed crowd. We took the 2nd level tickets which were 50,000 won. It was a 90 minute show and was a lot of fun. It was, loud, funny, lots of dancing, performing, heaps of food thrown around, great drum work with all the cutlery etc.. We walked out and all said how much we enjoyed it.

We then walked down to the Seoul City Hall, and onto our most favourite Dim Sum restaurant called Dintaifung. It is only about 6 weeks old and we have eaten there twice. It is a modern Dim Sum concept, dont take reservations, and is a quick meal, but excellent. Again I highly recommend. www.dintaifung.co.kr
Seoul City Hall .. sorry small photoThis is the Dintaifung Restaurant interior. Very modern and open windows to kitchen!

After dinner we took a stroll to the underground shops nearby, and finally took a taxi home.

Sadly we bid mum farewell at 6am this morning as she had a flight to Japan at 9am! We look forward to her coming back so that we can have as much fun again.