An Evening with 2Cellos

For the husband's birthday this year we got tickets to see 2Cellos.

The duo consists of Luka Sulic and Stjepan Hauser, both classically trained cellists from Slovenia/Croatia. They gained fame back in 2011 with their massively popular 'cello-dual' of Michael Jackson's "Smooth Criminal" on YouTube. The video has over 28 million views since the duo launched their 2Cellos channel, and is even listed below that it had almost 16 million before the launch of the channel.

2Cellos has appeared on The Ellen DeGeneres Show and Glee, has toured with Elton John and even performed with him for the Queen's Diamond Jubilee Concert in 2012.(Wikipedia) These two have really made a name for themselves; just look at their 2Cellos YouTube subscribers (6.59 million) and 2Cellos Facebook page's 2 million followers.

The duo is currently on their SCORE World Tour promoting their fourth studio album, and that is where our concert comes in. Our venue was packed with fans of all ages, young and old. (Like, there were a surprising amount of younger kids in the audience.) We saw people we knew, lots we didn't, and I knew my boss was out there in the crowd somewhere as well.

The show was shorter than we expected but they had an excellent set list that started with:

Chariots of Fire

The Godfather

Moon River

Music from Love Story

Rainman

My Heart Will Go On

Gladiator medley

During "Chariots of Fire"

"Rainman"

"My Heart Will Go On"

During the first half of the show, I noticed that Sulic and Hauser often switch off on who is playing which part. I believe this really showcases their talent. Neither of them is just learning the one part and sticking to it, they learn them all, or at the very least, a few variations. I don't know if this is a detail that many people would or do catch, but this concert goer very much appreciated that nuance.

After these "slower, intimate, sensual, romantic" and "a little bit cheesy" songs, as Hauser described them, they started to pick things up. This is when the bow strings started fraying, they started 'dueling' and really starting to rock out. Next came:

Game of Thrones theme medley

Smooth Criminal

Thunderstruck

Drummer solo (that was excellent)

Smells Like Teen Spirit

Shook me all Night

Highway to Hell

Satisfaction (I can't get no)

Back in Black

"Game of Thrones"

"Despacito"

They had a seriously awesome lighting technician because these photos, all taken on my Samsung phone, wouldn't be nearly as good or cool without all the fabulous lights. There were some parts that just couldn't be captured in still-frame either. The other really cool thing was all the custom animation videos to accompany the songs, as well as 'music videos' that starred Sulic and Hauser in the background. So much fun. 

After "Back in Black" it seemed as though the show was over, but everyone cheered for an encore. Which started with Sulic on the mic: "You want more?" *Cheering* "Ok." And they played another four songs:

A fantastic medley of songs

Wake Me Up - A Tribute to Avicii (1989 - 2018)

Despacito

With or Without You

Before they finished the encore, they got everyone to stand and cheer so they could take a picture with the audience in the background. This was fun and kind of neat. I can even just barely pick out where me and the husband are in the picture.

Photo courtesy of the Conexus Arts Centre Facebook page and 2cellosofficial

The tribute to Avicii was lovely, and unexpected. My husband loved that they played "Despacito" and the somber, haunting arrangement for U2's "With or Without You" to close out the show gave me goosebumps. It was a magical ending.