String Quartet Candlelight Concert – Abba v Queen Not One for the Bucket List

I don’t know what I expected, but my expectations were way off target. You know when you have a romantic idea fixed in your mind? Well, mine was that a candlelight concert would be held outside under the stars as I’d seen on my FB feed. Or did I imagine it? Now I don’t know why, but as they say, the devil is in the detail…. so when Mr. Piglet booked a couple of tickets for a concert with the theme ABBA v Queen performed by a string quartet, I was over the moon.

It was a cool evening, so we dressed accordingly, even taking coats for if/when the temperature dropped. We arrived at the Vila Gale hotel in Lagos and took one of the last parking spaces not too far from the hotel entrance. Result. We queued to get in, thinking we were going to be directed to the hotel gardens, but instead we were shown into a conference-style room with about as much ambience as an operating theatre. Yes, there were fake candles (of course, there would be), which looked nice-ish, but … as they say, ‘location… location… location’. In the absence of an outside location, a Church would have made an excellent alternative… hmmm

The raised candlelit dais for the musicians in the middle of the room was surrounded by seating on four sides. More candles were dotted around under chairs and in the aisles. We took our seats. Watched as people arrived. Prayed the guy wearing a cowboy hat heading in our direction would not be sitting in front of us. Phew … nope. Pondered: ‘Why would someone wear a cowboy hat to a classical concert?’

The ad had promised: latecomers will not be admitted. Ha! Biggest lie since “Please hold the line, your call is important to us.” People continued to stream in well after the first notes, clambering to their seats while the rest of us pretended not to hate them as we gave them the evil eye. Have you seen my resting bitch face? It ain’t pretty.

Then—oh joy—the man next to Mr. P started singing. Tunelessly. And others joined him. Our elegant string quartet? Suddenly, a community karaoke. I’m sitting there thinking: please, don’t let them start dancing… Small mercy: no conga lines to the ‘Dancing Queen’ song.

Looking back, it wasn’t the moonlit concert I imagined, but it was memorable, ridiculous, and somehow… still fun and another experience I can cross off my bucket list.