There’s no doubt that I love live music, and on my travels I’ve seen gigs in some pretty unusual settings. If I’m being honest, I prefer small back street bars where you can mix with the locals and soak in the atmosphere. So for tonight’s performance, I feel right at home. If not a little underdressed.
This is the Rector’s Palace, an opulent building for a man that, in times gone by, was held in fairly high esteem – but by all accounts was something of a thankless task. The Rector was very much a civic position : a bit like a British Mayor. And the person doing the job changed each month. It may have been a nice building to occupy, but during that month the Rector was required to stay inside the Palace and not make contact with his family, lest they get in the way of his very important duties.
That was then. Tonight, the Palace is mixing Broadway with jazz, courtesy of the Dubrovnik Symphony Orchestra and the NATO band I met in the bar last night.
The first half is all about the orchestra, with jazz playing second fiddle – if that makes sense. Then, during the interval, the real music takes centre stage. And considering that less than twenty four hours ago these guys were in danger of drinking me under the table, they don’t half scrub up well.
Brent and Renaud – seen in the final picture – seem to attract the biggest attention from the female members of the audience. Brent “looks just like George Clooney” says one woman, who insists on a personal photo. While Renaud simply attracts sighs from mothers whose children clearly didn’t turn out as well as they’d hoped.
All in all a good night. And a chance to see part of a NATO operation that few are probably aware of. You can find out more about the Shape International band by clicking here
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