Several weeks ago I was lucky enough to go to two big
events in the same week. On Thursday Margot and I were given tickets to The
15th Annual Shanghai International Automobile Exhibition. It was huge! Held at
the Shanghai New International Expo Center this exhibition complex boasts 17
hanger size halls with 2.1 million square feet of floor space. All of the top automakers
were there. China, now the biggest auto market in the world, showcased their
automakers who were featuring their latest models. There were many auto companies I never heard off. It
was a big event with lots of concept cars on display and the unveiling or debuting
of the latest models. And speaking of models what is an auto show without models.
Many of the major brands had stage like backdrops where every hour or so
fashion models would walk these stages
to attract the audience to their end of the hall. They were very popularly.
The other event was the Yanni concert, ME and I went to on
Friday night. ME has been a fan for many years. Most of you remember his
breakout concert/album Yanni live at the Acropolis done in
1993. In 1997 he did a similar concert in the Forbidden City in Beijing being
the first western artist to perform there. This year he performed again in
China at the annual February Spring Festival Gala with a viewing audience of
700 million people, he was the first ever invited foreign artist to perform on
the show. To say the least the Chinese love his music. His concert was advertised
in all of the Shanghai western magazines. ME really wanted to see him live and
the concert hall is just 1-1/2 miles down the river from our apartment. It was a wonderful concert. What was most
impressive was his musicians, several having been with him from the start of
his career, plus he had several new young musicians who were extremely talented.
Many of his songs had solos featuring these very talented musicians. He came back for 4 standing ovations, the audience
loved him. The pictures are not that good but hopefully you can get the general
idea.
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| plan of the complex for the car show |
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| hanger size halls, 7 halls along this row |
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| Audi exhibit, size of hall |
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| Chinese version of the Ford Explorer |
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| details of the Ford Explorer and price, equals $89,900 |
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| runway with models |
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| 10 minutes of models parading with video display in background |
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| the onlookers |
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| grand finale |
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| Margot's favorite, Audi R8 |
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| Porsche display |
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| click to enlarge |
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| Roll-Royce |
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| Lamborghini |
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| the hall with the high performance cars was packed with people |
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| 5 to 6 people deep taking pictures |
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| Mercedes-Benz Arena, the venue for the Yanni concert |
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| Yanni with his very talented violin players and long time drummer in background |
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| the group |
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| standing ovation |
