The 'Alice in Wonderland' Phenomenon

FRANCES FORBES-CARBINES listens to Andrea Bocelli presented using innovative sound technology to an audience of twenty thousand

The competition is won. Engineers must put down their gauges and squares; sound tech professionals must hang up their headphones; audio technology titans must graciously cede defeat, for French pro-audio company L-Acoustics has created truly the best sound system in existence, and last night (Friday 2 May 2025) at the O2 Arena in London, UK, lucky attendees were able to hear Andrea Bocelli and a full choir and orchestra as never before.

Through L-Acoustics' groundbreaking L-ISA Hyperreal sound system, every single person among the twenty thousand attending the Bocelli concert was able to hear the sound as clearly and as richly as though they were in a tiny chapel with the great tenor only a few feet away: this is an amazing treat, to experience the artist in this way, especially as Bocelli is globally renowned for his vocal purity. I was lucky enough to be present, and the effect of the sound system was a genuine phenomenon: I could hear every instrument of the fifty-four-piece symphony orchestra vividly and fully, while Bocelli's notes rang out with a timbre so rich that when I closed my eyes it was as though he were singing to me in a small enclosed Tuscan courtyard.

Andrea Bocelli at the O2 Arena in London.
Photo © 2025 Luca Rosetti

The sound lost nothing in translation from instrument to microphone to speakers to my ears, some one thousand feet away from the source of it. The sound system is also being used for ABBA: Voyage and at multiple festivals: we had the opportunity to speak with Andrea Bocelli's sound engineer, Davide Lombari, who has worked with the London Symphony Orchestra as well as artists including Amy Winehouse and Peter Gabriel. I asked Davide if as sound engineer he did anything to distort the sounds of the orchestra - this was denied, and he explained:

I want to be as transparent as possible, in order to give the audience the truest experience of the sound.

The strings sounded rich and full, and I could hear the differences between violins, violas and cellos very clearly indeed. Hearing the timpani on the L-ISA Hyperreal system made me feel as though the beats were resounding in my chest. Andrea Bocelli smiled to the audience, commenting:

Someone told me that I have performed here at the O2 arena fifteen times. The last time I was here was many years ago now. My hair was still black in those days!

Andrea Bocelli at the O2 Arena.
Photo © 2025 Luca Rosetti

Wearing a fetching gold jacket over his tuxedo, Bocelli cut a dashing figure, emoting while singing and at times moving a hand over his heart as though overwhelmed by strength of feeling. Bocelli came out for three encores including Con te partirò (Time to Say Goodbye) before finishing with Nessun Dorma: an enormous image of Turandot's palace in China was shown on the screens behind him, and the audience - seemingly half of them, so let's say ten thousand people - all held aloft their phone torches, so that the effect was a strikingly beautiful sea of stars in a black morass.

The performance was conducted by Carlo Bernini; Bocelli was joined by pop guest Pia Toscano, and sang with soprano Mariam Battistelli, while flutist Andrea Griminelli came on stage for several awe-inspiring pieces. The audience was very taken with Moldovan violinist Rusanda Panfili, whose almost mephistophelian energy made the stage come alive, and who was one of the most glamorous women I have seen, in a orient-inspired emerald green dress and with the poise of a revered biblical queen.

Moldovan violinist Rusanda Panfili.
Photo © 2025 Luca Rosetti

Dancers Angelica & Francesco wowed the crowd, wearing modern ballet costumes before changing into flamenco attire, and the Czech National Symphony Orchestra played exceptionally well: the L-Acoustics sound system took no prisoners in terms of potentially covering up mistakes, and indeed none were made: note perfect, stellar performances from all, especially the Crouch End Festival Chorus, whose passionate renderings drew tears from many an audience member.

In the tech tour before the show, I had the privilege of meeting L-Acoustics' co-CEO Laurent Vaissié who holds a PhD in Optics and Lasers from the University of Central Florida and is an alumnus of École Centrale de Marseille - a leading French engineering college, now known as Centrale Méditerranée - and UCLA's executive programme. He said that the sound technologies industry should be renamed the 'Emotional transference industry', as really the aim of the company is to give the concert goer an intimate experience which resonates through them on a meaningful, visceral level.

Indeed I relished the two hours in Bocelli's company, leaving the arena I had the 'Alice in Wonderland' phenomenon of having been in a small, sacred space filled with exquisite music, rather than a person among twenty thousand others in the largest auditorium imaginable. Bravi tutti.

There are more articles here about vocal music, choral music, orchestral music, Czech National Symphony Orchestra, operatic music, classical crossover, pop music, dance, flute music, violin music, China, Czechia, France, Italy, Moldova, London, UK, twentieth century, and you can read our latest concert reviews here.

The background image on this page has been derived from a November 2023 photo by Keith Bramich of the O2 Arena - formerly the Millennium Dome - in London, UK.

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