Written by Dave Clements

I know you have heard the saying ‘I can’t help myself’! That saying applies to this review. It was beyond ‘too good’ to not write about it!

I went to photograph only the Hauser concert at one of my favorite venues on Earth, The Smart financial Centre in Sugar Land, Texas.

I was tired, had to do a lot of driving in Houston’s heavy traffic before the show and really was ready to get in bed before the show even began…..but of course I sucked it up and waited until 8:10 pm for the concert to begin and for me to ‘do my thing, then leave for the journey home’!

Hauser came out on stage and sat with his cello on a center stage stool and played a very nice love song, then another, and perhaps even a third. He suggested to the audience between songs that they not fall asleep during this part of the show and that it was going to get livelier later!

I was saying to myself…’please be true or I’m out of here as soon as I get ‘my shots’!

Did I mention that I was told I could photograph the entire show if I wanted to. When I heard that I really said to myself ‘that isn’t likely but thanks for the invitation!’

Let me get to the core message here… ‘livelier later’ was an understatement. Further. there was no way I could leave…the photography was too good and Hauser was many times better that my images (go see to the Photo Gallery and see for yourself).

What unfolded over the two plus hours performance was arguably one of the best concerts I have ever seen. Hauser is AMAZING.

He is extremely talented cello player…. from Croatia.

He is a virtuoso! And it doesn’t matter if he is sitting on his stool, standing, dancing while he plays, on his back, running through the audience or flirting with one of the beautiful guest performers. And he do all of the aforementioned during the course of the show (more than once).

He is energetic, funny, of course very handsome, has a great band, very talented (and beautiful guest performers) and someone created a diverse and wonderful set list that was all over the board and fit my eye and ear wonderfully.

His set list included a variety of songs that I thoroughly enjoyed, actually blown away by, including Phantom Of The Opera, Pirates Of The Caribbean, Livin La Vida Loca, Led Zeppelin’s Kashmir, Conga, AC/DC’s Highway To Hell and Bon Jovi’s Livin On A Prayer.

He brought a band that was fantastic…. including a two person horns section, two percussionist that were equally outstanding as the horns, and excellent guitar players plus a keyboardist.

I could go on but let it suffice that by the end of the evening, I had taken so many more images that you will never see, stayed up way too late but had no problem staying awake for the long drive home. I was pumped up from Hauser’s brilliant performance.

This review is being written the next morning with this reviewer still reeling from the night before. I only have one hope, that being, if just one person reads this review some place across the world and decides to go to his web site and buy tickets to a Hauser show it will be worth it.

Hauser, you are beyond and for sure appreciated by this guy who enjoyed every minute last night AND I bet that just about everyone else in the audience would agree or state that I understated how great the show was!

Help keep ‘live music alive’ go see a concert, or two. Including the Smart Financial Center, you won’t go wrong.