ROBERT YOUNG - TENOR

Robert Young made several visits to Russia, where his concerts were very popular. Natasha, from Moscow, has sent this story, in her own words, about why Robert Young was very important to her parents, and the special memories they have of him.

Robert Young gave several concerts in two days. First day in the afternoon and in the evening. Second day just in the evening. My mom had two tickets for the second day evening concert. She had to go to the concert with another person, but he didn’t go, and she went alone. 

My father had two tickets for the first day afternoon concert. He had to go with his mother, who had to come from another town, not far away from Moscow. But my father made a mistake, he confused the dates. So he sat at home with his friend, his mother was to come in the morning the next day to go with him to the concert. He told his friend about it and showed him the tickets. He was very proud because he had the tickets. And his friend suddenly noticed that the tickets were for this day, for the concert that was in the afternoon and was already over.

What do you think they did? They changed the day on the ticket! Very carefully. So that it looked rather natural. But the time stayed the same: 12.00 in the afternoon. My father made one more mistake. He was sure that the schedule for the second day was the same as for the first. There was no internet those times, so they couldn’t check. He didn’t say anything to his mother, and when she came, they went to the concert. The lady, who checked the tickets, was very surprised. She told them that Robert Young sings in the evening, and there is a concert for children in the afternoon. She didn’t notice the falsification, she thought, it was the fault of the ticket agency. My father didn’t say anything to his mother and put her to the train back to her town.

In the evening my pa went to the concert hall hoping to buy a ticket from somebody. I don’t think you do it in England but it is still a common thing here in Moscow. When somebody can’t go to the concert or theatre, he can’t return his ticket; agencies or theatres don’t accept tickets back. So people just sell tickets to each other. You can always see people standing in front of a theatre before a play asking for extra tickets. So my pa did the same thing. He asked several people, they had nothing. Finally he asked a young woman. She said NO and passed by. But then she turned around and said, yes, she had an extra ticket. It was my mom. Papa is still joking asking her, why did she say NO at first, didn’t she like him from the first sight?