Isaac Theatre Royal 19th Feb 2011It was a lovely evening in Christchurch and to get me in the mood for the concert I had a nice beer in the Bailie's Bar in the Square.
When I arrived at the theatre I got a flash programme off the wife of Mike Ferrar (the guitarist) which listed all the artists and the songs for tonight's show.
The theatre is an old Victorian style theatre where most of the Operas are held in Christchurch. I was in the upper circle in the more expensive seats
i.postimg.cc/9fYxy370/smilie-big-grin.gif. I also had a nice glass of wine and some lovely chocolate.
At 7:30pm the curtain raised and we could see the musicians seated on stage. On the left was Ian Tilley on Piano and keyboard, behind Ian there was Hamish Oliver on keyboard, Tamara Smith on Flute, and Cameron Pearce on trumpet. In the middle was Greg Donaldson on drums and on the right was Peter Fleming on double bass. Beside Peter was Susanna Campbell on cello, Serenity Thurlow on viola and a late replacement was Amandine Guerin on violin. And lastly at the front left was Mike Ferrar on guitar.
The lighting was done by HWI member John Kane (great job too). There were also two video cameras present so hopefully that either means a DVD or You Tube videos.
Fiona arrives on the stage in a lovely red dress bunched to one side with a bluish purple ribbon arrangement. I didn't get a photo as no photography was allowed (I did get one at the end of the show).
The opening song was one that Fiona wrote especially for tonight called
Theatre Royal Overture which was great using all of the musicians to full effect.
Then they went straight to
Them There Eyes.
After a welcome from Fiona the next song was
Feelings followed by
Tangissimo.
Then Fiona introduced two Irish themed songs
This Land and another new song called
Fi's Irish Overture which was lovely.
Then we had
James followed by
The Willow Tree which included a curtain at the back of the stage lifting to reveal a screen which was lit blue and later in the song went to red.
Then Fiona explained her love for her puppy and so we had
Mr Barnaby Jackson. Then the last song was one of my favourites called
Sabre Dance which had the back screen lit up with flashing lights in time to the music.
In the second half the special guests started the show.
When the curtain raised we could see Ian on the keyboard and a guy with his back to us as if he wasn't ready to start the show fiddling with his microphone. Later when I talked to Ian he said it was part of an act as that guy was also the sound man for the show. He was Bob Bickerton who can also play the Wooden Flute and the Bodran. Also on stage was Barrie McDonald with the Accordeon.
The three of them played a great Irish tune Craig's Pipes.
Then in the second song Fiona joined them to play O'Sullivan's March (I think). It was great as it was like they were jamming in an Irish pub. The audience loved it.
After that Bob went back to being the sound man but Barrie stayed on as Fiona's band members (without the extras) came on stage.
By the way Fiona was wearing a nice sparkly silver dress for the second half.
They played
Tchavolo Swing.
Then the extras came back on stage and Fiona played the very beautiful
House By The Harbour .
Whisper Waltz sounded fantastic with the extra instruments available.
Fire In The Orient featured the trumpet and the drums and was great.
Of course we had to have
Memories Of Martin and Mary.
Then my all time favourite song
Cathedral Tango was beautifully played (the audience loved it).
Then Fiona played a
Gypsy Medley consisting a mixture of Czardas and Hava Nagila which was also the last song. After we clapped to each musician as Fiona called their names we kept clapping to the song until it finished.
Of course we got an encore which was
Dark Eyes. Most of us gave Fiona a standing ovation plus Fiona received a bunch of flowers. We kept clapping so we got another encore which was another new song
Coming Home which was a nice slow song about coming to London or New Zealand.
I met Fiona and Ian outside the theatre and congratulated them on a fantastic show. Fiona was nervous about the show as it was self promoted but it was superbly done. A crowd of around 650 had turned up so it was a financial success as well with a lot of merchandise sales as well.
There will be a new CD out in November and they start recording it shortly.
Here is the one photo I took during the last song.
