Fiona Pears Swing Driven Thing Concerts

[Ross]

Balcairn Hall 4th April 2014

Fiona, Ian and the guitar duo La Petite Manouche started a month long tour of New Zealand with a concert in the Balcairn Hall 30 minutes north of Christchurch. It coincides with the release of Fiona's new album Swing Driven Thing and with La Petite Manouche new album Odd Times / Odd Places.

Balcairn is a farming area and the hall is typical of community halls around rural areas of NZ. The concert was sold out and around 100 people were there for a great concert.

The opening song from the new album was Full Moon followed by Memories.
Swing Driven Thing was next.


Daylight was about the death of a much loved pet, very beautful.
My Pal the Gypsy and Travelling North (a celtic/ country tune)
Nuages is from both of their albums
and the first half finished with Dark Eyes


We then had a big supper with tea or coffee which was great.

Second half opened with La Petite Manouche playing two of their songs Odd times, Odd places and Legacy. They are both excellent Swing guitarists.
Then Fiona and Ian joined them and the now well known tune Tangissimo was played.
Then it was Danse Norwegian , Tchvaelo Swing , Sunrise Sunset and Jalousie were played finishing the concert.


For the encore they played Hava Nagila which everyone clapped to. Then to much clapping and stomping they came back and finished with Willow Tree.

After the concert I told Ian I enjoyed the videos on the latest Hayley CD and he loved doing them.
I also got Fiona to sign my CD.
I will see them again the next night in Hanmer Springs.

[Ross]

5 Stags Restaurant Hanmer Springs 5th April 2014

I took a day off work and travelled 2 hours west from Christchurch to the mountain resort town called Hanmer Springs for Fiona's second concert. On the way it gave me a chance to listen to Fiona's new album Swing Driven Thing and La Petite Manouche new album Odd Things Odd Places. And both albums were very enjoyable. Hanmer Springs is an outdoor experience paradise with jet boating, rafting and bungy jumping but it is best known for it's thermal pools which you can bath in. I didn't go this time but I did go there 2 weeks ago. Instead I went for a drive over a hill to the next river valley.



The venue being a restaurant meant I could have a lovely meal before the concert.

The concert started at 7:30pm and there were about 70 people sitting around tables which allowed us to have drinks while watching the concert. With the setlist the same as last night I will just post some photos this time although Fiona did sound great in this venue (and so did the boys).






The boys from La Petite Manouche enjoyed my review of last night's show so I thought I would give a bit more detail of them.
Robbie Averill and Burke Goffe are two young guitarists from Christchurch who love the Gypsy Jazz songs especially by Django Reinhardt.
Their new album Odd Things Odd Places is a modern Jazz collection of songs with odd time signatures and was recorded by Ian tilley. Fiona also plays in two songs Nuages and Spain.
Tonight they played Puttin on the Ritz which as well as the well known tune it includes other well known tunes in it which the audience loved. They also played Legacy ( from the same titled CD) which is their tribute to Django Reinhardt.


The only encore tonight was Hava Nagila .

I had a quick word with Fiona and Ian as I had to head back to Christchurch and they had a long journey to Murchison for their next concert is at Takaka in the top of the South Island at the Mussel Inn. They are looking foward to this venue as they get heaps of food and home brewed beer lol.
We got talking about Hayley's birthday and that she is almost 27 already (time flies lol). So it put me in the mood to play Hayley's new album The Best on the way home.

[Richard]

Fiona Pears has posted a tour blog with photographs on her website. Here's a sample:


Image 11/20 Church of St George and St John, Whakatane - 16th April 2014

See all the pictures and read Fiona's blog here:

www.fionapears.com/blog/tour-blog-1

Richard

[Ross]

I can see me in the Balcairn Hall photo. I am wearing a red cap on the left near the front.

Sent from my GT-I9505 using proboards

[Richard]

Hello Ross!

Ah yes, I can see you in the third row towards the left:


Image 1/20 Balcairn Public Hall - 4th April 2014

Richard

[Richard]

Fiona has posted a second tour blog with photographs:

www.fionapears.com/blog/tour-blog-2

This is an interesting shot from the stage:


Image 3/12 Earnscleugh Hall, Alexandra - 23rd April 2014

Richard

[Ross]

Ashburton Concert 30th April 2014

This was the last of the Swing Driven Thing concerts and was at the Ashburton Event Centre one hour south of Christchurch. It was also my old home town. It was the start of my holiday to the bottom of the South Island so I stayed at my parent's place and took mum to the concert (my Mothers Day treat). There were about 300 at the concert and this time we had John doing the lighting for the concert and Fiona and the other muscians dressed up for this concert.


A standing ovation at the end and we got the extra encore of the Willow Tree .