Grassington Festival 29 June 2007

[Martin]

george said:

Hayley was wonderful as usual. A couple of comments were made by Hayley which altough justified was a little surprisingly out of character! The guitarist was constantly tuning his guitar after almost every song and continuing to do so whilst Hayley was talking. Hayley said something like - "hey you are spoiling the show" and "can I carry on speaking now".

Whilst I am in total agreement with Hayley's reaction to this situation I would like to suggest a possible reason for the guitarist's actions albeit very badly timed and inconsiderate.

Many moons ago I was a failed acoustic guitarist and from experience any change in temperature or humidity plays havoc with steel guitar strings. This in fact happened to Ian Tilley's piano at Gawsworth last year to the point that a piano tuner was summoned at the interval.

This may well have been the case here in which case he had a dilemma: "Do I wait until the interval to retune and meanwhile I play with an out of tune guitar (which would probably annoy Hayley even more) or do I try and retune in between songs"?

In taking the second option the least he should have done was to discretely explain the situation to Hayley and ask for a few minutes respite at a convenient break in proceedings in order to retune. He seemed to lack this subtlety.

Of course I might be totally wrong on all accounts and he was just being rude.

Martin

[roger]

Hi Martin,

Much as I sympathise with Hayley's situation, I am inclined to agree with your views. Guitars do go out of tune, especially if subjected to temperature changes. That is a fact of life. Clearly, he had to tune it before proceeding and that could only be done between songs. He would have known the schedule and, presumably, judged that there was not an imminent break. If faced with the choice of re-tuning while Hayley was speaking to the audience, or asking her to wait while he did it, I am sure he chose what he thought would be the least disruptive. In his situation, I am sure I would have done the same thing.

Roger

[Martin]

george said:

Here we are at the marquee

"Gordon and Steve take the wrong turning and unknowingly are queuing for the WI (Womens' Institute) annual cake judging competition!



Martin

[Steve H]

Hi All,

Last few from me, glad you all liked the pics!

Steve H

[Stephany]

I love her flower - very pretty!
Thank you so so much for the wonderful pictures, Steve!

[meldy]

Thanks for the pictures and the reports!! Very wonderful to know what went on around there Chocolate!! Hayley is trying to give up chocolate, hehe, I tried, but....chocolate is just toooo yummy Very interesting to hear about the whole guitar re-tunning thing, well, I've played the violin before and I know it is very sensitive to humidity so, I don't know about the guitar....Again, thanks for the pictures and reports!!

Meldy

[grant]

Love your last few pictures Steve, particulary the 'serious' first one. Hayley smiles so much that the odd serious one is something of a treat. (Not that I don't love her smile - I do!!

Best wishes
Grant

[gordon]

Hi All,

Only got home yesterday from Yorkshire and would like to thank everyone for the photos and reports from the concert.The opportunity to meet Hayley afterwards was much appreciated and it was interesting to find out the situation regarding her future involvement with Celtic Woman.

I hope the guitar tuning problems are sorted out before Chichester.

Gordon

[postscript]

Post #99. If it is the same driver she was using in 2005 he is without question a very nice fellow. I met him in the street a couple of times round the car and he greeted me with a 'Hi! Suppose we'll be seeing you later?' This was before the show.

Peter S.

[Jeff]

Maybe Hayley says she's trying to give up chocolate because she's worried her expensive performance dresses may no longer fit ?!

[davemcc]

jeff said:

Maybe Hayley says she's trying to give up chocolate because she's worried her expensive performance dresses may no longer fit ?!

LOL... If thats the case, pass the choc on to me... I love chocolate. I nearly eat one bar a day, but I can east loads without gaining much weigh. Tried to stop once, but managed 4 days before I had to have a bar or some choc.

[Caitlin]

Hi Steve!
I really like the first photo you posted in the last batch of photos.

Thanks again everyone for the wonderful reports and photographs of the evening. It sounds (and looks) as if you all had a nice time.

<3 Caite

[Stuart H]

Here are a few more of my favourite photos from Grassington. First from the show.

Stuart

[Stuart H]

And a few favs from the "afters"

Stuart

[flip8]

Favorites, eh? Hard to see why...