Southampton - 13th December 2007

[Nordly]

good luck to all whos going! say hi to Hayley for me! She's never met but could someone just say Northern_Lights says hi, and then explain that I'm a member of HWI. Please take awesome pics (all the pics will be awesome I bet!)

[Dave]

Yes good luck to everyone at the concert!

Oh, er that includes me!

If hayley makes it back from brunei...

I'd better get going now...

Cheers, Dave

[Dave]

Well here I am again! Where are all the others?

Just a couple of photos for you for now, the first is clear enough but the second one, well it's proof that Hayley made it from Brunei... but then it's a teaser! i.postimg.cc/9fYxy370/smilie-big-grin.gif

Sold out - four times over!




Hayley seated at the piano before singing and playing the encore - Sonny

I'm sure there will be lots more photos soon and reports too!

Cheers, Dave

[roger]

Hi everyone,

Yes, Hayley made it back from Brunei and was in fine form both during the concert and when we met her afterwards. As it is way past my bedtime, I will keep this brief but I am sure that many more reports and photographs will appear in the days to come.

Before we go any further, I would like to make a special request to all members who were at tonight's concert. There was a member with us carrying an unusually large object. You will know that it is something rather special. Please don't give away any clues until he posts the details for himself. I hope this will be in the next day or two.

Other than that, I will just post the song list... just as soon as I remember where I put it! Ah yes, here it is:

Hayley
Pokarekare Ana
Ave Maria (Cacchini)
Scarborough Fair

Fiona Swadling (violin) and Al Gurr (piano)
Fauré - Apres un rêve
Monte - Czardas

Hayley
Mary Did You Know?
Prayer
The Water Is Wide
Danny Boy

INTERVAL

Al Gurr (solo)
Two jazz pieces, titles not known but the first was by Duke Ellington

Hayley
Mummers Dance
May It Be
Lascio Ch'io Pianga
Santa Lucia
In Trutina
Both Sides Now
Hine e Hine

ENCORE
Sonny (Hayley: grand piano)

Goodnight (and it certainly was!),
Roger

[Dave]

Thanks Roger, I think you gave away one of my teasers - we posted at the same time!

Anyway, as i'm back online for a few minutes I'll post a couple more photos, leaving the rest for Steve and Stuart who I suspect have lots to post and no doubt of better quality!

Who stole the set list? I'll let Jeff himself tell you why (if he dares!)




Hayley and Caitlin in deep conversation after the concert
But it didn't last long as someone had a train to catch - and it wasn't Hayley!

Cheers, Dave

[Dave]

Hello everyone, it's me again... and this could be a "first"! i.postimg.cc/9fYxy370/smilie-big-grin.gif

It's a press review of Hayley's concert which was posted online before any of us managed to post a review!

From This is Hampshire

Hayley Westenra, Turner Sims Concert Hall
By Sally Churchward

NEW Zealand songstress Hayley Westenra could have sold out this intimate Southampton venue several times over.

Fans travelled from as far away as Northern Ireland to see her perform and people were trying to buy tickets long before they had even gone on sale. And with good reason.

Aged only 20, Hayley already has a highly successful career under her belt thanks to her perfect pitch voice which she is able to move deftly from a classical soprano to a poppy Joni Mitchell number.

She was joined last night by pianist Al Gurr and violinist Fiona Swadling who were the perfect accompaniment for her angelic voice.

The phrase 'it made the hairs on the back of my neck stand up' is much over-used. But in this case it is genuinely true.

Her performance of Ava Maria literally sent tingles across my body.

Despite her youth she had an impressive stage presence, chatting comfortably with the receptive audience and explaining the stories behind the songs which made them all the more poignant.

Other highlights included Danny Boy, which she told us her grandmother used to sing to her, Are You Going to Scarborough Fair and May It Be from the Lord of the Rings soundtrack.

11:34pm Thursday 13th December 2007

I think reporter Sally has been Hayleywowed!

Cheers, Dave

[dazza]

Hi Dave,

Thanks for the pictures and posting the review, thanks also for your brief report Roger. It seems like you all had a wonderful time once again.

I am looking forward to more reviews and pictures.

Dazza

[Mark]

Hi everyone

What a truly wonderful concert last night. The venue was superb and the audience were warm and very enthusiastic - and I don't just mean the HWI members Despite little sleep in the previous 48 hours, Hayley was radiant and her voice - well - just perfect

Thanks to Dave & Roger for their initial reports and to Dave for the photos. I thought that I would post my report early this time, particularly as some of my fellow HWI concert goers, are either away from home in hotels, or traveling home this morning. So here goes ....


Part one - meeting up and finding the venue !

I have reported many times that on the day of a Hayley concert, I simply can not concentrate on anything and on these occasions, working from home doesn't help, as I am totally distracted by thoughts of the forthcoming evening. Anyway, I set out around 1pm and arrived in Southampton at 2.30pm. I had arranged to pick up Stephany, Grant & James from Grant's hotel at 3pm. Plenty of time I thought. Well, in the end, it took me 35 minutes to find the hotel and I'm afraid this was to set the standard for the rest of the day - more on that in a moment

Once all four of us were in my car, we set off for the docks and Ocean village - the idea being to take a short boat trip, which was actually the ferry to Hythe and then to find somewhere to eat in the village itself. After finding it difficult to find the hotel, with four of us in the car, I had imagined my navigation problems would be over - not to be, after driving round the centre of Southampton twice, we eventually found a car park near the docks.

The boat trip was definitely worth the £4 return cost but we soon went down below to a relatively warm cabin, as the sea breeze on deck was icy . Unfortunately, we didn't see the QE2 or the Queen Mary2, but I did manage to take a shot of a very large cargo vessel



After getting off the boat, we set about finding somewhere to eat. Ocean Village appeared to be "just around the corner" - after walking what must have been the best part of 3 miles, we realised we were lost - no bars or restaurants in site. We asked at the Marina and eventually found a harbour front restaurant with good food and even a French waiter for Stephany. i.postimg.cc/9fYxy370/smilie-big-grin.gif Adequately fed and watered, we made our way back to the car - which, when you know where your going must have been all of a few hundred metres. i.postimg.cc/9fYxy370/smilie-big-grin.gif Oh well !

And so to the venue - what can I say, after driving for 15 miles, around who knows where for 40 minutes, we eventually found the university - according to the map, it was no more than 3 miles from Ocean Village. Anyway, we arrived and it wasn't long before the other HWI concert goers joined us. We were quite a large group and sort of took over one corner of the waiting area. i.postimg.cc/9fYxy370/smilie-big-grin.gif It was good to see Jeff again and one or two others that I hadn't met before like Tonyw and his wife and the mystery member. It was soon time to take our seats and unlike the Croydon concert, our members were scattered across the auditorium. My seat was to one side of the performance area - as there was no stage and as i was on the front row, felt that I was almost on the stage myself. I had just got settled in my seat when a gentlemen came across and introduced himself to me. He recognised me from the forum and we realised that we had met before at Telford in December 2006. It was a pleasure to meet you and your wife again Ron. I'm pleased that you enjoy visiting our forum and that you find it so useful. I didn't ask, but have you thought of joining ?

Anyway, the lights dimmed and on to the concert. I managed to take one (fairly blurred) shot - this was taken after the encore - Hayley, Al & Fiona taking a bow. Be back with part 2 soon....



EDIT - Looking at this photo carefully, I have just realised, it looks as though Hayley had spotted me and is looking right at the camera !

Mark

[Martin]

SOUTHAMPTON CONCERT (PARTS 1 – 20) !

Hi Everyone
As Roger has indicated, last night was another classic Hayley concert and despite the recent travels she was on top form during and after the concert.

On arrival we were told that there was to be a signing after the concert but later learnt that it was only to last 10 mins as Hayley had an early appointment the following day and needed to get back to London. Fully understandable but as you may have guessed already Hayley doesn’t do “10 mins” and although there were only around 30 concert-goers remaining behind (including 14+ HWI members) the session lasted a full 30 minutes. During this time it was good to see many book singings, a few cds (including my new copy of Prayer) and exchanges of Christmas cards and well appreciated gifts.

Steve, Stuart and Grant in particular took many photos during the signing but fewer during the concert due to the poor light quality. However, I believe there may be quite a delay before you see these as all three were heading off to prepare for the Bath concert.

I arrived at the University Campus car park at 5.00pm to bump straight into Roger and Gordon who had also just parked. We headed off to the pub opposite expecting to see HWI members but most unusually there were none there at that time. So we thought we would seek out the theatre which was in the middle of the Campus. Easier said than done and after walking through at least one faculty building and taking a short cut through a lecture theatre (just as well there wasn’t one in progress!) we eventually found it. A delightful modern concert theatre with a capacity of 400+ but enlarged to 450 by adding seats on either side of the floor level stage.

We returned to the pub for a drink and waited for other members to appear. In addition to the mystery member we were also joined by Steve, Stuart and Caite. On returning to the theatre we then met Mark, Stephany, Grant, James, Jeff and a remarkably early Dave!
Apologies if I missed anyone out.

The concert song list was quite similar to that from Croydon (see Roger’s post) and as you would expect Hayley gave a first class performance. She had a very good rapport with the audience and the applause got louder and louder as the evening progressed. I must say that I was particularly impressed with the pianist Al Gurr who is a very accomplished session and jazz performer. He also has a nice sense of humour and there was good banter between himself and Hayley in-between songs.

As always these concerts fly by and the end had come so we retreated to the foyer to wait for Hayley. We eventually left at around 11.0pm

So now it’s off to Bath for Hayley and other HWI members (sadly not me though) and then I believe Hayley and her Mum return to their home in Christchurch for a well earned holiday and rest.

I now look forward to 2008 and another great year for Hayley. Let’s hope that she has a successful Classical Brits, a chart topping album (no. 4) and a series of memory filled concerts in the UK, NZ and other Hayley hotspots.

Martin

[Martin]

HAYLEY AT THE SIGNING - now what was Grant's question?? Whatever it was it required a lot of thought!



Martin

[Jeff]

It takes something very special to get me out on a cold winter's night but last night in Southampton we got something very special. First of course, you have to get there. I don't know who invented the phrase "It's better to travel hopefully than to arrive" but it's a fair bet he worked for South-West Trains. The train before mine was running late so I got that one instead and arrived early ! On the journey I reflected on the LONG 3 years, 8 months and 12 days since Hayley last came to this part of the world. Those were the heady days of the Pure Tour when her siblings joined her on stage, mum Jill hid in the orchestra pit to surreptitiously conduct Isaac and Sophie in their duet of "Greensleeves" and adverts appeared in the local press offering several times face value for tickets. I still regard that concert as the best I have seen, not least because the support act was a then unknown music teacher from Neath called Katherine Jenkins. Ah well, how things change ! Such thoughts were soon dispelled from my mind by the sight of floodlights and cranes at Southampton docks and we were soon at the airport.

There is something rather daunting about arriving in a strange place in the dark. I had been to Southampton some years earlier for the Titanic expedition but Dave's valiant cartographic efforts notwithstanding, of all the concert halls in the world I have visited, Turner Sims takes first prize for the hardest to find in the dark as the small venue is buried amongst other university buildings. Once inside I met up with old friends and admired a rather large object to which Roger has already alluded.

I was amazed to find row B was actually the front row and my seat in the middle meant Hayley would be performing about 8 feet in front of me ! I was also concerned to learn that she had only arrived home at 10 that morning and had half an hour's sleep AND was in the recording studio Friday morning.

I had sneaked a peek at her set list so as Hayley emerged in her stunning black dress I knew the first song would be "Pokarekare Ana". This was the vocalise version which I actually prefer with Fiona Swadling providing the beautiful violin solo. Hayley then explained Southampton had been in her diary for a long time which was good to know. Her Nanna had given her the sheet music for the next song "Ave Maria" in the Caccini version. "Scarborough Fair" followed next and Hayley swayed in time to the music and introduced a few dance steps which I hadn't seen before at her concerts. She then left the stage to Fiona who played "Apres un Reve" (After a dream) by Faure and the toe-tappingly catchy "Czardas"by Monti which she explained had been arranged in many ways, once for accordion in Dublin !
"Weren't they great ?!" said Hayley as she returned to the stage. Agreed ! She then made us all jealous by telling how she would spend Christmas on the beach ! She showed us some more dance moves in "Mary did you know ?" then "Prayer" which is based on Hansel and Gretel. While introducing "The Water is Wide" she caught her heel on the stage floor and I was worried she might turn her ankle but she laughed it off like an old pro. "Danny Boy" rounded off part one but like in "Prayer" someone in the audience insisted on clapping a second or two before the song had finished, unable to contain their enthusiasm no doubt.

Pianist Al Gurr took the floor after the interval and tried to explain how jazz worked. The gist of it was that some of it is made up as they go along but I did recognise "I got rhythm". It was an amusing interlude. This man could soon be having his own show! Hayley returned, respendent in her green gown to sing "The Mummer's Dance," This song is not too familiar but all the more welcome for that as Hayley explained mummers went through the streets with branches of greenery to signify Spring and new life. One of my favourites followed, "May it be" from Lord of the Rings after Hayley had enquired who in the audience had been to her home country. She said "Lascia Ch'io Pianga" was one of her favourites because of the gorgeous melody and she was at her most vivacious with "Santa Lucia" which went down best with the audience. "In Trutina" followed then the Joni Mitchell favourite "Both sides now" and Hayley brought the concert to an end with a rousing rendition of "Hine e Hine." We weren't going to let her go without at least one encore. I'll hear a lot of carols in the next few days so I wasn't disappointed when "Silent Night" was dropped but when Hayley sat down at the piano and adjusted the microphone, we all knew what was coming......."Sonny." This song is always poignant but the lines "I'm feeling so tired and not all that strong" really seemed to resonate with her on that night when she had performed 15 songs for us (the most I've ever heard in one concert) after only 30 minutes sleep. How does this girl do it ?! To remind me of this momentous evening, the setlist attached to her loudspeaker inadvertently came away in my hand !! Dave recorded the evidence on camera.

And so we gathered in the foyer where her driver Ray thanked me for not taking notes in the second half and said he'd have Hayley home by12.30 (same time as me!) and she'd sleep in the car. I was relieved to hear that. I apologised to Hayley if my notetaking had distracted her and explained journalism runs in my family ! I thanked her for singing "Sonny" which was the highlight of the night among HWI members. Ray had promised us 10 minutes with Hayley but of course it over-ran to 40 ! Never has a tired artist been so generous to her fans. THANK YOU HAYLEY ! So we said our goodbyes. Hayley wished us all a Merry Christmas and we went our seperate ways and I dashed for my train, so concluding the best Hayley concert since.......well the last one !! So the baton is passed to the West Country and Bath, a first for Hayley but then this young lkady always comes first with us !

[Nordly]

amazing pics! you're all so lucky to have heard Santa Lucia on Saint Lucia's saint day!

[grant]

Hello Everyone

Not been home long and just had some 110 posts to read despite Stephany being off line!

Thanks for the superb reports and pictures so far from everyone. With all the details so far published, mine will probably be a bit shorter than usual. I took quite a few photo's during the signing, but can't promise getting many up on the forum before I head off for Bath.

Back soon

Grant

[Paddy]

What a fantastic evening you all had!


Thanks to the earlier 'posters' for the news about the night.

And the lovely photos!

Like every concert - makes me wish I had been there!


Looking forward to more news and photos, when you've all had a good rest.


Paddy

[gra7890]

Wow, what a list of songs, all my favourites were there ! I wish I could have been

You all must have had a great time, as I could not be there I am enjoying reading the post and seeing the photo's.

Thank You , Graham