Hi everyone. And a right party we made of it. One has the feeling that the ‘family party feel’ was shared by both Hayley and Jill and it was really great seeing Jill again. It reminded me of those chats we had with her when we were whiling time waiting for Hayley to deal with a line-up of fans during the Pure tour when she was still technically ‘chaperoned’.
Therein lies another contrast. When ever there is a gap of months between seeing Hayley there is always something different to note.
For me on this occasion the girl had definitely gone and an assured, blossoming, young woman swept onto the stage. In the past—and that is a long time now in a Hayley time-span, she does so much in so short a space—I have had cause to whisper in her ear to slow up a bit and in the casualness of her address not let the mike depart too far from her lips.
On this night the casualness remained, perhaps more assured, rather as I had noted with ‘All Angels’ elsewhere but the mike was firmly in front of her lips. Her chat had meat and was more meaningful but it was interesting—and a fun note of enjoyment—that when she speaks more quickly her New Zealand accent comes to the fore! It is when she speaks slowly you can detect Britain in her English.
As Grant has followed my style of leading us in from his breakfasting and journey to the theatre, giving us a full story, I will choose to be succinct by contrast—I really can be… some times!
The whole was a superb evening’s entertainment and managed to maintain standards up to the Hayley quality we expect.
From Al and Fiona (the other one) we would expect this. The flautist, with cello, electric guitar and violin was a new presentation and they too were up to standard with the flautist giving us a world premiere of a new work, the composer being in the audience. It sounded an interesting piece and somewhere someone will post what it is as someone obtained from David (Hayley’s floor manager) the running list—although that may only be Hayley’s running list.
Now here I follow that remark Hayley made in the Libby Purves’ radio interview, that we tend to place her on a pedestal, so I will try and be constructively objective.
Erika told me that this was a concert that had been cobbled together at the last minute, hence the lack of programme.
Okay, ‘last minute’ is a key point BUT… having myself run a festival for several years in my youth which drew audiences of 10,000+ over a fortnight of performances—everyone involved being amateurs and working for free in their spare time—I really don’t see that it would have required that amount of effort to have produced a handout.
Even using a basic Word program on a basic PC you can produce a decent typographically laid-out programme. If only printed one side of a coloured sheet of paper, say on a reasonably heavyweight stock (130gsm) with perhaps a laid finish would have enhanced the whole experience.
Such a programme adds that little extra jolt to the memory when members of the audience encounter that option of the next Hayley concert. That is how the cost should be viewed—advance publicity, long-term promotion for the future, not just for concerts but CDs as well. Even if given as a free handout, this would not have added any noticeable cost to what is obviously an already expensive production but it would add just that extra ‘hand piping’ detail to the master chef’s cake.
In fact, the reverse could be used as publicity for her CDs and her books. Taking that thinking further while on the hoof, such sheets could be pre- printed, even using four-colour, providing the blank sheets for single colour printing at the last minute—although this needs to be investigated regarding the right stock for Xerox over-copying later.
Further, perhaps, in principle at least, a little extra thought should be given to the advance publicity. The hall was three-quarters full, if that. Yet what was very clear throughout the evening was the immediacy, the firmness and length of the applause. This was a very appreciative audience. To have filled that hall with that sort of response would have been an incredible experience.
As for Blake, they were warmly welcomed and sound appreciation for them was shown—but when our Hayley came on as they left for the last time it was noticeable how that applause swelled in its appreciation of her re-appearance.
Out of respect for Hayley who returned their compliment of her, they have good voices and they can indeed sing but… In so far as their contribution to Hayley’s whole evening is concerned they were excellent and did her justice. They contributed to the sense that Hayley had given us a varied programme of the highest quality throughout.
From the point of view of Blake themselves, where are they headed? I don’t like backing tracks on principle. If you can’t afford the live orchestra adapt to what you can afford. Hayley has used backing tracks but they seemed a minimal part of the whole and I can recollect only the Skelmthorpe Band where there was no question that the backing was incidental to her voice. Here, the orchestral backing was as much if not more than Blake themselves.
It is perhaps unfortunate that I was introduced to Blake but four days after hearing ‘All Angels’. If I can do things properly the link is
allangels.proboards66.com/index.cgi?board=concert&action=display&thread=1189776871&page=5#1196345340 reply 66 or may I beg a Mod’s indulgence, please if I don’t get it right?
There I posted “For me, the tribute I wish to pay is to the ‘unsung’ (yet so superbly sung) hero(es) behind the girls’ own talents. This was a wonderful marriage of two exceptional talents. The girls’ voices, which have marched on incredibly since I last heard them live perhaps a year or so ago and the arranger(s)…”
That is the key that was missing from Blake’s lock. They could try ‘Barbershop’ but who wants an entire evening of ‘Barbershop’? In my view they need an arranger as ‘All Angels’ have who understands their voices and what can be done with them otherwise they are simply four guys who can sing and quite bluntly ‘so what?’ That is the essence that makes ‘All Angels’. They are four girls who can sing but with them ‘so what?’ doesn’t get a look-in because they have arrangers who understand their voices so intimately they become a unity unique to themselves. They are ‘All Angels’ not just four girls who can sing.
Okay, they have the advantage of ‘eye candy’ but looking at Blake as a man with an eye for the ladies I would have thought the same advantage adhered to Blake for the girls. Even in their dress where they ‘ape’ ‘All Angels’ in showing their individuality in their ‘suits’, unlike ‘All Angels’ they fail to blend as a whole. Blake’s presentation simply jarred, their sartorial elegance notable by its complete failure to appear. If you look in detail at ‘All Angels’ you find their dresses are fundamentally different, they actually contrast, even in their shades of white yet they mange to blend as a collective whole.
‘nuff said. In summing up, this was a superb Hayley evening. She gave us her heart and made us feel we had Hayley, Hayley, Hayley. In fact we had an interestingly varied programme. The icing was without doubt Hayley, but she presented herself to us as icing on a cake of sound substance.
Peter S.
But it really is a gorgeous dress. Btw, did you get there in time to see Lucy Noble?
It was certainly a wonderful gathering and concert. I won't post a full review this time but here are just a few comments that I would like to mention about 'Part 1 – The Day Unfolds'.
I'm not even sure all of us recognized them but Caitlin and I did straight away and were smiling to see that Jill was given far more consideration!
