Hi all!
Thank you James, Roger, Martin, Mark, Jeff, Colin and Steve for your reports and pictures. I especially like the panorama one, Colin.
Well, I'm back in Germany again after a wonderful weekend in the UK. It was much too stressful going to the UK on Saturday morning so I decided to fly over already on Friday. I stopped working at lunch time, drove back to my apartment, got changed and headed to the airport early as I had to make my way through the "Ruhrgebiet" during rush hour which is an experience I don't need to have every day. There was just a minor delay on my British Airways flight so I arrived at the rental car station at Heathrow at 8pm. I grabbed myself a car and went down to my hotel in Chilworth, Southampton. It was quite a big hotel and there was a wedding celebration on Friday and Saturday evening. My room was far enough away not to hear the party but I was in bed just for 10 minutes when the fire alarm began to ring. That's actually not good for a peaceful sleep so I made my way down finding out that one of the drunken party guests started the alarm.
The Saturday began with sunshine and a "Fully Cooked English Breakfast". Yum!
i.postimg.cc/9fYxy370/smilie-big-grin.gif What else do you need to start a day?
As I had a car I explored the New Forest region and went down to Beaulieu and later to Lyndhurst having some Cream Tea. Yum again!
i.postimg.cc/9fYxy370/smilie-big-grin.gif When I was walking through Lyndhurst I heared a loud roar but couldn't see where it came from. A few minutes later the roar came back and I saw two formations of the Red Arrows flying over. Unfortuneately they were gone before I had my camera ready. They were flying over Broadlands later as well before the concert started. It was time that I went back to my hotel, so I got changed and arrived in Romsey half an hour before the gate to Broadlands opened. By 4 pm I went down to the gate to have a look if it's advisable to get my car when I saw Mark waiting in the queue to enter Broadlands. I went down with him to see where the car park is. Roger and Gordon arrived directly behind us. I decided that I didn't like to walk the whole way back at night so I went back to Romsey to get my car and met Steve H. and Martin on my way out. James joined me at the last roundabout before Broadlands and so we both made our way to the entrance where already many HWIers made themselves comfortable waiting to get in. It was nice to wait there because we could hear the All Angels and Hayley doing their soundchecks.
When it was time to get in we secured ourselves a good position in the front of the Gold Circle. Roger, James and I went out again to hand out the flyers for Hayley's ROD tour. Not everyone liked one but many were happy to get the flyer after telling them what it's about. I'm sure none of them were aware of the tour but many seemed to be delighted having the schedule.
The concert began with the All Angels. I was happy to see them again after having attended only their premiere at Cadogan Hall 2006. I have to say at this point that it was Daisy who persuaded me coming to Broadlands.
I met the girls at RAH after the Classical Brits in May and I told them that I like coming over to the UK to see Hayley but would like to see them as well. Daisy told me then about the two summer concerts they have together with Hayley. I was aware of those concerts but wasn't sure if an outdoor concert would be a good idea. But when being asked so nicely ... well ... I couldn't resist.
I really loved their performance especially because I could attach the voice to the person what one can't do when listening to the CD only. I loved the incident when Daisy forgot her name. That was quite funny!
i.postimg.cc/9fYxy370/smilie-big-grin.gif My All Angels favorite of the night was "Sound Of Silence". What a magnificent performance!
Well, Blake was already mentioned. They didn't convinced me at all. They had some troubles sorting out the microphones. One of them had one mike too much and didn't know where to place it. Somehow I was sure that this mike belonged to Hayley. I just thought: "Do not put it on the floor, do not put it on the floor!" And yes, he put it on the dirty floor. Well done!
Blake then ended their first part by ruining the Top Gun theme "Take My Breath Away".
And then there was Hayley.
I was spellbound from the first to the last note she sang. She wore THE green dress again. There she was in perfect sound. "Let Me Lie" just blew me away. Her self-written songs are simply the best she has ever published.
In the interval there was a meet-and-greet with Blake. I went there to see if it was Blake only or maybe the All Angels as well. But there wasn't any Angel.
The second half was in the same order like the first with All Angels, Blake and Hayley. The songlist was already mentioned so I don't want to duplicate it.
Hayley sounded perfectly again only the orchestra was too loud during some parts. The lighting was also a problem because the floodlights produced much glare what was desturbing during the the second half.
At the end the audience should stand up to sing along the song "Land Of Hope And Glory" with the artists. I like singing along with Hayley (unless she can't hear me
i.postimg.cc/9fYxy370/smilie-big-grin.gif ) like we did during her Christmas Presence Tour in December 2006. But this time we had no lyrics. Fortuneately I wasn't the only one who didn't know the text.
i.postimg.cc/9fYxy370/smilie-big-grin.gif I should have known better because it was mentioned already in the Orwell Park thread. But somehow it didn't came to my mind to print out some lyrics.
After the concert we waited for Hayley and after a while she came out to say "Hi!". I don't know how she recognised us because it was very dark already. But she did and came over. Some of us had a little chat and photos were taken with new forum members. I wished I also had the possibilty to have a word with Hayley. While handing out the flyers in the beginning I had a nice chat with a man who has got relatives in Christchurch. One of them (one of his grandchildren if I remember it correctly) sang in a choir togeher with Hayley years ago in Christchurch. Unfortuneately I forgot to ask his name. That was something I could have told Hayley but in the end there was just time for "Hello" and "Good-bye".
Please don't understand me wrong. I'm very grateful Hayley came out for a chat. She's the only one I know who treats her fans so nicely. Maybe there's more time at the next concert. Three months to go ...
I was a little disappointed that All Angels didn't do a meet-and-greet. I'm sure they were tired and had to go. It was just my first and only All Angels concert this year and it was them why I came over. There seems to be no chance for me to see them again before next year.
But in the end it was a lovely concert and a pleasure to attend All Angels AND Hayley.
Best wishes,
Thomas
I met the girls at RAH after the Classical Brits in May and I told them that I like coming over to the UK to see Hayley but would like to see them as well. Daisy told me then about the two summer concerts they have together with Hayley. I was aware of those concerts but wasn't sure if an outdoor concert would be a good idea. But when being asked so nicely ... well ... I couldn't resist. 
Blake then ended their first part by ruining the Top Gun theme "Take My Breath Away".
