Stoke-on-Trent - 18 October 2008

[belleyetere]

The other thing I forgot that annoyed us we had a press photographer I assume stood next to us at the start and he must have taken about 50 photos by the sound of his camera. We did not hear the first and second song because of it.
Robert

[Richard]

Thanks to everybody for the speedy reports and photographs!

I like Hayley's new dress, and I hope she'll wear it at Northampton and/or Southend so I can see what colour it really is. Now I'm looking forward to reading more about this concert, but of course the real 'River of Dreams' tour starts tonight in Aberdeen, och aye! i.postimg.cc/9fYxy370/smilie-big-grin.gif

Best Wishes,

Richard

[Steve H]

Hi All,

YES! - well done everybody, you were so quick with the reports and photo's, I thought I was in the wrong thread this morning when I had to go back three pages to get to the first report from Dazza.

I love the new dress and look forward to seeing it soon. i.postimg.cc/9fYxy370/smilie-big-grin.gif

You don't have to wait long for HWI to report a 'Hayley Happening' do you!

Steve H

[Katie]

Wow.Lovely photos.Keep up the great work and I hope to see more soon .


Take care,
Katie

[dutchjoyce]

Thanks to all, for the first reports and pictures.

I'm surprised to hear Hayley sang, Never saw Blue, and Wuthering Heights!!!
..........oooohhhhh........in 2 weeks ,i will be in the UK, to attend 2 concerts.........can't wait to go there!!!

Greetz JOYCE.

[dazza]

Hi Everyone,

Thanks for all of the excellent pictures and reports that have been posted so far.

I never realised that 'Wuthering Heights' hadn't been performed by Hayley in the UK since 2004 and was so eagerly awaited by some forum members. I am glad that she chose to perform it in Stoke and it was one of the highlights of the evening and a superb finale to a wonderful performance.

When it as my turn to meet Hayley afterwards I had told her that I had designed the poster for the concert which I asked her to sign, she loved it and wrote 'great design' as she signed it.

Here are my pictures from the signing...

























Dazza

[stephen]

hi to all I met at the concert last night and thank's to Grant for getting me logged on.
Hayley seemed to take well to the sggestion that she recorded "THE RAINBOW CONNECTION" although she must get thousands of requests. At least she knew the words
and hummed the intro.She deserved a medal for hanging on so long after the show considering the journey ahead.

[stephen]

Whoops spelling error. The above should read suggestion.

[pjrcorreia]

Thank you so much Dazza, Grant and Martin for the reports and photos.

WOW!!! Hayley sung "Never saw Blue", "Wuthering Heights" and "Now Is The Hour" was certainly AWESOME, as I already heard the CD version from a promo that I won on ebay, and to think about the first time time I heard it on the EPK I didn't like it, I've already heard it many times! FABULOUS!

Best wishes,
Paulo C.

[grant]

Hello everyone

As promised, a few pictures from Hayley's signing session after the concert









Hayley examines the results of her handywork with Tim

Best wishes
Grant

[grant]

Hi Stephen!

Good to meet you at last night's concert and glad to see that you have taken the plunge and joined so let me be the first to 'officially' welcome you to the forum.

There's a tremendous amount of information about Hayley here and if you have trouble finding your way around just post asking for help and someone will guide you. Best place to start would be the concert thread with reviews and photo's aplenty.

The River of Dreams tour thread will keep you up to date on Hayley's performances over the next few weeks.

Incidentally, if you need to alter a post after you have made it, click on the 'modify' button at the top right of your post to re-open it, make the alteration and post it again. You can also use the 'preview' button to see what your post will look like before you post it.

Best wishes
Grant

[Karsten]

Hi,

A great evening again, as I've seen already. Many thanks for the reports and to Dazza, Grant and Martin for the photos.

Really looking forward to Lichfield in just two weeks.

All the best,

Karsten

[Mark]

Hi everyone

Thanks so much to Martin, Dazza, Stephen, Robert & family and Grant for your reports and photos.

Wow, what can I say, I find myself yet again saying that this must rank as one of Hayley's best ever concerts, not only for her voice which was absolutely on top form, but also for the content. You have already seen the set list , but it wasn't only the new songs like 'Now Is The Hour' and 'Wuthering Heights', many of the old favorites seemed to have a different musical arrangement and she had obviously 'tweaked' her performance too.

Wuthering Heights was simply spectacular, particularly as, just like on 'Live In New Zealand' DVD, Hayley breaks off towards the end and waves 'thank-you & goodnight' while the music goes on - she then comes back on stage to take the (almost) final bow, to rapturous applause. Several people from the audience came forward to pass up to the stage flowers, red roses and other gifts for Hayley at this point.

However, the highlight for me came in the first half ------- Some of you may know that for more than a year now, I have asked Hayley almost repeatedly if she would sing a particular song that she hasn't performed live since midway through 2006. The song in question just happens to be my absolute favourite as it reminds me of when I first discovered Hayley and brings back other, more personal memories for me.

You can imagine then last night how special it was when Hayley suddenly introduced 'Never Saw Blue' as the next song. It felt like she was singing it just for me, I know she wasn't of course, but it felt like it - an emotional moment

When I spoke to Hayley after the show, she told me she had remembered my requests, but I'm not sure that was what had influenced her to sing this song. Anyway, I told her that I was blown away by her surprise performance, I think she could tell how much it meant for me. Hayley, if you should read this, thank-you once again.

The programme from last night was stunning and I thought you may like to see it, so here it is :












One of our forum members was particularly pleased with this page, as the four photos at the bottom were taken by him - any guesses ?




More in a moment


Mark

[Mark]

Hi again everyone

Here is the rest of the programme












It was a great pleasure to catch up with HWI friends old and new yesterday and thank-you as always for your company. I will post again a little later as I do have a few photos.

Mark

[grant]

Hi Mark

Thanks for scanning the programme for everyone to see. Did anyone think to ask Hayley if there is going to be a programme for the RoD tour? Perhaps that was what was in all those boxes in the combi.

Here are a few more pictures from the signing session.

More later

Best wishes
Grant