Il Divo - UK - Manchester - 9th April 2006

[Dave]

Media previews/reviews and fan reviews/photos of Il Divo's first concert at the Manchester MEN Arena (on 9th April) (preferably those mentioning Hayley!) should be posted in this thread, together with any follow-up comments.

Please stay on topic to this concert; off topic matters should be discussed in a more suitable thread or board.

[stevemacdonald]

From Il Divo's Forum:


Mrs DPosted: Mon Apr 10, 2006 9:20 am
Hayley was superb and got a good reception from the crowd I'm glad to say.

jaybee Posted: Mon Apr 10, 2006 12:18 pm
At precisely 7:30, the house lights went off - and Hayley just appeared. No introduction...no build up. She was just there on the stage. No-one seemed to realise for a moment. So many people were still coming in, whilst she was singing...it was a great pity.

Cat Shan Posted: Mon Apr 10, 2006 12:57 pm
Unfortunately we were sat next to the most AWFUL WOMAN IN THE WORLD!She was the most miserable person I have ever heard, she totally ripped the lovely Hayley Westernra (who does have the voice of an angel) and then continued to complain about all the people using the mobiles to send texts for the competition, then she kept attacking her husband throughout the concert, then she was screaming absenities and at the end of the concert she poked and proded the poor lady in front of me cause she had a light laser thing....and telling her to stop waving it....I thought I was going to HIT HER!!!! ...and I am not a violent person! BUT she did not spoil my night....I made sure my camera was stuck in her face and my wolf whistles and my screams and shouts were very loud.......

[Natasha]

Oh dear! Good to hear Hayley was fab though!

[Steve H]

Another great report from Manchester !!

Masamune Wrote:

Firstly, I just want to say that Hayley Westenra was bloody awesome! I didn't expect her to be as good as she was, and I have to say that she totally moved me.

its nice to see that Hayley is surprising a few people out there.

:je WELL DONE HAYLEY

Steve H

[Steve H]

Oh and another one!

tigerrose wrote:

Dad was also extremely impressed with Hayley Westenras performance, so much so he went and bought her album while they were there.

Good old DAD!

Cheers Steve H

[Dave]

I can't believe we missed the following report from the Manchester Evening News - but the Il Divo Forum didn't so thanks to them, here it is:

Manchester Online

Il Divo @ M.E.N. Arena

Dianne Bourne

GLOBAL FOURSOME: Il Divo
09/04/06

THE four Il Divo lads have got a lot to thank mothers for. Not just their own, who at the M.E.N Arena last night were personally thanked for producing them, but all those millions who - either by choice or Mother’s Day present - own the pop-opera quartet’s albums.

They’ve enjoyed phenomenal success in the two years since their conception by music mogul Simon Cowell and there’s no question that the global foursome – Spanish Carlos, French Sebastien, Swiss Urs and American David – can all hold a tune.

Advertisement your story continues below
Schmaltzy

Their success has been built on translating schmaltzy American love songs into Italian opera-lite – and with a stage backdrop of faux-Roman pillars and videos of waves crashing on beaches the live results are achingly cheesy.

And for the most part it works.

The classy support act, New Zealand classical singer Hayley Westenra, was the antithesis of Il Divo – and there wasn’t the mildest whiff of cheese.

Bravo to Diane Bourne of the Manchester Evening news!

Dave

[Andrew]

dave said:

The classy support act, New Zealand classical singer Hayley Westenra, was the antithesis of Il Divo – and there wasn’t the mildest whiff of cheese.

[/size][/quote]

100% Pure Hayley... with no fromage!

I like it! i.postimg.cc/9fYxy370/smilie-big-grin.gif

Regards,

Andrew

[postscript]

stevehome said:

Another great report from Manchester !!

Masamune Wrote:

Firstly, I just want to say that Hayley Westenra was . awesome! I didn't expect her to be as good as she was, and I have to say that she totally moved me.

its nice to see that Hayley is surprising a few people out there.

WELL DONE HAYLEY

Steve H

For every one who makes the effort to write, are there ten who are equally impressed who don't write but might still buy? Perhaps fifty moderately impressed and 100 who will bear her in mind and want to investigate when the chance to buy occurs?

Peter

[postscript]

stevehome said:

Oh and another one!

tigerrose wrote:

Dad was also extremely impressed with Hayley Westenras performance, so much so he went and bought her album while they were there.

Good old DAD!

Cheers Steve H

Good heavens. I was not aware of this post when I posted this post's immediate predecessor. Good to here her stuff is available at these Il Divo dos.
Peter

[postscript]

andrew said:

dave said:

The classy support act, New Zealand classical singer Hayley Westenra, was the antithesis of Il Divo – and there wasn’t the mildest whiff of cheese.

[/size][/quote]

100% Pure Hayley... with no fromage!

I like it! i.postimg.cc/9fYxy370/smilie-big-grin.gif

Regards,

Andrew

[/quote]

I love that riposte Andrew. So, in summing up Hayley with Il Divo (yes, I know the tour hasn't finished yet), where is she?

She's had a great deal of fun. She deserves it.

She may have widened her audience appeal and extended knowledge of her to an audience she might bring some way towards her?

She's escaped the bad 'dumbing down' press I had feared, if anything, further enhancing her star by contrast! And let's face it each Il`Divo member must surely be far richer than I by at least a million? How can a bum like me knock that?

However, surely in Hayley's calendar at least--and her official site does not yet go past August (at the time of writing)--where does she go from here, is a question she has perhaps already addressed?

I've pushed a suggestion were Fiona Pears not to come over again. Would Hayley want to continue with her own show and own tour and if so... well, Steve manages both Hayley and Nicola. A Westenra-Bernadetti tour? I did try it alphabetically but it does not run so trippingly off the tongue, an important consideration in promotional terms. Honest, I did try it and I am impressed with Bernadetti.

Am I being too mischievous? Totally outrageous? Or possibly (awful American word, sorry guys acorss the pond) insightful?

Peter

[Dave]

I just found the following very nice BBC review of Hayley (and Il Divo) in Manchester on 9th April. I think it's well worth copying here!

Il Divo and Hayley Westenra at the Arena - 7/10 (marks out of 10)
Hannah Wysome (gig: 09/04/06)

In a strange bit of billing, Hayley Westenra did a great job in support, despite being stuck on stage with nowt but a backing track and a bit of old sheet to keep her company.

Unlike the faux lip-wobbling vibrato of pre-Henson Church, Westenra’s singing style stays true to her youth; melodies remain uncomplicated by Mariah-esque vocal trickery. Undaunted by the massive arena crowd she works the stage with real poise, speaking to the crowd with a refreshingly unaffected air of familiarity.

From traditional folk tune Scarborough Fair through to the plaintive Maori love-song Pokarekare Ana, Westenra more than held her own in front of 18,000 women who would quite happily have sat through half an hour of Slayer as long as they knew their boys were coming on next.

After the requisite amount of curtain fiddling to give everyone the chance to enter the ‘Meet the Boys backstage after the show’ text competition 15 times, the Il Divo orchestra took their places on the beautifully crafted set; half Roman villa/half Noel’s House Party.

The whole concept is an amazing piece of marketing. Following on with All by Myself, it becomes clear that they’ve picked every song out of the Bridget Jones songbook, translated the particularly clumsy lines into whichever language makes them sound pretty and selected four men, at least one of whom will cater to most women’s aesthetic tastes, who look good in suits and can yodel their way through whatever dross they’ve been given. The effect is astounding.


Il Divo
Their set is cliché after cliché but it’s amazingly entertaining. Although they all get to sing a couple of lines on their own, every song culminates in a four-part harmony sing-off with each one of them jostling for position as alpha-male, resulting in them all singing too loudly to the point where they drown out the backing, upsetting each other’s intonation in the process.

Isabel, based around Faure’s Pavane, was accompanied with a GCSE bitesize modern languages display as the French for ‘searching’ intermingled with the German for ‘heart’ across the back wall.

Even better than the singing was the patter between songs. Crudely scripted and stiltedly delivered, we learnt how much they loved us and appreciated us but also how thankful they were to their mothers for bringing them in to the world, which led to the best dedication of the night when Mama was prefaced with ‘this one goes out to all the mothers here in the house.’

It was everything you could want from a Westlife gig, and more. After an inexplicable instrumental version of Live And Let Die, they reappeared in lounge suits to knock out a few songs that utilised the tried and tested combination of getting off your stool in time with the key change.

Their original tracks would be derided if they appeared as Eurovision entries for Switzerland, but strangely you get swept away with the Shirley Valentine escapism of it all. As a live show, it’s aural candyfloss – the excitement of having them there in front of you outweighs the complete and utter lack of substance.

What’s worrying is that their soulless renditions of Unchained Melody or My Way are the tunes that will go on to play a part in some of the most ceremonious occasions in people’s lives, like weddings and funerals, and there’s something distinctly uncheering about one man’s avarice distorting true sentiment.

Dave

[Steve H]

Hi Dave,

Thanks for posting this article, I agree it was well worth while, It is great to see how well Hayley has come out at the end of the tour, with such good press, If you can impress like that with just a backing track, just think what she will achieve when she has the backing she deserves!

Thanks again.

Steve H

[postscript]

That, Dave, is a superb piece of journalism. How glad I am I never bought an Il Dvo ticket.

It speaks volumes for Hayley and frankly, who wants their sort of money for that sort of write-up.

Give me anonymity and the comfort of walking tall in place of volumes of money and cringing where ever I went!

Peter

[roger]

postscript said:

Give me anonymity and the comfort of walking tall in place of volumes of money and cringing where ever I went!

Peter

I think we can arrange that!

Roger

[Stephany]

Hi all,

Sorry for reviving this thread from the dead but yesterday afternoon there was a signing with Il Divo in Manchester for their autobiography. I spoke very quickly with a few girls who were waiting in the queue (some of them were there at 9am even though the boys only showed up at 4pm!! ) and I was very happy to see that they all remembered well Hayley. Most of them went to see Il Divo at the MEN Arena and our Hayley left a very good impression. i.postimg.cc/9fYxy370/smilie-big-grin.gif

However, I was disappointed because Hayley isn't mentioned in Il Divo's autobiography. There's only a picture of a leaflet that mentions 'Guest artist: Hayley Westenra'. I almost wanted to enter the queue just to tell the boys that they should have included her! Pity that I don't have the legendary British patience

Stephany