Dave
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HWI Admin
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Post by Dave on Apr 15, 2006 3:13:10 GMT
Media previews/reviews and fan reviews/photos of Il Divo's first of two concerts in Rotterdam, Netherlands, 20th April (preferably those mentioning Hayley!) should be posted in this thread, together with any follow-up comments.
By the rules of Proboards forums, only reviews and messages in English may be posted.
Please stay on topic to this concert; off topic matters should be discussed in a more suitable thread or board.
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Post by gareth on Apr 18, 2006 21:36:56 GMT
Well, just two days to go before Hayley's first concert of her Il Divo tour on the European mainland.... I will be there, attending Hayley's first concert on Dutch soil  . I hope I wil be able to meet Hayley on Thursday - if for no other reason than that I would like to make arrangements with her to meet again next week Tuesday, at the concert in Helsinki. I am making that trip to Helsinki especially to meet young Finnish singer Saara Aalto, and hopefully I will be able to witness a meeting between Hayley and Saara. Saara has been a fervent Hayley fan for a long time, and has expressed the wish to meet Hayley on her first concert in Finland (thanks, Steve McDonald, for alerting me). And Saara has received two guest tickets to the concert (thanks, Roger, for your assistance in this). When I tried to book on-line for the Helsinki concert, I was told that it was sold out. But as Saara received guest tickets, the ticket she had bought already will be mine  . Now I hope I will be able to assist in Saara meeting Hayley - Saara is a lovely person, and I am looking forward to meeting her very much. But there are so many uncertainties: Hayley's busy schedule; I have never been in Finland before, etc, etc To be doubly sure - I will take two video cameras with me - which will both be used in Finland - just in case I can capture something of a historical meeting ....
Unfortunately, if I do manage to capture a meeting between Hayley and Saara, I won't be able to present the video to you immediately - as within 20 hours of returning home from Finland, I will be flying out to Australia beacause of family reasons. Only after my return from Australia will I be able to process any coverage from Finland ... Cheers, and really looking forward to meeting Hayley on home soil Gerrit |
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Post by gareth on Apr 21, 2006 0:37:23 GMT
Hi all, Just back from the Il Divo concert, so I thought I just fill you in a bit. As with all other Il Divo concerts, Hayley opened the concert, singing 7 songs. From memory they were: She Moved Through The Fair, The Water Is Wide, Both Sides Now, May It Be, Amazing Grace, Pokarekare Ana and Across The Universe Of Time. And she was in very good form, drawing applause on a few cases as she was beginning a song which the audience recognised - most notably her a capella rendition of Amazing Grace - and she was give a very warm applause at the conclusion of each song. She also announced that Westenra is a Dutch name and that her family originated from the Netherlands. I was expecting her to dwell on her other roots, but she didn't. All in all, she was on stage for close to half an hour. Then it was interval. And the interval lasted and lasted - it was so long the audience began to whistle and call for the main act to start. I think the interval went on for about 40 minutes! And then Il Divo put on their act - and it became obvious that the audience in general (with probably just one exception) had come for Il Divo - and they did put on a very slick show indeed - very impressive - and possibly their best performance was "I Did It My Way" - their encore. I have never seen artists take so long to come back for their encore - but when they did, the reason became obvious - they had a change of dress just for the encore! One thing the Dutch audience appreciated very much was that the Urs, the Swiss member of Il Divo, did all his talking in between songs in Dutch - with the other members saying they didn't understand a word of what Urs was saying - and then continuing on to say in English just about exactly the same as Urs had been saying in Dutch - that was quite hilarious. And so the show came to an end. And it was after that that I discovered I had missed my chance to have a chat with Hayley  . It turned out that during that long interval, Hayley was available for signing autographs at one of the stands selling Il Divo promotional material. There were a number of these, as the Ahoy Arena is a big venue, with at least three entrances - and there were already three such stands in the section I entered (compared with for instance St David's Hall in Cardiff, Ahoy is massive with a capacity of about 5 times St David's Hall - and it was sold out!). After the concert I just happened to spot a very small notice at one of the stands that Hayley would be signing autographs there at the conclusion of her section of the concert - I sure was annoyed at the fact that I missed that opportunity - I would have gladly spent all of the interval chatting to Hayley, rather than listening to the audience performing an impromptu whistling concert of uncertain quality.... Anyway - to make doubly sure I checked with the people manning the stand - only to have my worst fears confirmed, that Hayley had been there and had left. And spent so mush time at that stand that I ended up having to hurry to catch the last train home. I just caught it with 30 seconds to spare - I was still looking for a seat when the train was already moving .... I'll have a second chance to meet Hayley - next Tuesday in Helsinki. This time I'll make sure to check around carefully to see if Hayley will again be available for autograph signing - and I sure hope they have only one main entrance there .... Gerrit P.S. I can't supply you with any photos - I was kindly requested to hand in my camera - and collect it after the concert . Not that I was in a very good position to take quality shots, as from where I sat, the stage simply seemed miles away. And now this is also strange - I have attended Hayley performances live on 7 occasions - Munich and Rotterdam, and 5 times in the UK. And never was I asked to hand in my camera in the UK, but at both Munich and Rotterdam - the audience was inspected on the possession of cameras .... Maybe mine is just too big .... |
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Dave
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Post by Dave on Apr 21, 2006 1:47:33 GMT
Hi all, Just back from the Il Divo concert, so I thought I just fill you in a bit. As with all other Il Divo concerts, Hayley opened the concert, singing 7 songs. From memory they were: She Moved Through The Fair, The Water Is Wide, Both Sides Now, May It Be, Amazing Grace, Pokarekare Ana and Across The Universe Of Time. And she was in very good form, drawing applause on a few cases as she was beginning a song which the audience recognised - most notably her a capella rendition of Amazing Grace - and she was give a very warm applause at the conclusion of each song... Gerrit P.S. I can't supply you with any photos - I was kindly requested to hand in my camera - and collect it after the concert . Not that I was in a very good position to take quality shots, as from where I sat, the stage simply seemed miles away. And now this is also strange - I have attended Hayley performances live on 7 occasions - Munich and Rotterdam, and 5 times in the UK. And never was I asked to hand in my camera in the UK, but at both Munich and Rotterdam - the audience was inspected on the possession of cameras .... Maybe mine is just too big .... Hi Gerrit and thanks very much for the report - I'm glad you caught that train home! Roger and I had the same problem as you - in the interval at Birmingham Arena. We never did find Hayley or any of her small entourage then, and in the end we were fortunate enough to meet her after the interval but at one time, we thought our chance had gone. These places are SO big. I've been receiving advice from one or two lady photographers in the Il Divo forum about getting your cameras inside! First, make it look small in case there's a bag search. Retract the zoom lens if you can and if it's removeable, replace it by your smallest lens - wrap up the big lens and put it somewhere else. Put other stuff around and on the camera without making it look like you are trying to hide it - more stuff in your bag seems to make the camera look less important. If they ask you what kind of lens it is, don't say it's a zoom or telephoto lens or admit that it takes video, I just said mine was a standard 50mm when challenged, it seemed to confuse the usher You could also do what one "Diva" did, hide the big camera under something (if it's a big enough bag) and put a small "decoy "camera on top One last tip, make sure you go through the checks when they are busy - the quieter they are, the more time they seem to spend chacking your bags. Well that's the theory - good luck in Helsinki. And... enjoy your trip around the World! Cheers, Dave |
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Post by postscript on Apr 21, 2006 7:35:29 GMT
Hi Gerrit.
I'm sorry you missed out on your opportunity with Hayley, although I doubt you would have had the interval to talk to her. I've not yet attended a Hayley event without enough people taking at least 20 to 30 minutes to see her, but as you say, they were mainly for Il Divo and so perhaps there may not have been that much of a queue, although she could only be in the one place.
If they delayed the interval for her signing, if that is what you meant to imply, then I can see a clash of interests and that is unfortunate. On the other hand it would be impractical for Hayley to wait until the end. it strikes me Il Divo are giving her a good crack of the whip. That's superb.
Better luck on your next event.
Peter
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Post by roger on Apr 21, 2006 12:20:27 GMT
Hi Gerrit. I'm sorry you missed out on your opportunity with Hayley, although I doubt you would have had the interval to talk to her. Peter Hi Gerrit, Finding Hayley in Helsinki during the interval is probably your only chance. Throughout this tour, she has been leaving the venues BEFORE Il Divo come off stage. Good luck and have a good trip. Roger |
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Steve H
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HWI Management Team / Official Site Photographer & Videographer
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Post by Steve H on Apr 21, 2006 13:44:40 GMT
Hi Gerrit,
Thanks for your great report from the Netherlands, I know how you feel with missing out on seeing Hayley, as you will have seen from the Wembley12th April posts!
I look forward to Hayley doing a tour on her own again soon perhaps like the Church tour last Autumn and early Winter., although its been good for Hayley to open for IL Divo, it is dragging on a bit now. Sorry to hear about the cameras, I do not think I have ever been challenged when taking cameras in to a concert, sometimes they politely ask you not to use them, other times its just the flash photography that is frowned upon.
Steve H
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Post by Andrew on Apr 21, 2006 15:08:26 GMT
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Steve H
Global Moderator
HWI Management Team / Official Site Photographer & Videographer
Posts: 1,756
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Post by Steve H on Apr 21, 2006 16:43:04 GMT
Back to work then... Posts from the IL Divo site mentioning Hayley.
Katharina Wrote:-
Cetacean Wrote:-
Leo Wrote:- and ....
Well thats all so far from ROTTERDAM - Ahoy Arena - 20th April 2006
All the Best Steve H
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Post by postscript on Apr 21, 2006 17:03:12 GMT
Thanks Steve for those wonderful responses from Dutch people. Presumably they were there for Il Divo but Hayley has obviously enchanted them. What a superb response.
Peter
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Post by Stuart H on Apr 23, 2006 20:32:02 GMT
Hi Gerrit
Thanks for the review from the concert. I am sorry that you missed Hayley at the interval. Steven, Roger, Dave, Richard and I were also thwarted at Wembley. Hope things go better for you in Helsinki!
Look forward to hearing from you when you get back.
Stuart H
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Post by Richard on Apr 24, 2006 14:22:24 GMT
Hello folks!  I've found two more very complimentary comments about Hayley's performance in Rotterdam on the Il Divo forum. Ineke wrote:- Nelleke wrote:- Richard  |
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Post by Richard on Apr 30, 2006 15:53:08 GMT
Hello again everybody! I've found three photographs of Hayley in Rotterdam on Il Divo's forum. Scroll down to the 10th, 11th and 12th pictures on this post by Cetacean (Mandy). I've also found another comment on Hayley's performance. Saskia Desiree wrote:- Richard |
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. It turned out that during that long interval, Hayley was available for signing autographs at one of the stands selling Il Divo promotional material. There were a number of these, as the Ahoy Arena is a big venue, with at least three entrances - and there were already three such stands in the section I entered (compared with for instance St David's Hall in Cardiff, Ahoy is massive with a capacity of about 5 times St David's Hall - and it was sold out!). After the concert I just happened to spot a very small notice at one of the stands that Hayley would be signing autographs there at the conclusion of her section of the concert - I sure was annoyed at the fact that I missed that opportunity - I would have gladly spent all of the interval chatting to Hayley, rather than listening to the audience performing an impromptu whistling concert of uncertain quality....
