Hayley in Washington DC for PBS' A Capitol Fourth 2008

[stevemacdonald]

Jul 5, 2008 5:34:54 GMT graemek said:

Jul 5, 2008 5:12:24 GMT stevemacdonald said:

Re this performance of Shenandoah-

I think the microphone wasn't set right for her voice. She sounded strident throughout the performance, as opposed how smooth and pure she was on the Celtic Treasure CD.

Strident Steve? Not just plain powerful?

Graeme

Whatever.... and by that I mean who really knows? On CDs Hayley's voice is unfailingly pure; in live performance it occasionally sounds shrill. I think this is due to varying levels of competency in miking her. In the studio she has the finest professionals in the business ensuring that she comes across brilliantly, but on a PBS show like this they wouldn't take the same pains to get it perfect, and this, unfortunately, is the result.

You may like her performance and it wasn't bad at all. It just wasn't up to the standard of her CDs -- which is mostly what we have to go on here in the states.

[Martin]

Thanks Umbobo for the YouTube link. I thought it was a strong and heartfelt performance so well done Hayley. Pity about the quality of the YouTube audio though.

Also, well done Tim you did HWI proud. You can just see the top of the HWI initials at the bottom of the banner. i.postimg.cc/9fYxy370/smilie-big-grin.gif

Martin

[gra7890]

[/

Well Done Tim !,
The original will shortly disappear from the last 50 so I have re-cycled it.
Great performance from Hayley who looked stunning. However I can see what has been said re the sound quality. Even the clapping at the intro sounds 'tinny' . From what others have said it looks like Youtube is not to blame but the original TV sound production

Well Done again Tim,
Sure you had a great time,

Best Wishes,

Graham

[xcv462]

Just watched it on you tube,she sounded much better there and sang her heart out.
I've e-mailed my local PBS station and Oprah again,if I bug them enough maybe she will get more exposers.
I want a new DVD of Hayley she's a few years older now and has fuller and richer voice,I need it for my daily Hayley fix.

[milewalker]

I will freely admit that most of the problems I heard could have been attributable to problems with the actual production. However, this does not explain why she did not do the vocalization in the middle of the song.

The reason I think this is important is simply that most Americans who would be likely to be impressed by Hayley would also be likely to have heard other versions of this song in their life. The vocalization on her CD was what in my opinion set it apart from the rest.

Jon

[howard]

Hello Everyone,

I have my Hayley hangover, I need to listen to more of her.
What a Great Performance!!!! I enjoyed her 4th performance very much.

If you go to the website: WWW.PBS.ORG
You will find wonderful facts writen about Hayley (as well of the other artists who performed), done well.

After the excitement and I am down to earth a bit I feel this way about the performance:

1. She did a great job, her voice was strong and powerful.

2. Unfortunately she was only limited to one song. Which is really unfortunate coming all the way from the U.K. I believe since this is the Olympic year it cut into the guest singers performances. Because they usually don't showcase the Olympics at all.
I also felt for this concert they had too many performers then the pervious shows.
I won't mention who they should have cut out....NO NO NO!!! and Not Hayley.

3. And the song that was chosen (and we don't know if it came from Hayley or the concert directors), but it was appropriate for this show.

4. And the song 'Shenandoah' really does not reflect what she can do with her voice, hitting those high notes. In her album 'Celtic Treasure' (I am talking about the U.S. version), when she sings 'Shenandoah', Hayley does hit a few high notes in the middle of the song that kind of gets buried with the musical instruments. And the only other song in this album that showcases her soprano voice is 'The Last Rose of Summer'. Other than that none of the other songs showcases what she is able to do...BUT, it's a great album.

Just like her new one '...Sings Japanese', what a great album this is. But none of the songs reflect her high soprano voice. She does a couple of notes in 'Amazing Grace', that's it, but what an album.

That's why when I introduce a family member or a friend to Hayley, I gave them a copy of 'Celtic Treasure' as well the DVD so they can hear what she is capable of doing.

5. As for the sound, they did have a rehearsal, of course at that time a sound check was made. I saw this twice, I did find where she lost sound in the beginning of the song she kind of pulled the mic away from her mouth. Other than that she sang this song very strong and you were able to understand the words as well.

I am happy for Hayley that she got this opportunity, I hope she had a good time with it. And I hope her next visit to America will be longer with several solo concerts.

I hope that we hear from Hayley and she will tell us about her experience in the U.S.

And I can't stress enough write your PBS stations!

All My Best,
Howard

[Mark]

Hi everyone

It looks and sounds like Hayley did a great job, although she does look understandably a little nervous. With I would think hundreds of thousands of people at the concert and millions more watching at home, surely a good number of Americans are going to be asking " who is this wonderful young lady with such a pure voice".

I'd like to say a big thank-you also to all our American members who have kept us up to date with the latest news via thier reports etc. I'm looking forward very much to Tim's report and hopefully, photos

Best wishes
Mark

[sonata58]

I'm so glad that Hayley came over. I wasn't able to watch it, but I was certainly thinking about her.

Hayley looks very lovely in that dress. She looks like a Roman goddess, like Lady Liberty.

Thank you, TimJ, for flying the HWI flag!

(I would appreciate it if someone would post a .wmv, .mov, etc. file of Hayley's performance. I don't have cable TV and my proxy server blocks YouTube. If you cannot post the file up, that's all right).

[Dave]

Jul 5, 2008 13:46:12 GMT Mark said:

It looks and sounds like Hayley did a great job, although she does look understandably a little nervous. With I would think hundreds of thousands of people at the concert and millions more watching at home, surely a good number of Americans are going to be asking " who is this wonderful young lady with such a pure voice".

I'd like to say a big thank-you also to all our American members who have kept us up to date with the latest news via thier reports etc. I'm looking forward very much to Tim's report and hopefully, photos

Yes indeed Mark and I'd like to reiterate your thanks to our US members for keeping us up to date. I hope you all had a "4th to remember!"

Hayley did indeed sound a little nervous and I've heard that occasionally before - though no more than a handful of times out of hundreds of concerts that I've seen or seen videos from.

Hayley loves venues where she is a) in control b) close to the audience and we also know that c) she's not always comfortable with having the close attention of TV and other cameras - or audio recordings. Especially, I think, in an unfamiliar environment and broadcast "live". In this case, Hayley was very much not in control (how could she be?) and it was hardly an intimate venue or a familiar envronment! The sound setup seems to have been far from ideal too - though I must reserve judgement on that until I've heard some aditional recordings other than the one linked to by Umbobo (thanks Umbobo - and to iamkeiko4 for uploading it!).

All of the above was, of course, exacerbated by Hayley getting only "one shot" at this with no chance to warm up, as she could do in a normal concert setting - it is exceedingly rare for her to sing only one song at any concert, anywhere.

So all in all, I think Hayley did well but of course, it wasn't one of her all-time best live performances for the above reasons, I think. There may be other factors of which we are unaware.

But it's certainly brought her to the attention of the American public, albeit for what may be a short period of time, and that cannot be a bad thing. At Amazon.com, Celtic Treasure has gone from #3924 during the show to #125 today; and odyssey has gone from #7451 to #286 today. Strangely, Pure (US version) does not seem to be available from Amazon.com - only imported versions!

Taking it all together, I can happily say "well done Hayley!"

Cheers, Dave

[larryhauck]

Hello All,

I watched Hayley in D C , my comments are:
The sound was not the best.
Hayley might have been a bit nervous.
Jimmy Smits gave Hayley a great introduction.
I was hoping she would sing something that would have showcased her voice
better. Maybe they thought she should sing an American song. I don't agree. WE
appreciate all types of music over here.
I was extremely dissappointed that they limited her to ony one song. I feel
embarassed that they invited her to come all the way over here and then cut her
short. We can see Huey and Jerry Lee anytime. Also after listening to Jerry Lee for
fifty years I'm getting a bit tired of his stuff.
All in all given the circumstances I'd give Hayley an A+.

Larry

[jeeper]

[glow=red,2,300]Well done with the banner guys.[/glow]

Hayley was good but I agree with the microphone choice and channel settings on her voice it was not as well done as it should have been. For that matter the entire show was short there also but that's live work sometimes the audio folks mess up somewhere or get their work messed up by the video production folks.

Note to Hayley: bring your own wireless setup and insist on your channel gear. Many performers do just that and will not settle for second best.

If I would not have been such a Hayley fan I would not have watched the show through. In years past the show has been real enjoyable but this year it was BLAH!!!

I certainly hope that the performance by her was a lead up to a new PBS show of her own. She deserves a lot more US exposure.

[timj]

Hi all, we arrived for the concert about 3:30pm. Security was stringent, magnetometers and handwands. The West Lawn was filling up fast but the PBS camera girl(Helene) found a spot for us near the front of the regular section, she liked the banner. The first 200 feet from the stage was reserved for guests with security clearance, so we were told.
It rained before the show, dripped during the concert and rained again at the end, this was not unexpected and everyone had umbrellas and rain gear.
Everyone in our section was very amiable and a lot of fun, most were on their feet for the whole concert.
Jimmy Smits hosted, Harolyn Blackwell sang the anthem, Huey Lewis rocked out 3, Taylor Hicks sang a few, then Brian Stokes Mitchell, THEN HAYLEY!
As I recall, the chorus didn't perform with Hayley at the live rehearsal,but Hayley worked with them for 20 minutes at the end of the rehearsal, to get it right, as Hayley is apt to do ( a lot of the audience stayed for this extra rehearsal). It turned out the chorus replaced Hayley's vocalizations and the timing the may have been off a little, like they had both performed the song before but not together.
I recorded about half of Hayley's performance with my camera it was difficult to manage banner and camera I haven't looked at it but am sure the TV show will be much better because this was a made for TV show! The PBS camera girl wanted the banner so that was priority.........Timj (more later)

too far away-security issues


rehearsal-Hayley


Hayley-rehearsal-remember this is a tv production!


my brother JJ, Hayley, me


a stage too far (200 feet from camera)


jumboTRON, its for the folks on the Capitol steps


Huey Lewis-somewhere down there


west lawn-empty


west lawn-pretty full for rehearsal


it's a pretty stage- Jerry Lee (the killer) Lewis on the jumbo TRON


Hayley on the TRON -that didn't work for me either

[gra7890]

HI Dave,
I think the most important part of your post was hidden away at the bottom......

Jul 5, 2008 15:24:06 GMT Dave said:

At Amazon.com, Celtic Treasure has gone from #3924 during the show to #125 today; and odyssey has gone from #7451 to #286 today. Strangely, Pure (US version) does not seem to be available from Amazon.com - only imported versions!

That deserved to be highlighted

Best Wishes,

Graham

[bearchan]

Strangely, Pure (US version) does not seem to be available from Amazon.com - only imported versions!

Perhaps there was a run on Pure after the performance?

Way to go Hayley!

[Mark]

Hi Tim

Thanks for the first part of your report. Its always good to make a friend of the officials at any venue, particularly when they are the TV crew Very well done on getting your banner and HWI on TV all across the US

Looking forward to some more pics.

Best regards

Mark