Post by david on Oct 21, 2008 23:59:55 GMT
Hi everyone, 
Have hardly had a chance to catch my breath the last couple of days or so, but I’m delighted to be able to post a few words about the concert in Dunfermline last night, and a fantastic evening it was!
Wonderful performances from Hayley and other musicians, and one of the best audiences I can remember being at a concert made for a truly memorable experience, especially coming as it did just after an equally fantastic concert in Aberdeen the previous evening. Apologies that there are no photos to post here, everything was a rush with me arriving late in the afternoon and then having to leave Dunfermline early Tuesday morning to make it back to Edinburgh in time to start work at 9am, but I hope the report below gives some sense of how the concert went.
My train from Aberdeen arrived into Dunfermline just after 4pm and I proceeded to spend a fair bit of time (won’t say how long exactly!) finding where my hotel was before eventually checking in there. After a quick rest to catch my breath and prepare for the evening I headed along to the Carnegie Hall and arrived there just after 6:30pm. I met Eugene and his partner in the lobby there and eventually we entered the hall and took up our seats, a perfect experience for me being right at the front!! i.postimg.cc/9fYxy370/smilie-big-grin.gif
The time came for the concert to start; first the Raven string quartet, then Al Gurr and Andy Moore arrived on the stage for the pre-concert tune-up. Everything ready, a radiant-looking Hayley entered the stage dressed in her stunning Peach dress and opened with “Prayer” – and the strength of her voice and the power of her performance right from the start told me that this was going to be a very special evening. Her next song was the Caccini version of “Ave Maria”, followed by a brilliant performance of “Scarborough Fair” and then a wonderful and very moving performance of the beautiful “Songbird”, which I’m delighted she has recorded for her new album.
After Hayley had finished “Songbird”, it was time for Raven to take centre stage. All four of them are brilliantly talented musicians who I hope and believe will reach great heights in the future. They started with an exuberant performance of the third movement of “Summer” from Vivaldi’s Four Seasons, followed by the beautiful “Gabriel’s Oboe” from the film The Mission and then a passionate rendition of “Danse Macabre”, the theme from Jonathan Creek.
Once Raven had finished Hayley came back on and performed another new song from River of Dreams, “Now is the Hour” in a duet with the guitarist Andy Moore, and then one of the most beautiful songs ever written, “Never saw Blue”. I must admit that her performances of both of these songs left me very close to tears. She then sang “Shenandoah” (only three verses!) and then finished the first half with another wonderful performance of “Danny Boy”.
During the interval I met up with Keith who had come up from Edinburgh earlier on, if you read this Keith it was great to meet up with you there, & I hope you enjoyed the concert as much as I did.
The second half was opened by Raven, who started with a Scottish piece, “Mrs Jameson’s Favourite”, which would no doubt have gone down very well with the Scottish audience! After this came a Tango and then a fiery Spanish piece “Ritual Fire Dance”. Al Gurr and Andy Moore then came back on the stage and the band started to play the introduction of “The Mummer’s Dance”, which signalled Hayley’s return to the stage, in her new sparkling lime green dress. Hayley did a powerful performance of this song, which has become a personal favourite of mine at her concerts. Next came a regular favourite, “May it Be” from The Lord of the Rings, and then “Pokarekare Ana”, which the audience welcomed by breaking into spontaneous applause as she began.
After this came the song which gave the tour its name, “River of Dreams”, a beautiful melody which I’m very pleased to have heard Hayley perform live both here and in Aberdeen the night before. Hayley then took over control of the piano from Al and did another confident performance of “Sonny”, and then in a change from the previous evening, proceeded to leave the stage and hand over to Raven who did an emotional performance of “Nimrod” from Elgar’s Enigma Variations.
At the end of this Hayley came back onto the stage, having changed into her stunning black and gold dress, the first time I have seen this. She then launched into another joyful performance of the playful “Santa Lucia”, which went down very well with the audience who gave it the biggest cheer of the night! Next came “Both Sides Now”, the lyrics of which Hayley always puts her heart and soul into, and then finally, began singing “Wuthering Heights” which the audience again broke into spontaneous applause as she started. It was almost like seeing a new and different side to Hayley, a feisty and fiery performance which was awesome to watch and listen to.
The audience cheered as she left the stage and the band continued playing to the end, before Hayley reappeared once more for her encore, the lullaby “Hine E Hine”, once again the audience showed their appreciation by applauding as she started. This was to be the final song of the night, once finished Hayley and the others left the stage and the audience started to make their way home, having enjoyed a wonderful evening of music making. There was no official signing session afterwards but I along with Keith and a few others was privileged to be able to catch up briefly with Hayley, which as always left me feeling on a high, and deeply grateful to her for being prepared to make the time even after three continuous nights of performing in concerts. There was just one more highlight after we had gone our separate ways – as I was about to cross a road just after leaving the hall the vehicle Hayley and the others were travelling in drove past me slowly at the junction I was waiting at – and they gave me a few waves as they saw me standing there!! i.postimg.cc/9fYxy370/smilie-big-grin.gif
Well I’m still feeling on a high after the concert and recalling everything that happened. It really did have everything – Hayley on incredible form throughout giving passionate performances in all of her songs, fantastic support from talented musicians and a wonderfully supportive audience which I’m sure the performers would’ve drawn great encouragement from. My thanks to Hayley and everyone involved in making this such a memorable evening for everyone there, and may I wish her and all of them the very best for the rest of the River of Dreams tour.
And now I'm off to get some sleep, need to be up early tomorrow as usual!
Cheers all,
David
Have hardly had a chance to catch my breath the last couple of days or so, but I’m delighted to be able to post a few words about the concert in Dunfermline last night, and a fantastic evening it was!
Wonderful performances from Hayley and other musicians, and one of the best audiences I can remember being at a concert made for a truly memorable experience, especially coming as it did just after an equally fantastic concert in Aberdeen the previous evening. Apologies that there are no photos to post here, everything was a rush with me arriving late in the afternoon and then having to leave Dunfermline early Tuesday morning to make it back to Edinburgh in time to start work at 9am, but I hope the report below gives some sense of how the concert went.My train from Aberdeen arrived into Dunfermline just after 4pm and I proceeded to spend a fair bit of time (won’t say how long exactly!) finding where my hotel was before eventually checking in there. After a quick rest to catch my breath and prepare for the evening I headed along to the Carnegie Hall and arrived there just after 6:30pm. I met Eugene and his partner in the lobby there and eventually we entered the hall and took up our seats, a perfect experience for me being right at the front!! i.postimg.cc/9fYxy370/smilie-big-grin.gif
The time came for the concert to start; first the Raven string quartet, then Al Gurr and Andy Moore arrived on the stage for the pre-concert tune-up. Everything ready, a radiant-looking Hayley entered the stage dressed in her stunning Peach dress and opened with “Prayer” – and the strength of her voice and the power of her performance right from the start told me that this was going to be a very special evening. Her next song was the Caccini version of “Ave Maria”, followed by a brilliant performance of “Scarborough Fair” and then a wonderful and very moving performance of the beautiful “Songbird”, which I’m delighted she has recorded for her new album.
After Hayley had finished “Songbird”, it was time for Raven to take centre stage. All four of them are brilliantly talented musicians who I hope and believe will reach great heights in the future. They started with an exuberant performance of the third movement of “Summer” from Vivaldi’s Four Seasons, followed by the beautiful “Gabriel’s Oboe” from the film The Mission and then a passionate rendition of “Danse Macabre”, the theme from Jonathan Creek.
Once Raven had finished Hayley came back on and performed another new song from River of Dreams, “Now is the Hour” in a duet with the guitarist Andy Moore, and then one of the most beautiful songs ever written, “Never saw Blue”. I must admit that her performances of both of these songs left me very close to tears. She then sang “Shenandoah” (only three verses!) and then finished the first half with another wonderful performance of “Danny Boy”.
During the interval I met up with Keith who had come up from Edinburgh earlier on, if you read this Keith it was great to meet up with you there, & I hope you enjoyed the concert as much as I did.
The second half was opened by Raven, who started with a Scottish piece, “Mrs Jameson’s Favourite”, which would no doubt have gone down very well with the Scottish audience! After this came a Tango and then a fiery Spanish piece “Ritual Fire Dance”. Al Gurr and Andy Moore then came back on the stage and the band started to play the introduction of “The Mummer’s Dance”, which signalled Hayley’s return to the stage, in her new sparkling lime green dress. Hayley did a powerful performance of this song, which has become a personal favourite of mine at her concerts. Next came a regular favourite, “May it Be” from The Lord of the Rings, and then “Pokarekare Ana”, which the audience welcomed by breaking into spontaneous applause as she began.
After this came the song which gave the tour its name, “River of Dreams”, a beautiful melody which I’m very pleased to have heard Hayley perform live both here and in Aberdeen the night before. Hayley then took over control of the piano from Al and did another confident performance of “Sonny”, and then in a change from the previous evening, proceeded to leave the stage and hand over to Raven who did an emotional performance of “Nimrod” from Elgar’s Enigma Variations.
At the end of this Hayley came back onto the stage, having changed into her stunning black and gold dress, the first time I have seen this. She then launched into another joyful performance of the playful “Santa Lucia”, which went down very well with the audience who gave it the biggest cheer of the night! Next came “Both Sides Now”, the lyrics of which Hayley always puts her heart and soul into, and then finally, began singing “Wuthering Heights” which the audience again broke into spontaneous applause as she started. It was almost like seeing a new and different side to Hayley, a feisty and fiery performance which was awesome to watch and listen to.
The audience cheered as she left the stage and the band continued playing to the end, before Hayley reappeared once more for her encore, the lullaby “Hine E Hine”, once again the audience showed their appreciation by applauding as she started. This was to be the final song of the night, once finished Hayley and the others left the stage and the audience started to make their way home, having enjoyed a wonderful evening of music making. There was no official signing session afterwards but I along with Keith and a few others was privileged to be able to catch up briefly with Hayley, which as always left me feeling on a high, and deeply grateful to her for being prepared to make the time even after three continuous nights of performing in concerts. There was just one more highlight after we had gone our separate ways – as I was about to cross a road just after leaving the hall the vehicle Hayley and the others were travelling in drove past me slowly at the junction I was waiting at – and they gave me a few waves as they saw me standing there!! i.postimg.cc/9fYxy370/smilie-big-grin.gif
Well I’m still feeling on a high after the concert and recalling everything that happened. It really did have everything – Hayley on incredible form throughout giving passionate performances in all of her songs, fantastic support from talented musicians and a wonderfully supportive audience which I’m sure the performers would’ve drawn great encouragement from. My thanks to Hayley and everyone involved in making this such a memorable evening for everyone there, and may I wish her and all of them the very best for the rest of the River of Dreams tour.
And now I'm off to get some sleep, need to be up early tomorrow as usual!
Cheers all,
David
