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Post by grant on Feb 12, 2009 10:18:28 GMT
Hi Richard Hayley must be getting used to our weather; either that or it was much warmer in Oxford as she wore no hat or scarf and had not fastened her coat. Looking forward to reviews and pictures!  Best wishes Grant |
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Post by grant on Feb 12, 2009 10:27:04 GMT
Disappeared next door for two sausage rolls, clearly so called because the sausage in each case had rolled out somewhere else and gone off for the night, but having left a tangible essence of their once having been there they sufficed, without giving me hiccups, Loved this literary masterpiece Peter!  Best wishes Grant |
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Post by postaltoots on Feb 12, 2009 11:15:08 GMT
I have copied my post over from Jonathan's Offical site for you all to read.
Oh what a night!!! My 1st Valentine's tour and although I knew mainly what to expect, I didn't expect to enjoy it SO much! I was literally blown away by the whole evening. Think I welled up through their 1st duet - Un Giorno Per Noi (Never did get over that song after they sang a clip of it at RSC last year!!) After that it just got better and better!! Christine and I were slap bang in the middle of the front row and I was a little worried that we might not get the best sound quality. I needn't have. I thought it was EXCELLENT!
My favourites of the night were DEFINATELY 'If You're Not The One' and 'To Where You Are'. The 2nd amazed me. How much stronger and more confident Jonathan's voice is since he sang this solo at one of G4's Tours. It really was so lovely and touching and yes, had me welling up again. The song from 'Phantom' was brilliant and is also a strong contenter to be one of my favourites.
The audience did seem to liven up quite a bit in the 2nd half and again a standing ovation all round - well almost!
After the show, as Marian said, there were quite a crowd waiting for JA & HW - MAINLY Hayley fans. She is a lovely girl, so sweet and was happily signing away, asking people for their names so she could sign personally yo them. Her 'minder' was getting a bit concerned as there was quite a large crowd and he wanted to get her in the warm as quickly as he could. She made sure that EVERYONE got their things signed though. I was helping 2 partially impaired gentlemen, Ian & Bernard, through the crowd to make sure they got their programs signed then led them over to Jonathan who was quite happy to sign. A lovely gesture I thought was that he could see they were visally impaired and after signing, made a point of grabbing their hands, shaking them and thanking them for coming.
After lots of hugs and kisses all round it was time for us to head off to find the bus stop to get back to our Park & Ride. (Think we asked half of Oxford did they know where bus stop H3 was!!) Eventually found it and got home in 1 1/2 hours.
Lovely to see lots of familiar faces as usual and also to meet Rosanna! Also nice to see Alice and Mum Sue after such a long time!
Hope the tweeting was Ok. After promising to do it I didn't really know what to say that hadn't been said already!!
Chelle
xx
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Post by natalie on Feb 12, 2009 11:29:32 GMT
Glad you had lovely time
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Post by postscript on Feb 12, 2009 12:47:33 GMT
Hi Richard Hayley must be getting used to our weather; either that or it was much warmer in Oxford as she wore no hat or scarf and had not fastened her coat. Looking forward to reviews and pictures! Best wishes Grant You must have stated that on the basis of her arrival where I think I saw on the Jonathon site a picture of her just stepping down from the bus. In the evening she was reasonably wrapped up in a black coat, a black patterned silk scarf and a 'mauve'(?) wool knitted hat, like the red one previously shown. It must have been warmer in Oxford with the buildings as I waited for the Park and Ride bus presumably the last one at 11:00pm! I think it was Chelle on Jonathon's site who said she (Chelle) had difficulty in finding the bus stop. A pointer for anyone new to Oxford in the future, you get off at the High Street Centre, walk up the street, take the first wide pedestrian right (Cornmarket Street) turn left into first wide road (Queen Street) and the theatre's obvious from that point, on the right. Plenty of eateries around and on the way. Return journey is back into Cornmarket Street but at the High Street turn right into Queen Street and that is where all the bus stops are. Only the day time 400 stop is marked but that is the same stop for what becomes the X90 late at night. However, when I reached my car I was grateful for my excellent de-icer which literally causes immediate dissolve and wipe clean. It was an open field and the car was covered so heavily the doors cracked as I opened them but I hope we did not misjudge the temperature around Hayley in our enthusiasm. Richard was very good at keeping an eye out for Hayley, in a very nice manner but Hayley covered everyone, allowing me to get in my quick interaction with her as she walked back to the bus. That was observing Sophie's post which had contributed to me thinking of NZ and wanting to know the tour schedule as soon as but most particularly the Christchurch date. Peter S. |
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Post by postscript on Feb 12, 2009 14:31:16 GMT
I have copied my post over from Jonathan's Offical site for you all to read. ... The audience did seem to liven up quite a bit in the 2nd half and again a standing ovation all round - well almost! After the show, as Marian said, there were quite a crowd waiting for JA & HW - MAINLY Hayley fans. She is a lovely girl, so sweet and was happily signing away, asking people for their names so she could sign personally yo them. Her 'minder' was getting a bit concerned as there was quite a large crowd and he wanted to get her in the warm as quickly as he could. She made sure that EVERYONE got their things signed though. I was helping 2 partially impaired gentlemen, Ian & Bernard, through the crowd to make sure they got their programs signed then led them over to Jonathan who was quite happy to sign. A lovely gesture I thought was that he could see they were visally impaired and after signing, made a point of grabbing their hands, shaking them and thanking them for coming. After lots of hugs and kisses all round it was time for us to head off to find the bus stop to get back to our Park & Ride. (Think we asked half of Oxford did they know where bus stop H3 was!!) Eventually found it and got home in 1 1/2 hours. Lovely to see lots of familiar faces as usual and also to meet Rosanna! Also nice to see Alice and Mum Sue after such a long time! Hope the tweeting was Ok. After promising to do it I didn't really know what to say that hadn't been said already!! Chelle xx
As i did not wish to repeat what others have already posted (I am thinking especially of two superb reports from Grant and Dilog for us here) I will use your post, Chelle, as the framework for my further comments. I did think of joining Jonathon's site but prefer to take part in things fully, so thought for the moment I would just bookmark the site for easy future reference. Incidentally, since Jonathon's is his 'official' site he seems to be presented with a better deal than Hayley is getting with her 'official' site which is why we here are so concerned at making good that 'loss'.
Yes, I did think the audience was somewhat 'dead' in relation to previous reports I had read but that is just the way the cooky falls. I was therefore ready to be on my toes at the right moment to ensure something happened at the end, which it did with a reasonable number of spontaneous responses.
Yes, it is interesting how both artistes respond to their audience with individual patience. When i met Jonathon and shook hands with him it was like meeting a male counterpart of Hayley. He looked genuinely interested that this was my first encounter with him and the fact I thought both artistes interacted so well and seemed so well balanced in voices and presentation.
These two people make a superb pairing. Maybe, Chelle, you can advise us of Jonathon's 'future mother-in-law'. That he is engaged is something of which I was unaware. When he informed us that Mario Lanza (with whom I too have long held regard) was his future mother-in-law's fancy, my mind immediately asked myself, 'Did i recall Jill (Hayley's mother!) ever mentioning Mario Lanza?  ! To me it was a loaded drop but to his fans, perhaps they knew immediately what he meant and it was all totally innocuous 
However, dealing PURELY with professional stage relationships this does indeed seem like a marriage made in heaven. I have the experience of seeing Hayley at Woburn and was 'love duetting' with a partner with whom it seemed to me she was having great difficulty interacting. From my aspect it seemed he could not keep his hands off her and seemed anxious to make it the 'real thing', which quite clearly was NOT on her mind at all!
Between Hayley and Jonathon there is a clear professional working relationship of great empathy which is stage convincing in a most happy and realistic manner. It is this that ensures the whole thing works superbly well. It is stage convincing flirting at its best. You really do feel the relationship between them.
Unless you know the venues intimately what I am going to write now is totally impossible. Touring different arenas as they are with their own sound team etc it would be ridiculous not to use them one night if they felt the ambience enabled no amplification. I am given to understand that there are bad spots in that auditorium.
The auditorium is classic Victorian which has done its best to meet modern legally-required standards. From the stage it must be like addressing a wall of faces where voice projection has to be up, not just laterally, making projection very difficult.
I think, especially since they have retained Raven, they must have the same sound team as on RoD (perhaps a check in both programmes will reveal that). I am therefore wary of criticising their amplification. To me, it was too loud (I was in stalls D24) and there were very minute moments when arguably specifically high notes were overplayed by the equipment. It was interesting to note that both artistes made more of playing with the distance their mouths were from the microphones, at least with Hayley, as I cannot comment on Jonathon's 'usual' practice. At times, when they were really at their crescendos (and I think Hayley went higher than she has ever been before), really acting their singing, I wanted them both to throw their microphones into the wings and let it all hang out. Maybe that day will come. Hopefully it will be simultaneously with both singers in a performance together.
At the end I chose to see Raven (front office) as they were signing the CDs that had been bought. In fact I chose to ask them to sign the programme white space to which I managed to later add Jonathon and Hayley, although at the time I thought that would have to wait until Sunday.
I had a chance to tell Stephanie that I had met with her sister at Cadogan Hall and told the girls it was not just their mastery of their instruments but their command of orchestration that made their performance so excellent. I failed to tell them that their interaction with one another was superb, compared with when I had last seen them with RoD. I can't make up my mind on their personal presentation. There is a Gothic element, which, because it seems a 'token towards', doesn't quite work. Yet they were much more expressive amongst themselves, clearly reacting facially towards and against each other according to the predeliction of the arrangement they were playing.
This combination of players and technicians is superb and I think it is in all their interests to make more of it. We know Hayley will be in NZ so 'May Ball' as a theme is not possible, but perhaps 'Harvest time' could be a theme later in the year. What is she/they going to do for Christmas. Re-awake the Hayley Christmas that was intended for the Barbican? Or will they do a Christmas tour together?
Peter S.
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Post by natalie on Feb 12, 2009 14:52:50 GMT
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Post by Richard on Feb 12, 2009 14:53:04 GMT
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Post by Mark on Feb 12, 2009 15:49:40 GMT
Hi everyone First of all, thanks to Peter and to Chelle for your reports of yesterday. Peter, it was indeed a surprise to see you after the show as I had no idea that you were amongst us i.postimg.cc/9fYxy370/smilie-big-grin.gifChelle, it was a pleasure to meet you and your fellow Jon supporters and indeed Jon himself. Not only did he seem to be a really nice guy but he has a fantastic voice as well !. I think it was Grant in his report of the Reading concert that referred to the day of a concert as a 'Hayleyday'. This a very good description of how it is for me too - as I am simply unable to concentrate on anything other than my travel arrangements, meeting up with other forum members and of course the concert itself. As Oxford is only 20 or so miles from my home, I didn't even have to set out until 2pm and somehow wasted the entire morning  Anyway, after leaving my car 3 miles out of town and catching the park & ride, I arrived at 3pm to find Gordon, Paddy & Karsten already outside the theatre. Larry (what are you doing here) joined us soon afterwards and we eventually found our way to the stage door, where we bumped into a couple of Jon fans who were also waiting. Here is the proof that we had found the right place:  After sheltering in a doorway from some light rain for around an hour, the white minivan appeared and suddenly - there was Hayley  My first impression was of how radiant she looked - slightly tanned and never better. She remarked that they were a little late for the sound check and really should be getting in. However, there was time for a brief chat and a quick 'Hello' to Steve Abbott who had come along with Hayley. It was good to see Steve again as I hadn't seen him since St James Piccadilly last August. All to soon Hayley had gone inside and although early, it was time to find somewhere to eat. As luck had it, there was a decent American style bar/restaurant next to the theatre, where we managed to spend almost a couple of hours (to keep out of the cold). As we were waiting for the theatre doors to open, young Hayley fan Abegail and her mum and dad (belleyetere) appeared, it was Abegail's birthday and coming to see Hayley at Oxford had been a real birthday surprise for her. Suddenly, the number of HWIers had increased to a grand total of 9. Once inside, we all settled into our various seats, which were spread out amongst the first few rows. I was in row C, which was just perfect. I knew that Gordon had his new camera ( I'll let him tell you about that - its not good news !) but as I had a good view of the stage, I thought I might try taking a few shots. The announcement before the show started had told us no videos and no FLASH photography. After carefully making sure my flash was OFF - I held up my camera to line up a shot and was immediately told off by a theatre official "no photography sir" - What !!!!!!! Anyway - the concert was fantastic, something really different to the 'traditional' Hayley performance and I really enjoyed it. I thought Jonathan's voice was superb and each complimented the other very well. I wont say too much about the content so as not to spoil it for those who are yet to go. I do have to mention however, that Hayley performed again my all time favourite 'Never Saw Blue' and this time, the piano arrangement was as per the original recording, which I prefer. The blue spot lights overhead had thoughtfully been activated and the whole scene had me spellbound - thanks Hayley  After the show, Raven were doing a CD signing - after Grants recommendation, I bought one and had that and my programme signed by the girls. I asked if they would mind my taking a photo of them - no problems - here are the girls:  The Raven's performance was simply stunning and what a lovely group of girls they are. After saying goodbye to the Ravens, I made my way round to the stage door,where there was quite a gathering of fans. After about 20 minutes, Hayley & Jon made their way out of the stage door and Hayley was straight into signing. I managed to get a few photos - I know that Gordon and Karsten will have some better quality ones to post when they get home !   Just before it was my turn to chat with Hayley, a young lady asked if anyone would mind taking a photo of Hayley and herself. I volunteered and despite 2 trys, couldn't seem to get her camera to work. Hayley asked if she should try and holding the camera out herself, managed to take a perfect picture Oh well - I really did try, but failed miserably  Hayley signed my programme and it was time to say goodbye. By this time, Richard was anxious to get Hayley into the warm - it was freezing. Thanks to my fellow HWIers for your company once again. Sorry for the long report but this will be the only Valentines concert that I can attend. Don't feel too sorry for me though, I will see Hayley again in 11 days time in Cardiff and again on the 6th March - can't wait. Best wishes Mark |
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Post by postaltoots on Feb 12, 2009 16:12:21 GMT
Lovely review Mark!!! That's me in the bottom picture having a chat with Hayley about her Ready Steady Cook performance last year!!!
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Post by postscript on Feb 12, 2009 16:23:52 GMT
Thank you Natalie. In one sense i am relieved as i don't think Hayley is ready yet but in any case I don't think it would work on principle. I think of Torville and Dean who seem almost deliberately to have mated elsewhere, which is how they can maintain such close professionalism on ice. The fact that clearly there is no 'love' interest off stage probably enables Hayley and Jonathon to be so relaxed and convincing on stage. Peter S. |
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Post by postscript on Feb 12, 2009 16:39:09 GMT
Superb, response Mark. Glad to hear from you. As you have already probably gathered I was there within three hours of deciding to be there! Even I didn't know I was coming before then!  Peter S. |
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ruths
New Member 
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Post by ruths on Feb 12, 2009 23:43:13 GMT
I was at Oxford in company with Chelle and the other Jonathan fans. I won't do a full review as I have done one on Jonathan's OS.
Graeme used my photos on here...not very good but at least a memory.
There isn't much to add except that I was at the stage door when they arrived so I met some of Hayley's fans but didn't get all your names...sorry.
It was a wonderful show, their voices are so powerful together very much complimenting each other, I was knocked out .
I'm now looking forward to London Palladium...this will be so poignant for Jonathan and a lot of his fans as this is where he proposed to his girlfriend Debbie on stage. It was a magical night and it was a privelege to have witnessed it.
He is a very romantic young man and you can see this when he performs with Hayley. They interacted so well , they have worked together before and got to know each other so I think it makes it easier to give a more realistic performance.
They even added a little banter with each other pretending to argue as to who's turn it was for a solo.
I look forward to hearing about a duets album....keep your fingers and toes crossed.
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Post by grant on Feb 13, 2009 3:17:42 GMT
Hi Mark Great report and pictures!  Look forward to seeing you in Cardiff. Best wishes Grant |
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Post by Ross on Feb 13, 2009 8:35:06 GMT
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My first impression was of how radiant she looked - slightly tanned and never better. She remarked that they were a little late for the sound check and really should be getting in. However, there was time for a brief chat and a quick 'Hello' to Steve Abbott who had come along with Hayley. It was good to see Steve again as I hadn't seen him since St James Piccadilly last August.
