Leamington Royal Spa Centre Rescheduled 29 May 09

[comet]

Delighted to see all the great photos, Thank you to you all. Both the subject and the photographers.
there are never too many photos of Hayley, especially on a Hayley website what else would you expect to find there ?

Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee......

Jun 2, 2009 11:39:00 GMT graemek said:

Hi All,
I know I don't represent the typical HWI photographer but have now had Hayley as my subject 4 times in all.

To quote one of these instances at Kerikeri NZ, I'd been chatting to Hayley and it was she who suggested that I go & fetch my camera & take what turned out to be a most delightful series of posed pics just for me (& of course, as she knew too, for HWI).

She also knows that somebody who attends one of her shows without their own camera, can easily get some great pics as a memento of their evening if they just visit HWI.
I've also taken several Hayley & fan type shots which have been encouraged & even requested by her for the fan in question.

My point here ?? Let it be.....it's easy to destroy a good thing by a bit of unnecessary rulemaking.

Graeme

I suppose in many ways that is what a "Typical HWI Photographer " does, We attend the events we can go to.
Sometimes great photo opportunities just present themselves, It's just the luck of the day and it's great to know that there is a chance that some of the HWI members just might be there to capture the event.

And when we are not even Steve Abbot or Gerald have stepped in to give us a few photos at least. As was proved by recent shots from Japan and Africa.

If members started to expect someone else to be taking the photos, we could end up with a situation where we may get no photos at all,
Every members photos are valuable, few of us are professional photographers and the range of quality differs. But sometimes the content and the different points of view can be wonderful.
There have been times when only one member was at a concert, so they are the ONLY photos of that event we have.
There have been times when NO member was present and that makes for a very short concert thread.

[James]

Who wouldn't pick up this lovely hitchhiker?



Thanks for the great camerawork as always Steve, Grant and Karsten. It was great to see everyone again on Friday.

[gra7890]

Coming to the after concert discussion late ...... BUT..... what a great day out !
Nice company before and after the concert, and of course the Concert itself i.postimg.cc/9fYxy370/smilie-big-grin.gif

Thanks to Everyone,

Graham

p.s.
Also had a great time at the weekend in Witney near Oxford with my son and family... great barbecue weather.
p.p.s
Came back to catch up on over 400 posts

[grant]

Hello everyone

Every now and then, you open up an image and realise you've got something special. I sat looking at this one on the screen for ages, trying to understand the reason for Hayley's expression. She seems in shock and I remember she was with an elderly couple at the time, although she soon recovered her composure.

I felt it deserved to be saved until last.

Thank you Hayley for another special evening. Thanks also to Raven, Dave, the crew and the theatre staff for your patience and understanding.

Best wishes
Grant

[gra7890]

May 28, 2009 20:48:46 GMT martindn said:

...... I could have made this one, but it was sold out before I knew that!

Hi Martin,
Yes ....but some tickets were on ebay for face value just before.
It is worth keeping an eye on this if it happens again.

Graham

[martindn]

Hi All,

I think I might have been slightly misunderstood here! (I'm just a boy whose intentions are good, Oh Lord, please don't let me be misunderstood).

I was referring to the attempt to get a nice picture of Hayley and Raven with everyone looking at the same camera. In this case, one well organised picture taken by one photographer would be better than lots of different ones with everybody looking in different directions.
I was not suggesting that we should impose any sort of restrictions on photography even if we could, only that a few posed photographs with everybody knowing what they are doing would be worth having.
In general the more the merrier. I know I have taken unique photos myself even when surrounded by other photographers. Any one of us might get something special and that will then be recorded for ever. We have so many fine photographers, that I would certainly not seek to limit the activities of any of them. I too love looking at these pictures, and have downloaded a lot of them. I also enjoy taking my own when I get the chance.
It is also true that seeing other people's pictures helps us all to have new ideas and perhaps improve our own photographs.
We have a wonderful subject in Hayley, and it always amazes me the number of different expressions appear on her face from moment to moment. It is that which makes these pictures so fascinating.
If Hayley and her management and family are happy with it that is wonderful.

Marrtin

[gra7890]

Just finished trawling through all the photo's on this thread.


Great work guys

Best Wishes,

Graham

[gra7890]

Hey Guys I have spent so long with you my bus has gone without me !

Graham

[roger]

Jun 2, 2009 11:39:00 GMT graemek said:

Hi All,
I know I don't represent the typical HWI photographer but have now had Hayley as my subject 4 times in all.

To quote one of these instances at Kerikeri NZ, I'd been chatting to Hayley and it was she who suggested that I go & fetch my camera & take what turned out to be a most delightful series of posed pics just for me (& of course, as she knew too, for HWI).

She also knows that somebody who attends one of her shows without their own camera, can easily get some great pics as a memento of their evening if they just visit HWI.
I've also taken several Hayley & fan type shots which have been encouraged & even requested by her for the fan in question.

My point here ?? Let it be.....it's easy to destroy a good thing by a bit of unnecessary rulemaking.

Graeme

Hi Graeme,

Everything you say pretty much agrees with my conclusions having witnessed the way Hayley interacts with our photographers.

Anyway, the Teams have been reading the comments in this thread and discussing it between ourselves. The conclusion is that there will be no restriction on the quantity of photographs posted to this forum.

Roger

[Martin]

Hi Grant
Your photo of Hayley in recent post #183 is the kind of photo that you could wait a lifetime for! Absolutely unique.

Well done.

Martin

[graemek]

Jun 3, 2009 8:10:15 GMT Martin said:

Hi Grant
Your photo of Hayley in recent post #183 is the kind of photo that you could wait a lifetime for! Absolutely unique.

Well done.

Martin

Yes, Martin & Grant....that one went straight to my desktop !!!!

Graeme

[thomas]

Hi!

As usual I'm a bit late with my report but things don't work quicker.

Leamington
After a long time to wait this was my first concert after the Valentines Tour in Feb. and my first RoD concert at all.
I left home at 3.30am to be at Duesseldorf airport in time for the check-in counters to open. The weather conditions were fine and so I was able to make out a few well-known places from the plane. After the start in northern direction the plane turned southwest over Oberhausen and I could recognise the arena where I saw Hayley for the first time in 2006. For me it was a good omen for a great upcoming evening. The plane turned again heading towards the UK now. So I had Duesseldorf and Cologne in one sight and later a good view over Brussels.
In the UK I was welcomed by sunny "concert-weather". The train was on time like my flight and so I arrived in Leamington about 11.15am. I was a little early to go to my B&B and so I decided to pick up my pre-booked tickets first at the concert hall. There are no long ways in Leamington and so the hall was easily found. Paddy was already standing in front of the entrance and we were soon joined by Karsten. It appeared that Paddy and Karsten booked the same B&B like me. After a shower and a little rest we did a walk through the park next to the concert hall before waiting for Hayley to arrive.
At the hall we were soon joined by Grant and later by Roger and Gordon. It was past 3pm until Hayley arrived and the number of HWI members grew constantly. Hayley arrived in perfect mood and gave the first autographs to some fans who had already waited longer than we did. Photos were taken and we were also photographed by Raven. I don't remember exactly if it was Rachel or Natalie but one of both took photos of us while we were taking photos of them.

After the first "hello" we accompanied Roger and Gordon to their Travelodge and after they had got changed we headed for the Wetherspoon which wasn't far away. The food was great as always (Thanks again for the drink, Grant! ) and so we avoided our rumbling stomachs would disturb Hayley.

Back at the venue about half an hour before the concert started we took our seats and prepared mentally for a great evening. Before looking for my seat I checked out the upper floor where the signing was supposed to be held. There hasn't been anything prepared yet but that was done later very well. For sure there was enough space for everyone. Better be off and take my seat ...

The light dimmed down, Tim, Andy and Raven took their seats and it was almost quiet when Hayley's voice came to our ears with the first lines of Prayer. As Grant has already said Hayley started with Prayer being off stage and all we could hear was her wonderful voice before she appeared. That always has something mystical and reminds me of my first Hayley concert in Germany when Hayley started the first song "She moves through the Fair" the same way. A long time has gone by since then. Hayley continued with some of her classics like "Scarborough Fair", "The Water is wide" and "Amazing Grace". The door wasn't locked that night during "Shenendoah" but noboday would have left anyway. The full list of songs has already been posted.
The RoD tour includes "Mummer's Dance" one of my favorites that I haven't heard Hayley sing often before. I liked the bit when Hayley introduced her musicians and had problems to remember where everybody comes from. With a few giggles she gave it up.
In between Raven played 3 pieces and they are truly fantastic. I hope to hear more of them after the RoD tour.
The second half was opened by Raven during which they played "Czardas/Godfather". They pointed out that there has been only one concert so far where the audience clapped at the right time. Leamington could have been almost the second concert were it could have worked out but a few claps could be heard in between the piece. It always seems to amuse Raven to hear a few claps before the piece has completely finished. It appears to me that they really wait for claps at the wrong place. They know how to have fun on stage but being very professionell as well.
My favorite of the second half was "Wuthering Heights". I heard it Hayley sing live for the first time in Stoke-on-Trent and was delighted to know this song would be a part of the RoD tour. And last but not least I would like to mention Hayley accompanying herself on the piano at "Sonny" is always a special moment. My seat was in the second row in front of the piano. A very good position for "Sonny".
The audience didn't let Hayley go without an encore and so we got "Hine e Hine" at the end of a fantastic evening.

When I went upstairs I joined Mark in the queue which appeared to be already very long. Hayley and Raven had a lot of fun during the signing and they really enjoyed being surrounded by their fans. After a while Dave checked the length of the queue but although everybody got their time with Hayley and Raven the queue moved forward quicker than expected. Hayley signed my CD booklet of HSJS 2 and also the song list of the second half. I saw the list lying on the stage. I waved to one of Hayley's staff, pointed on the list and he gave me a sign to take it. When Hayley saw the list she was surprised and turned around to Raven to show it to them. We had a little chat about HSJS 2 and the video shoot in Mona Vale, CHCH. She said it was a hot day but she enjoyed it a lot. A few photos were taken of Hayley and me (Thanks to our photographers! ) and then I went to Raven for a little chat. They signed my song list as well and they are as open and friendly as Hayley.



Later, after everybody was served, it was time to say good bye and we went our separate ways. On her way downstairs Hayley waved eveybody good bye and included even Tim who was chatting with a few of us. i.postimg.cc/9fYxy370/smilie-big-grin.gif She was in quite a funny mood.

The next day Karsten, Paddy and I enjoyed our Fully Cooked English Breakfast. I did a walk through Leamington with Karsten before it was time to catch the train back to London. The weather was fine in London too and so I walked around Regent's Park for a while before heading to the airport. Saturday is football-day and there were a few crowds of singing and obviously drunken football-fans of Everton and Chelsea. I didn't follow the matches but was happy that my flight was on time from Heathrow (which usually is almost impossible) and so I was home at 8pm.

The next one is Southend. 7 weeks to go!

Thomas

[grant]

Hi Thomas

Thank you for your excellent review from last Friday. Trouble is, I'd just about come down to earth and now, reliving the day, I'm all Hayleywowed again!

Just a small point, it was both Martin and I who provided the liquid refreshment i.postimg.cc/9fYxy370/smilie-big-grin.gif, but you are most welcome anyway.

I look forward to meeting up again in July.

Best wishes
Grant

[keithp]

Well, I really opened a can of worms there didn't I? I'm sorry if similar comments have been passed previously. I'm not as well-read on the forum as a lot of you so I hadn't seen that.

I really hope I didn't offend anyone. I was passing comment on some of the things I had seen and heard at a couple of recent shows. I certainly wouldn't want to make rules on who can and can't take or post photos.

Not sure when my next show will be. Currently, the next show I have tickets for is Bath so will have to find somewhere else as I can't wait that long for the next fix of Hayley.

[thomas]

Jun 3, 2009 22:38:48 GMT grant said:

Just a small point, it was both Martin and I who provided the liquid refreshment i.postimg.cc/9fYxy370/smilie-big-grin.gif, but you are most welcome anyway.

Sorry, somehow I must have missed that.

Well, thank you as well, Martin! i.postimg.cc/9fYxy370/smilie-big-grin.gif

Best wishes,
Thomas