Croydon - 28 July 2010

[Richard]

Thanks for your early report, John!

I'm glad you enjoyed the show last night. It was great to meet you and James, and I thought the whole show was fantastic. Of course Hayley was the real highlight for me, and she was clearly pleased to see so many of us there. She tweeted this during the interval:

Half-time... Lots of friendly faces in the audience tonight. It's great to see you all

Richard

[grant]

I’m quite getting used to my regular train trips down to Croydon, and have lost count of how many I’ve done in pursuit of Hayley in concert! I soon found myself in familiar surroundings – including having the same room at the Travelodge that I occupied last time! 3pm and I’m heading for the Fairfield Hall stage door in the company of Gordon, where we found several familiar faces; Richard, Steve, Martin and, of course, Belinda who many of us were meeting for the first time – Good to meet you at last Belinda!

A little shy of 90 minutes later, the tour bus hove into view and parked in the yard. Accompanied by tour manager Phil and Nicola, Hayley is soon out of the bus – all smiles as is her way - to be greeted by her loyal fans; or should I say “subjects” – she is “our Princess” after all! Although running a little late, Hayley had time for a few words with everyone and a big hug for Belinda. Prompted by Hayley’s enquiry as to how long we had been waiting; I think, for the first time, I commented that over the years we had spent far longer waiting for her than watching her perform – which seemed to amuse her. We soon pointed out, however, that that was all part of the fun of coming to her concerts as it allowed time for us to catch up, have a drink or a meal and so on.

With Hayley safely inside the venue, we adjourned to the local Wetherspoon’s for a drink and a meal and to inevitably endure a number of Richard’s dreadful jokes – thank you Richard! It soon came around to concert time and we headed back to the venue and took up our seats where we met up with new members John and James (good to meet you both and happy that you got to meet Hayley afterwards!)

Little can be said of the concert that hasn’t already been said. For me it was the Central Band and the same one as Southend and they are excellent. There were a couple of minor changes – one being the violin solo being performed this time by a female member of the band who, I have to admit, looked far more comfortable than the chap who played at Southend. The other difference was a bit more significant in that Hayley appeared wearing her new black dress – the one she wore first at ‘Ponty’. Several of us agreed that this is one of Hayley’s most classy dresses to date and that she looked absolutely stunning.

There did, however, appear to be a few problems with the sound as the band seemed to drown Hayley out on several occasions. This was mentioned to Phil in the interval who suggested it might be because we were below the ceiling mounted speakers, although Hayley sounded perfect when not being accompanied by the full band – which reminds me once again of the highlight of this concert for me – “Abide With Me” which Hayley sings all too rarely but which she sang wonderfully last night.

All too soon the concert is over and we are making our way out – quite a difficult process tonight as the theatre foyer is being renovated necessitating our exiting via narrow side staircases – a very slow process and one which might have caused concern had there been an emergency.

Out on the pavement and regrouped, we headed for the stage door where there are already quite a few people waiting. After a relatively short wait, Hayley appeared just before ten past ten and was immediately surrounded. Apparently, Hayley was flying out to Rome again this morning, so Nicola was anxious to be away – no doubt because of a very early start, even so, most people got to say hello before Hayley was whisked away into the night, leaving us to head back to our hotel for a nightcap and bed

Best wishes
Grant

[Dave]

Hi Richard and John, Larry Grant and everyone too!

Yes it was an excellent concert I was pleasantly surprised (as it wasn't a full Hayley concert and many of the songs were out of her usual repertoire). Thought it was put together very well and deserved more than the four concerts we have ended up with (five including Faenol). Lots of aircraft noises at suitable points in the RAF Central Band's stirring music and Squadron Leader Tom Jones' commentary was interesting and helpful. It was a nice surprise to hear the recordings of Sir Winston Churchill's famous wartime speeches about the RAF e.g. "Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few."

In spite of pre-concert concerns, the auditorium was pretty full (though the balcony well to the rear was closed as intended) and it was well received by the audience, which was not unexpectedly made up of 90%+ older people, even more so than Hayley's usual concerts I thought. I heard lots of nice comments about it and about Hayley as we left at the end.

I took only a few photos, right at the end during and after the encore, so no black dress and there was no chance to adjust settings, I had to leave it to the camera to do all the work, a bit hit-and-miss. There are just three worth posting, I think.

Hayley singing We'll Meet Again




Hayley, narrator Squadron Leader Tom Jones and RAF Central Band conductor, Wing Commander Duncan Stubbs



Hayley invites Squadron Leader Tom Jones on stage to take his bows

I'd like to give a special mention to the lady oboist who is standing behind Tom Jones' arm in the last photo; she was on and off the stage all night - playing the oboe for much of the time, switching to a short medley of violin solos at another, then she was on the grand piano before taking up the violin again while Hayley sang Abide With Me. An impressively versatile musician who ought to have been mentioned in the programme addendum but wasn't. Did anyone note down her name?

Anyway, that's all for now!

Cheers, Dave

[Richard]

Hello Dave!

The lady behind Tom Jones' right arm was playing the flute. The musician you're thinking of was sitting slightly further to the right in the second row and played bassoon, violin and piano. I also spotted her doing a little dance in the wings while the band were playing a jazzy number. I don't remember her name, but I believe she was a Staff Sergeant.

Richard

[Dave]

Jul 29, 2010 14:13:55 GMT Richard said:

Hello Dave!

The lady behind Tom Jones' right arm was playing the flute. The musician you're thinking of was sitting slightly further to the right in the second row and played bassoon, violin and piano. I also spotted her doing a little dance in the wings while the band were playing a jazzy number. I don't remember her name, but I believe she was a Staff Sergeant.

Richard

Hello Richard,

Yes, that's the one!

I thought that she is a corporal, but I've probably got that wrong too!

Cheers, Dave

[Karsten]

Hello from Wales,

after a few hours I've broadband again...

Many thanks for the reports and pictures so far. So as usually I only have to add a few pictures.

BTW, Richard and Dave, the lady with the flute was one of the first coming out through the stage

door. I remember she was quite surprised about the people waiting there and made a few jokes about

all the cameras.

Well, to start with the arrival:

[Karsten]

[Karsten]

Coming to the first half

[Karsten]

[Martin]

No, she was a corporal but, perhaps, as scary as a sergeant!

Martin

[Karsten]

[Karsten]

But one encore is possible, isn't it ...

[postscript]

Thank you Dave for a superb set of photos. Whatever the difficulties you always manage to come up trumps. Thank you Grant for your report. Croydon is not unknown to me and we now have a changed train service which means I can reach Croydon directly from Berkhamsted instead of changing trains at Watford as I used to have to do. Hadn't got round to checking times of last trains but might have been able to do it in one day and nearly did so on the spur of the moment but a pre-commitment didn't cancel until too late and as it turned out Hayley was rushing off, so had I been there I would have held back to let those less used to meeting her take their time. So, I am looking forward to Nottingham which I suddenly realise I have not pre-arranged (other than having ticket) and need to start doing some planning fast, I want to spend some time looking around Nottingham. will also try and tie-innwith the group which i gather is likely to be quite large?

All for now.

Peter S.

[postscript]

Superb photos Karsten, thank you. I love her summery brown shirt over a blue T shirt

Peter S.

[martindn]

Thanks for the reports and photos guys. I now know what we have to look farward to at Nottingham on Monday (assuming Hayley gets back from Rome OK).

Martin D