London - Barbican 22 Dec 2010

[davidm]

Do you get to see HW much? I'm glad she is based very close to where I live (Watford), but I do feel for her fans in other countries. I think she deserves to be more well known in the UK.

Thanks,
David

[Jillian]

Hi David,

I've never seen Hayley live - unfortunately because most of her work is UK based, she doesn't get down to this part of the world much at all. I believe she's only made a handful of Australian concert appearances - although she has done TV promotion in Australia for each album she's released.

However, HWI is such a huge blessing for international fans -- with all the excellent reports and photos, we can still feel a part of the UK action. i.postimg.cc/9fYxy370/smilie-big-grin.gif

Cheers,
Jillian

[Martin]

Hello David
Welcome to the forum and I am glad you enjoyed the concert last night. If you get the opportunity, do introduce yourself in the "Welcome" board and feel free to ask any other questions not relating to the Barbican concert.

Best wishes
Martin

[davidm]

Hi Jillian

That is a shame that you haven't seen her live - I'll try and do my bit to keep you posted! Sometimes I feel HW is wasted on the UK, e.g. the Barbican was not sold out last night. Most people I know have not heard of her. What can be done to rectify this ?!

Best wishes,

David

[hammer]

Hi to everyone ,and thanks for your company yesterday ,it made the day go by really quickly . .It was nice to meet some people I hadn't met before ,and I hope everybody got home safely? Another great show from Hayley and the band .Let's hope for a tour next year. Happy Christmas and New Year to all. Mike

[davidm]

Hi Martin

Thanks for your message. I'll check out the notice board later, I do have one or two questions not related to the Barbican concert!

Many thanks / best wishes

David

[Jillian]

Dec 23, 2010 14:45:41 GMT davidm said:

Hi Jillian

That is a shame that you haven't seen her live - I'll try and do my bit to keep you posted! Sometimes I feel HW is wasted on the UK, e.g. the Barbican was not sold out last night. Most people I know have not heard of her. What can be done to rectify this ?!

Best wishes,

David

Hi David,

Well, Hayley's career is certainly booming in Taiwan. In October she sold out a concert in a 15,000 seat arena. You can read all about her very successful Taiwan / China tour here: hwi.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=Concert&action=display&thread=5598

I'm very confident that exciting things will happen for Hayley in the New Year with the release of her new album!

Anyway, sorry for taking this off topic! i.postimg.cc/9fYxy370/smilie-big-grin.gif

Cheers,
Jillian

[davidm]

Thanks Jillian,

That's good to know re Taiwan. I did know she went out there. I've been looking forward to her new album for ages!

David

[Jeff]

Dec 23, 2010 12:53:17 GMT Jillian said:

Hi Jeff,

There is another video of the duet on You Tube here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=S-iuDobbozc Perhaps this one will work better?

Cheers,
Jillian

Thanks Jillian, that one works fine. Merry Xmas and I hope the New Year brings you Aussies much happiness and success, except in the cricket !!!!!!!!!!!! i.postimg.cc/9fYxy370/smilie-big-grin.gif

[Richard]

Hello folks!

It was great to see so many new and familiar faces at the Barbican last night, and I'm really pleased that Juliette had such a good time at her first ever Hayley concert. Thanks to a combination of luck and good judgement, we managed to be in the right places at the right times.

It was a wonderful concert, but I'm going to leave the reports to the expert writers amongst us. I'd just like to thank Hayley, all the Band and Sara Cox from Bandana Management for making it such a special evening.

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to you all.

Best wishes,

Richard

[keithp]

Dec 23, 2010 13:45:53 GMT davidm said:

And then the final encore, when HW returned to sing 'River' (I was hoping she would sing this as it is probably my favourite song from Winter Magic). Hayley certainly had not planned to sing this as she told the audience that she hadn't performed it for a while and had to take her shoes off to reach the pedals.

I think the unplanned bit may have been a bit of an exaggeration. River has been printed on her onstage set list as a second encore through this series of concerts....presumably she decided to wait until 'home' in London to make it a special occasion.

[martindn]

Dec 23, 2010 14:45:41 GMT davidm said:

Hi Jillian

Most people I know have not heard of her. What can be done to rectify this ?!


David

Hi David,

Welcome to HWI. Sounds like a wonderful night, and I'm so glad you enjoyed it. I was at the Birmingham Symphony Hall (same show) last Sunday, and still haven't come down to earth.

As to publicising Hayley, we have high hopes for some good publicity when the new album is released.

Oh, and don't forget to watch Songs of Praise on Boxing Day. One of Hayley's rare TV appearances.

Martin D

Oh, and so glad Juliette had a great time. I expect we will hear from her eventually...

[keithp]

Sounds like another fantastic night in terms of the concert and the catch up with Hayley.

[keithp]

Has Steph recovered (were Raven back to being a quartet?) ?

[grant]

Hello Snow!
I cannot believe now, that for a few seconds yesterday, I considered abandoning my journey to London for this concert! Looking out of my bedroom window at 6am and seeing a blizzard with several inches of snow on the ground, it did not seem sensible. No!! I cannot forego my last Hayleyday of the year. Preparations went into overdrive and within 40 minutes I was dragging my protesting suitcase through the snow and hoping the first bus of the morning would arrive.

It did! On time too; and I even managed to catch an earlier train due to its late running and found myself in Croydon almost an hour earlier than originally planned. A quick turn round found Karsten and I heading back into London and the Barbican, hoping to see Hayley arrive this time! Richard is already waiting when we arrived and Juliette arrived from France a little later – very nice to meet you Juliette! Mike and Gordon joined us a little later.

It wasn’t long before people began arriving independently; Phil first, then the Raven girls. Having stood out in the cold for a couple of hours because of not knowing which entrance Hayley would use, we elected to wait inside deducing she may come by taxi. This proved to be correct as she stepped out of a black cab at around twenty past two. Just time to say a quick hello and for Richard to introduce Juliette who, confidently, asked Hayley for a photo, before she disappeared through the artists entrance.

We spent the rest of the afternoon chatting, having commandeered one of the Barbican’s seating areas. During this time, Juliette went off to her hotel to change for the evening, whilst our numbers swelled with the arrival of Martin, Peter, James, Larry, Steve and Stewart.

Anyone know the next line?
We took our seats in the familiar auditorium at around 7pm. Although I’ve read that the concert wasn’t sold out, there didn’t appear to be many empty seats when I looked around. Having had seats right at the front for my first two “Christmas Wishes” concerts, I chose to sit a few rows back for tonight’s to get a slightly different perspective. Hayley seemed particularly happy tonight too, chatting with the audience a little more than perhaps she had done previously; but then tonight’s did seem a particularly enthusiastic audience.

As previously, the concert opened with two pieces from the choir who, for this performance, were the New London Children’s Choir. They were very good too. Now the band appeared on stage – the guys from stage right and the girls from stage left. Michael began the drum intro to “Little Drummer Boy”, now Hayley approaches from stage right and climbs the steps onto the stage to loud applause; stopping to begin the song then walking, one foot carefully placed directly in front of the other as she moved to centre stage, the hem of her white dress swaying as she moved. This is a very appropriate opening song for me as it is one of the earliest I can remember from my childhood – singing the “pa-rum-pa- pa-pum” with mum.

There are many songs in this show that I find special; some because they are new to me; some because we don’t hear them often and some because I just love the way that Hayley makes them her own. However, I won’t bore you by going through every one but one or two I must mention – firstly “Corpus Christi Carol”, I had come across this one before and Hayley has previously explained some of the history behind it which I found fascinating. In Hayley’s version it is the very last note that sends shivers down my spine every time I hear it. When I play the CD, I have never yet carried on with what I was doing, always pausing to wait for that note.

With “Peace Shall Come” it is the fact that Hayley wrote the lyrics. It is her take on the birth of Jesus and that makes it very special for me because I think it tells us a little bit about how Hayley would like her world to be. For a similar reason, but also because we first heard it live on this tour is “All With You” This one talks of being far away from a loved one at Christmas and I can’t help wondering if Hayley was thinking of the troops she admires so much for the work they do when she wrote it.

The inclusion of a beautiful New Zealand carol “Te Harinui” was perhaps to be expected from Hayley as there is always a reference to her homeland sometime during her concerts and again, I suspect Hayley is thinking of the family back home that she will not be seeing this Christmas. And so to the final carol of the official programme and one Hayley admits to being one of her favourites. It’s also one of mine – perhaps the favourite – “O Holy Night”. I have heard this sung many times by many people but no one can sing it the way Hayley does and I don’t think there is any more fitting way to end a Christmas concert.

Of course, everyone now knows that the encore for this concert is a singalong-a-Hayley “The First Nowell” a 16th Century Cornish carol which, most unusually has the title spelled correctly in the programme! I was a bit unsure in Manchester but found myself joining in with gusto at both Birmingham and the Barbican and I think Hayley was delighted that so many people stood and joined in.

Tonight, however, that was not the end. There are always two encores on the set list. “You have to be prepared” Hayley told me last night with a customary giggle, but with everyone standing at the end as Hayley left the stage, many began putting on their coats ready to leave; the applause died down as a result and that was it. Well, the same happened at the Barbican and I just kept shouting “more, more!” one or two people joined in the chant and the level of applause increased and we got “River”!!

So Hayley returned to stage “Well, I do have one more but we haven’t done it for a while”. Tim arranged her mike and Hayley began to play “I really must learn to play keyboard in heels” giggled Hayley, and off they came! A few lines in, Hayley paused, a worried look on her face “can anyone remember the next line?” she said. A female voice, high up and to my left did and shouted it out. With a smile, a thumbs up and a short burst of applause, Hayley completed the song to end an absolutely stunning “Christmas Wishes” concert tour.

Thank you so much Hayley, Raven and the band – love you all!!

Last part to follow

Best wishes
Grant