Manchester Bridgewater Hall 14 Dec 2010

[Karsten]

Thanks again to all on stage, off stage and all members I was able to meet with. It was really a great evening again.

Bye, Karsten

[hammer]

Hi to eveyone, once again Karsten ,some superb pictures .Sounds like it was a great show, with some new songs,which is always nice .Hopefully, unless I am snowed in ,I will see you at Birmingham and the Barbican . Mike

[spiderman]

Dec 15, 2010 6:46:20 GMT Karsten said:

Hi,

It was a pleasure to meet again with all the HWI members, old an new (i. e. Ed).

The wonderful concert as well as this gathering was worth again every mile and every hour of the journey.

To keep things going, here are a few more pictures...

the forces of cuteness are strong in this one....

your work, karsten, is as always, impressive.

oh no pressure but i need 27 pictures to make 1000 hayley pictures for the year.. .2 days till i go home for christmas

[Richard]

Hello folks, and welcome Ed!

Thanks for the early reports and photographs; Hayley looks lovelier than ever!

I'll wait for some more photographs before I decide which ones to post on our website. The difficult job will be choosing the ones to leave out.

Best wishes,

Richard

[Richard]

Here's a tweet from Andy Moore:

ajmooremusic: Hope everyone enjoyed the gig tonight at Bridgewater Hall Manchester. We really enjoyed it. @hayleywestenra was great. Thx guys

and another from Raven:

ravenquartet: Just played our Christmas Hornpipe arrangement to a clap happy Bridgewater Hall with Hayley Westenra. V fun indeed. X

Richard

[Dean McCarten]

Ok sorry for the late report, I'm now on the train going home so my family can wish me a :birthday: in person

So I was up early yesterday to get a decent train into Manchester which meant I was on the train at 09:30 and I met up with grant when his train arrived shortly after mine and we checked in at the hotel and then had a walk to Bridgewater Hall. We were not the first there but we were told that raven was already there. Karsten soon joined us.

We spotted Andy as rushed from the taxi inside.

Hayley arrived early at the venue, yesterday shortly after 2pm. She was Happy to see us all and get spoke for a few minutes before she went inside. Grant & Karsten both took many photos so this time I doubted I needed to.

Grant & I had a bit of a wander and then went back to the hotel got ready then returned to a nice wetherspoons we found on our travels.

We returned to BWH to find some usual faces and Larry

The concert itself was just Awesome. Due to ts being the first in the tour I'm not going to mention the set list but Veni Veni, Peace Shall Come, Oh Holy Night & The First Noel were my personal highlights (sorry for the spoilers) and it was very nice of Karsten to switch seats with me.

Hayley did her usual thing at the stage door with lots of smiles & laughter.
See saw everybody and I did get a from Hayley and she wrote a Happy Birthday message on my programme too

We then took the chance to chat to Raven, Tim & Mike.

Then Grant & I went back to Hotel and saw my birthday in with some wine.

In short it was fantastic day
Dean

[Bill]

Hi all,

Just to give a heads up to all those going to the rest of this tour.

Hayley will be expecting a standing ovation...as she asks you to join her in 'The First Noel' singalong. Hope some of you start practicing, in some cases, the sooner the better!

Regards
Bill

[grant]

Hi Ed and everyone

Dec 15, 2010 0:31:14 GMT rudyard said:

Hi, have been to see Hayley in concert at the Bridgewaterhall for the very 1st time ever. may i say what a fab night we had (1st concert) and what a lovely warm person. Hayleys voice was pure and powerful to hear, everything about the evening was excellent. will now def be doing another concert in the furture. met 2 nice fan club members on the 2nd row.Ed,

Delighted to hear that you enjoyed your first Hayley concert last night - it was good to meet you and your colleague and to hear about how you discovered Hayley. You may like to share that with other members one day.

Did you get to meet her afterwards? We hung around to chat to a couple of band members and lost sight of you and it was a bit of a scramble at the stage door.

Best wishes
Grant

P.S. My review will appear after tea and hopefully a few pictures later

[amptique]

Dec 15, 2010 11:59:40 GMT Dean McCarten said:

Ok sorry for the late report, I'm now on the train going home so my family can wish me a in person

So I was up early yesterday to get a decent train into Manchester which meant I was on the train at 09:30 and I met up with grant when his train arrived shortly after mine and we checked in at the hotel and then had a walk to Bridgewater Hall. We were not the first there but we were told that raven was already there. Karsten soon joined us.

We spotted Andy as rushed from the taxi inside.

Hayley arrived early at the venue, yesterday shortly after 2pm. She was Happy to see us all and get spoke for a few minutes before she went inside. Grant & Karsten both took many photos so this time I doubted I needed to.

Grant & I had a bit of a wander and then went back to the hotel got ready then returned to a nice wetherspoons we found on our travels.

We returned to BWH to find some usual faces and Larry

The concert itself was just Awesome. Due to ts being the first in the tour I'm not going to mention the set list but Veni Veni, Peace Shall Come, Oh Holy Night & The First Noel were my personal highlights (sorry for the spoilers) and it was very nice of Karsten to switch seats with me.

Hayley did her usual thing at the stage door with lots of smiles & laughter.
See saw everybody and I did get a from Hayley and she wrote a Happy Birthday message on my programme too

We then took the chance to chat to Raven, Tim & Mike.

Then Grant & I went back to Hotel and saw my birthday in with some wine.

In short it was fantastic day
Dean

Wow, Dean. What a terrific way to spend your Birthday! I wouldn't mind getting older if Hayley wished me a .

BillR

[Mark]

Hi everyone

Thanks so much Karsten for the fantastic photos and to everyone who has so far submitted a report. Sounds like a great treat - singing along with Hayley and she looks wonderful as usual. I hear that they were quite late getting back last night, fog on the M40 Andy said. The main thing is they arrived home safely.

Looking forward to hearing more.


Best wishes

Mark

[Libby]

Dean, some of us would like to see the song list.

And Happy Birthday!

[grant]

With a lot going on around me this December, this Christmas concert tour has rather crept up on me leading to some rather hurried packing on Monday afternoon! Although Manchester isn’t too far for me to travel, I elected to stay overnight and booked into a city Travelodge; that sorted, I only had the train to consider, arriving in Manchester a few minutes after midday.

Having been met at the station by Dean, I checked in and changed before heading down to Bridgewater Hall where we met up with Karsten. The tourbus is already parked but we gather that, although the band is here, Hayley is not. Shortly after our arrival, Andy arrived in a taxi, followed by Kirsty in another vehicle and the other three Raven girls, on foot, from the opposite direction.

It’s not long, however, before Phil heads off, alone, in the bus – no doubt to collect Hayley from wherever she might be. He was soon back and depositing a happy smiling Hayley in front of the small welcoming committee. Having not seen or spoken to her for some time I was keen for a chat and to hand over the cards and small gift I had for her. She asked after my friend Elizabeth and how my poppy selling efforts had gone and I was happy to tell that I had enjoyed every minute and had actually become a member of my local RBL branch which, I think, pleased her. It is quite cold and Hayley is soon on her way inside so I only managed a couple of pictures before she disappeared.

Having returned to our hotel for Dean to check in, we found a suitable Wetherspoon’s to while away a couple of hours, happy to discover that Tuesday is ‘steak night’ and we are soon sorted and enjoying our bottle of wine.

Back at the venue, we met up with Larry, Bill and Andy, Vicky and Bethany to complete, the HWI contingent. The concert hall fills up quickly and there do not appear to be many empty seats apart from the gallery right up at the top which has only a few seats occupied.

The concert was opened by the Withington Girl’s School Choir who sang two numbers, the second of which was a most unusual but effective arrangement of “Ding Dong Merrily On High”. Then it was the turn of Hayley’s band with the usual suspects augmented by percussion and a double bass followed by Hayley looking stunning in her white dress and fawn platform shoes to a rousing welcome from a very enthusiastic Manchester audience.

With apologies to those of you wanting the set list (sorry Libby), I think it unfair to those people still to attend concerts in this tour to reveal too many details as I think it will spoil their anticipation. Needless to say, Hayley was on excellent form despite having admitted before the concert that she had “a bit of a cold” In fact, for most of the evening she sang her heart out and was clearly enjoying herself to the max. She was also enjoying the very receptive audience. What I will tell you is that we had 19 songs in all which included a duet with her guest Thomas Oliver; two with the choir and the encore - for which you should all now be learning “The First Nowell”

Luckily it is still dry as we head for the stage door to see Hayley, surprised to find quite a few people standing in the covered reception area which was a ‘no no’ last year but it turned out that most were waiting for the young choristers and the rest were quickly but politely ejected!

We didn’t have to wait long for Hayley to appear, well wrapped up against the cold night air and ready to greet us with her usual cheery “Hi everybody!” For whatever reason, it was a much smaller group than last year with Hayley accompanied only by her manager – Sarah Cox from Bandana and no security insisting on orderly lines but Hayley happily worked her way amongst us with no one left out and disappointed. I had cooked up a plan with Dean to make sure Hayley knew that it was soon to be his birthday as he had done for me last year in Glasgow when it was mine. So he had his programme suitably endorsed and got a birthday greeting from Hayley for good measure! I was also happy to take pictures of Dean, Bethany and Larry with Hayley before she headed home. The new management regime becoming clear as she waved goodbye and climbed into her black people carrier, leaving the band to travel back to London in the tour bus with Phil.

With Hayley gone, we spent a few minutes chatting to members of the band and being introduced to Michael, the new percussionist, by Tim before heading back to our hotel and the waiting bottle of Australian red!

Best wishes
Grant

[Dean McCarten]

Dec 15, 2010 18:34:11 GMT Libby said:

Dean, some of us would like to see the song list.

And Happy Birthday!

Hi Libby,

I know Grant has the full set list ( & I'm sure he'll publish it at some point) and I know non-UK members will want to see it, I just tried not to say too much in case it spoilt it for other members.

Thanks for the Birthday wishes
Dean

[thunderoll]

Hello All here in the Forum

It was really an Adventure to come. Plane and train deleted, but a very kind taxidriver saved the most incredible night. Every minute of my journey was worth it.had with all my luggage on my seat.
It was a wonderful show and I was overwhelmed, as have all sung at the end standing with Hayley and Thomas. I've shed a tear. All that the concert was still ahead of them insured, they are determined to spend a wonderful Christmas.

Merry Christmas to all forum members

marcus

Merry christmas to all forum members

marcus

[Libby]

Oh, that's okay, Grant and Dean. I have now seen it posted by a member on the official forum. i.postimg.cc/9fYxy370/smilie-big-grin.gif It is fair to post it there, because not many members of that forum get to go.