King's Lynn Festival 24 July 2011

[Martin]

Thanks Drew. The video together with Grant's usual graphic reporting makes the pain of not attending a lot less!

I look forward to more.

Martin

[jimg]

Jul 25, 2011 18:47:28 GMT dutchjoyce said:

Hi Grant,

We all know Hayley is a brilliant singer,
but.....
You are a brilliant reporter !!!
To be honest, i was waiting for this wonderful report,
by reading it, i gives me the feeling...i was there !!!
Thank you so much!!!

Greetz Joyce

I have to agree and disagree. It is so vivid and captures the atmosphere that you can almost feel you are there but in some ways it makes me sad that I missed this one.
It must be hard for those outside the UK but hopefully there will be good news for most of them soon. If the reason I was missing out meant some of Hayley's fans in the rarely visited countries got to see her I would not mind. I would love to read a report by Joe, Libby in The States or Jillian in Oz or Dori in NZ.

[postscript]

Hi everyone.

It certainly sounds a very interesting and exciting concert. I wonder if it is her development or her new management, or perhaps she feels she has sufficient under her belt to explore more widely, or may be it is her awareness that her voice is maturing enough for her to extend her range?.

With this programme and FNIMN she is showing she can manage depth, diversity yet maintain subtlety, especially when she is 'acting' her voice into a role.

Peter S.

[grant]

Hello Joyce, Martin and everyone

Thank you for your kind words - it's nice to know that ones efforts are appreciated The rest of my report will follow later. In the meantime, here are a few images from our time with Hayley before the concert.

More later

Best wishes
Grant

[martindn]

Thanks for the report Grant. I knew I was right to leave the report writing to you...

I've been busy all day and haven't had chance to look at the contents of my camera yet. But a quick preview of some of the vids on the camera screen whilst waiting for Hayley to appears after the show (oh Grant hasn't quite got to that bit) gives me cause for optimism.

Martin D

[postscript]

Hello Grant and everyone.

Well done Grant. Much packed into a small amount--just like Hayley.

So sold out almost from the first night well, with only 720 perhaps that is not so surprising, I don't feel quite such a fool for not booking earlier but to learn we will only get three more this year--and presumably that means no Barbican Christmas this year?

Well, we are learning what so many others have to put up with missing Hayley. We really have been very fortunate in the times we have enjoyed with her so often. I think I am going to watch Buxton and make sure I grab a weekend there as perhaps my first next concert.

Thanks Grant.

Peter S.

[johno]

After every one left i took a seat at the end of the carpark over looking the water to sit out my wait for my train . With sounds of the ducks , geese and seagulls it felt like the perfect setting for a all night party , food and drinks , chatting about the amazing concert Hayley had just put on for us , ... just thoughts that ran through my head . An amazing concert from Hayley just beautiful ...

[grant]

The bit at the end with Hayley
With a late start and a very full programme, the concert finished at ten past ten as we emerged into the cool but pleasant night air and made our way around to the stage door where a number of fans and well wishers had already gathered. It was a friendly gathering too with everyone still in very high spirits after a remarkable and memorable evening. Several members of the band appeared and disappeared, and loading of the tour bus for the return journey commenced with Ash reassuring us that Hayley would appear soon. And she did, at around 11 o’clock.

Despite us all being on a fairly small walled deck adjacent to the stage door, everything was very civilised with everyone taking their turn to chat to Hayley; to have a photo with her; to get something signed; or to find that spot for the ‘best picture’. I’m in the latter group to begin with – it’s important that us regulars let those people who may not have met her before have their time with Hayley. Time for us later and if their isn’t time a quick wave will suffice as we know our time will come again.

For me, I’m very happy to be “snapping” Hayley again after a 7 month lull and, as quite often happens, I find myself taking pics for other people – I was very happy to perform this duty for Eugene’s “lady” as he refers to her (happy with the results Eugene – will look to send them on shortly).

Now, does anyone remember the “Have a break, have a kit-kat” episode at Buxton where Sue Dixon rescued a bemused Hayley from an over enthusiastic fan? Well, he turned up at Kings Lynn! I mentioned to Ash so that he might remind Hayley to prepare her to expect the unexpected so to speak and he seemed appreciative. When his time came, he presented Hayley with a holdall - filled with chocolate apparently – didn’t want the holdall back. Oh well, I guess Hayley is used to the occasional eccentric. She treated it all with great amusement and giggles. The guy even had his picture taken with Hayley – thought he might want a copy but, he promptly disappeared into the night and normality returned!

With the crowd thinning and time pressing – Hayley had already spent 15 minutes with us and the late finish would obviously impact on the time they would get back to London, so I did thank Hayley for a wonderful evening and told her that I had been waiting 7 years to hear her sing I Dreamed A Dream. I think she may have misunderstood initially because she apologised but I quickly pointed out that it had been well worth the wait and had fulfilled one of my dreams. I also managed to quickly pass on best wishes from Graeme and Marianne in Australia and several of our more local members who had asked to be remembered to her. Moments later they were aboard the tour bus and on their way home, leaving behind some very happy and contented friends.

Had several chats with Sara ( confirmed with her that her name is pronounced as Sarah) from Bandana during the afternoon and evening whilst Hayley was around and we explained to her why we spend so much time around stage doors waiting to see Hayley - it always amuses me to tell people that we spend more time waiting to see Hayley at stage doors than we do watching her perform but that it's part of the social aspect of HWI following Hayley as a group of friends. I think she understood!

Good night all!
Grant

[martindn]

It's late, but I finally got there. It is so long since the last Hayley concert that I had forgotten how to use my video editing software, and the first few attempts gave poor results. That's after I had to reinstall a new version since the old one didn't work any more.

Anyway, here is the first video from me.

youtu.be/5Oqte8LTtF8 Who Painted the Moon Black.

Sorry about the camera shake, but still worth uploading I thought.

Martin D

[Dave]

Many thanks Grant Karsten Martin D Drew and everyone for the reports photos and videos so far on King's Lynn - it sounds like it was a very special concert, oh how I wish I'd been there (but weekends for me are usually impossible).

Well done everyone!

Cheers, Dave

[Joe]

Hi all,

Thank you all so much for the photos, the set list, reports and recordings from Karsten, Grant, MartinD, and Drew. I trust there are more forthcoming!

A very grateful Joe

[Libby]

She sang the Moon Represents My Heart!?! I wonder how often she'll be doing that one.

Thanks for the videos! They're great! Wonderfully performed by Hayley!

I hope there are videos of all the songs!

Not a huge fan of the new dress. Actually, not a fan at all. The colors, and the pockets in front aren't my favorite. If it weren't for the pockets, I wouldn't mind the rest of it so much, despite the colors.
The Reiss dress is much prettier. I liked the way she had her hair here better than other times, too.
I don't mean to be so critcal of her dress choices recently, but I really don't care for this new dress.
Hopefully she'll pick out something nicer for the Paradiso tour.

[Richard]

Many thanks to Drew and Martin D for the excellent videos!

I've posted them on our Facebook page.

Richard

[martindn]

Jul 26, 2011 3:26:14 GMT Libby said:

I hope there are videos of all the songs!

Hi Libby,

Sorry to disappoint, but I only have a few. And some of them are going to need a fair bit of editing - even with Moon Black I had to do that, including using a high pass filter to remove unpleasant booming of the bass - I wonder if that was something to do with the hall acoustics and was what Arnaud was concerned about. I didn't particularly notice it during the performance though. You might get as many as 5 from me, if I can make then acceptable. I did eventually get the tap on the shoulder, and did nothing after that.

I suspect Drew might have a few more. He was further forward than I, so could use less zoom and so camera shake was easier to control, but I think I had a more unobstructed view, since far back as I was, the seats in front sloped away . I gathered from drew that he might have left the camera running throughout, but of course that doesn't guarantee that the results are good enough to publish.

Actually the tap on the shoulder annoyed me. Nowhere did i see any notices, on tickets or in the hall, saying that photography was banned. And when a concert is sold out, photos and videos are not going to affect ticket sales, and may attract people for future shows at the hall. And will certainly be welcomed by fans of the artist.

But I gathered from the lady beside me that they are not used to having artists of Hayley's stature in Kings Lynn. She couldn't understand how a wonderful internationally acclaimed artist like Hayley could be performing in a small out of the way town in Norfolk in front of 700 odd people. But she was very glad to see her there.

I explained that Hayley actually seems to enjoy small venues. I was at Kilworth House the other day, where Hayley once performed, and that is even smaller, seating around 500. And they still have a nice picture of Hayley in her green "celtic" dress on the wall by the bar!

Martin D

[Martin]

Jul 25, 2011 22:43:02 GMT grant said:

Had several chats with Sara ( confirmed with her that her name is pronounced as Sarah) from Bandana during the afternoon and evening whilst Hayley was around and we explained to her why we spend so much time around stage doors waiting to see Hayley - it always amuses me to tell people that we spend more time waiting to see Hayley at stage doors than we do watching her perform but that it's part of the social aspect of HWI following Hayley as a group of friends. I think she understood!

Good night all!
Grant

Many thanks Grant for the final chapter of your report. Regarding the last paragraph I think Sara is still trying to get her head around us lot at concerts but she is getting there!

Martin