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Post by Ross on Nov 22, 2011 3:27:33 GMT
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Post by Dori on Nov 22, 2011 6:14:56 GMT
Yay, a LOVELY review of Hayley! Couldn't have said it any better, myself!
Dori
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Post by Richard on Nov 22, 2011 8:49:30 GMT
Your wish is my command, Ross!  Richard  |
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Post by Simba on Nov 22, 2011 15:53:31 GMT
This is how a review should be, gosh this makes me feel better...
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Dave
Administrator
HWI Admin
Posts: 7,699
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Post by Dave on Nov 23, 2011 13:40:31 GMT
Hi everyone,
Yes indeed, this review is quite well balanced, respectful, draws on some specific moments from the actual concert which leave you in no doubt that the reviewer was there and paying attention - and yet is not excessively doting.
This reviewer describes some of Hayley's highlights, praises the backing musicians and support artist, and mentions the audience reaction. Yet she still manages to express her views on how, for some people, Hayley might improve her performances in the future: all the things that a good music critic should be doing and all expressed in a respectful manner that will not cause offence.
For example:
To which I would reply: Yes it would! And she has the perfect song for it: Amalia Por Amor. I think it's a pity that isn't in the NZ programme but, perhaps, it's felt that a more orchestral backing is needed (though as we know from the UK radio tour, Hayley can do a great job on it live and a cappella!).
However, and here's why I have written this piece, I really really do hope Hayley includes Amalia Por Amor in her orchestral UK tour next March; I have a feeling that she'd bring the house down with it.
Cheers, Dave
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Post by Simba on Nov 23, 2011 15:16:39 GMT
I'm sure Amalia por amor would be Hayley's best performance ever XD....so orchestral tour is next MArch only? nothing between Dec - Feb then?
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Post by martindn on Nov 23, 2011 15:28:45 GMT
Yes, I agree - I very much hope she does include "Amalia Por Amor" in her UK Paradiso tour setlist. It would be a good song for the finale I think, although I still love the way she often finished with Wuthering Heights.
And Simba, she does deserve a break from touring you know. The Taiwan tour ends only just before Christmas, so I suspect she will have her usual Christmas holiday in NZ, then back to the UK to prepare for the tour.
Martin D
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Post by Simba on Nov 23, 2011 16:36:48 GMT
No no! U got me wrong, I was actually gonna talk about how she should take breaks! seeing her putting up concerts day after day, which must be very stressful, which is why I wanted to confirm if there wasn't any schedules during the period  |
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Post by Libby on Nov 24, 2011 7:18:41 GMT
For some reason I thought she was supposed to have an orchestra in NZ too. At least I got that impression from the articles. You would think she would sing what she called her favorite song on the album!  |
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Post by postscript on Nov 24, 2011 14:13:57 GMT
I think she may be moving towards this. Hayley likes to take her time, likes to be sure, that is why she involves herself with fans, it gives her feedback. She doesn't want to move too far ahead of her fans. So an argument that she is too cautious is not an unreasonable OBSERVATION but not a reasonable criticism.
Peter S.
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Post by postscript on Nov 25, 2011 11:58:28 GMT
Hello Dave.
I have now picked up on the detail of The Dominion report. To some extent I am working backwards because my earlier report in this frame of mind was based on the Southland Times report which I happened to read first. I will pick an extract from The Dominion.
"Hayley's style was professional and classic. Her dresses were peach, red, and purple and her shoes were skyscrapers.
Best moment: losing her heels to pedal press her way through Joni Mitchell's River at the piano. The interpretation was honest and her lyrically-led piano playing directed the rhythm. It worked.
I would have liked to see her break into more of the passion-fuelled performances like that of Kate Bush's Wuthering Heights. But then would that be Hayley? [Yes, of course it would be Hayley because that was Hayley doing just that!]
She is no rock goddess, no opera diva, yet she is a star. Her eyes sparkled when she sang My Heart Belongs To You from her 2005 album Odyssey and her harmonies with talented tenor Chase Douglas were powerful.
This ties in with the observations of The Southland Times. I don't want to repeat what I have already said there but I guess from your own comment you are perhaps holding back from being too affirmative in support for this kind of reporting and my own initial passing observation was likewise placid.
I don't think that we, whom she knows love her for herself and have no axe to grind but in supporting what we believe is in her best interests should be reticent in holding back from debating the issues. I think she is at a cross-roads and in her next album she can afford to take a wrong turn for a short way, looking for time over the next decade to retrench if need be.
Leading up to this tenth anniversary year, it would have been totally wrong to be over-adventurous. Now, she enters a new decade. This is the time to be adventurous all over again. The World is Still at her Feet but this is now a mature woman stepping onto it. What has been brought out by both these most recent reports is respect for her competence and acknowledgement that what she has achieved is significant but...
Audiences do vary and a "mother's night out' over-weighted audience does have a dulling effect. She is right in being Hayley but wrong if she is forgetting that Hayley on stage can be a different person. Being a singer she is is not in the same situation as with acting, where actors are people and separately are completely different people on stage. By the nature of singing, she is herself on stage but that does not stop her ability to switch from being herself and adopting, for a particular song a different persona, as she does with "Wuthering Heights" to varying degrees. In perhaps the middle one of her three costume changes she could be a totally different character, that would make a clear change yet leaving the opening and closing as classic Hayley.
Is it possible that her orchestral tour in the UK could be a new presentation opportunity for the future? Although The Dominion reporter wrote what so many of us have previously written in the UK, "We just wish she'd forget the band and do without them and the mike!"
She has always had competent backup, so competent that the backup has been good enough to make their own way subsequently. She has also been well backed by competent arrangers and good arrangement is often more important than a good song! An orchestra provides a wider support opportunity and maybe this would be the way for her to push out the boat with a greater diversity of interpretation.
As regards the mike, that is treading dangerous ground. In the UK the amplification experience has improved considerably and it is standard practice for ordinary stage performances in the West End to be radio-miked--it is the strain of consistent demand over successive performances. Likewise, Opera divas sing periodically but it still comes down to physique. It is a balancing act of multiple variants. Only she can do the balancing.
Peter S.
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Post by Richard on Nov 26, 2011 8:24:59 GMT
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