Cork, Ireland - 13th & 14th Dec 2014

[dutchjoyce]

[dutchjoyce]

Hi Jillian,

What i know from the first evening, there was no time for a meeting after the concert, because Hayley had a meeting with important people like the Major etc, etc.
For the second evening there was a short meeting with HWI members, after the concert, so you will hear more about that later.

Greetz Joyce

[John H]

Dec 16, 2014 11:43:56 GMT Jillian said:

Hi all!

So was HWI unsuccessful in managing to meet Hayley?

I was hoping that perhaps some members had the good fortune to meet her in order to perhaps find out some news as to what the future holds.

I recall a while back there was even talk of potentially coming to Australia in 2014, but it seems that did not eventuate. Although it does seem like a new album is on the horizon. Although (probably not suprisingly) there don't seem to be any clues from the Cork concerts as to what the future holds, as there was a fairly traditional set list and Hayley's stage outfits were repeats.

Didn't a photo of a signed programme give you a clue, Jillian?
But that story is for others to tell

[dutchjoyce]

[dutchjoyce]

[dutchjoyce]

[grant]

Juliette and nose wheels
My Saturday morning began at silly o’clock and nearly ended in disaster as I was half way to the bus stop before I realised I’d left my camera at home! Once retrieved the rest of the day went smoothly and I arrived in London on time to meet Juliette at 8.30 for the next stage of our journey to Stanstead airport. The airport is already very busy as we joined the queue for the inevitable security checks before arriving airside in search of refreshment and a late breakfast. John H. arrived whilst we were eating and Martin soon after.

Then began the seemingly endless wait for the gate to open. Our flight is at 12.25 and I’m very glad that we pre-booked our seats and priority boarding, both of which cost extra with Ryanair, as it looks as though the flight is fully booked. Initially we are allowed down the stairs but not outside. When we are let out onto the very chilly apron, we are asked to wait again. About now, three white vans appear in quick succession and unloaded a couple of wheels – seems they are for the nose landing gear. Juliette and I exchanged nervous glances. As we board the aircraft the process of changing the wheels is underway. Hope they fit!

The rest of our journey is uneventful and, after an early dinner, we made the short journey from the hotel to the very impressive City Hall.

It is just after 6pm and, in traditional style, HWI have taken control of the main entrance. It is cold but bearable but with the conversation inevitably turning to Hayley and tonight’s concert and reminiscences of previous Hayley gatherings, the time passes quickly. A little after ten past seven, and with quite a queue now formed behind us, the sound of bolts being drawn can be heard, the doors swing inwards and we are bathed in the warmth from the interior. I think I must go into auto pilot mode at this point because I’m now sitting in a front row isle seat with a programme in my hand and Juliette sat next to me and no clear idea of how I got here!!

And so to concert time. The Cork Youth Orchestra opened up the proceedings with two pieces, the first from Romeo and Juliette and a second a piece I wasn’t familiar with but it didn’t matter, the sheer beauty of the music was evident the moment they begin playing. The compare for the evening gave us a bit of background to the CYO which I’d like to share with you. They are the oldest youth orchestra in Ireland having been formed in 1958 and during that time they have had only three conductors. They are mostly between 14 to 18 years old although I gather there are a few younger ones, there are 130 of them and they rehearse every Saturday! Very impressive and well worth checking out if you’re ever in Ireland.

Now it is Hayley's turn to take to the stage and, thanks to JohnH’s excellent pictures, I don’t need to go into detail about what Hayley was wearing. I’ll go into more detail about Hayley's actual performance in the next part of my report so as not to repeat myself. Needless to say though, Hayley was wonderful and clearly enjoying having the young people of the orchestra supporting her as well as Tim and the other band members.

All too soon it is the interval during which an interesting chain of events began to unfold. It began with a lady coming to look for HWI! Possibly because Eugene had managed to get a number of seats behind us reserved for “H. W. Group”. Anyway, we were all there at the front and eager to explain to her what we were all about. She was very interested to hear that we were a very diverse group an that there were members at the concerts from several different countries with England, France, Germany and the Netherlands, as well as Ireland being represented. The significance of the Westenra Tartan ties was explained and, of course, I had to mention that it was the 78th time I had seen Hayley perform! I’m guessing that this lady was something to do with CYO management because, as well as being impressed by the support we give Hayley, she was seeing this also as great exposure for the orchestra. We left her in no doubt that we were enjoying their playing too.

The story doesn’t end there (it doesn’t actually end until Sunday night but more about that later) because as the concert resumed the compare returned to the stage and promptly reported to everyone, in great detail, what we had discussed with this lady during the interval. A little embarrassing but hey, if it spreads the word a little that can’t be a bad thing can it?

The concert resumed by an orchestral backing by CYO of “The Snowman” although it was rather difficult to see from our position on the front row. It also included a stunningly beautiful rendition of “Walking In The Air” by a young lady from the CYO. Pity we could only hear and not see her but that was possibly because it would have been almost impossible for her to extricate herself from the middle of the orchestra.

Hayley closed the concert with another six songs. But a very enthusiastic audience wouldn’t let her go and she came back for two encores – fortunately before my arms fell off! And so the first of two wonderful evenings came to a close. We did wait to see if Hayley would appear but with the concert sponsors a number of dignitaries, including the mayors of both Cork city and Cork county in the audience, Hayley was whisked off to a reception with them. Perhaps we’ll have better luck tomorrow night?


More this afternoon

Best wishes
Grant

[comet]

Great pictures Joyce, need say no more If a picture paints a thousand words

[martindn]

Well, I see Grant has made a start on a detailed report. I have been writing one too, so i'll post it even though it repeats some of the stuff in grant's excellent report. And once again, i see we have some superb photos from John h and Joyce. I didn't take any still ones myself so thank you both.

Martin D

[martindn]

1. Getting there

It's been a long time since the last Hayley concert, and even longer since her last UK show. So for the second time this year, it was off to Ireland to see her.
It's strange, you sometimes wonder beforehand whether it really is worth all that effort and expense. You need to organise what is in effect a mini-holiday. But afterwards you have no doubt. It was special. As all Hayley concerts are, and you have to experience them to know that.
So it was up early on the Saturday, to be greeted by a fine bright morning. On the road to London Stansted Airport by 8am. The two hour drive to Stansted was easy, not much traffic at that time of a Saturday, except for the problem ouf driving south east at sunrise in winter - the sun was in my eyes the whole way.
But got there OK, went straight airside using my pre-printed boarding card, and went looking for hayliens. In the event Grant found me first, he, Juliette and John H were breakfasting in the Wetherspoons.

The flight was pleasant enough despite being a few minutes late - we had hoped not to be affected by the previous day's NATS computer failure at Swanwick, and so it was, and a bit over an hour after take off we were in Cork.

The four of us shared a taxi to our accommodation at the Jury's Inn, and after checking in set off to walk around Cork a bit. We met up with Comet, Gordon and Thomas. We also met up with Tristan later, and Paddy and Eugene were also at the concert.

We ate in the hotel, then off to the show. The show started at 8pm but we felt we needed to get there early, since the seating was not pre-allocated. As I suspected it turned out to be rows of chairs that could be removed. This was in the City Hall after all, not a dedicated concert hall.
So we arrived at around 6pm, to find ourselves at the front of the queue, but there was some confusion about which of the several doors to queue in front of. But were were eventually were told we were queueing in front of the wrong one, and managed to find the right one before anyone else got there. And eventually, at about 7.15, the doors were opened and in we went.

Martin D

[martindn]

The Show (Saturday)

We were able to buy a very nice glossy programme for the show for 5 Euros. This gave us the setlist, and Hayley was to sing 12 songs. But this was also a concert for the Cork Youth Orchestra, and many in the audience were parents and supporters of theirs.
The majority of the hayleins managed to grab front row seats. This was quite close to the stage, we had to look up a bit and were quite close to the audience.
Eventually the orchestra took their places, having to walk across in front of the stage (and us) to get there, carrying or lugging their instruments (depending on the size of the instrument and its player), to much applause.

So the show started, a few minutes later than advertised, with an introduction by our MC for the evening, Evelyn Grant from Lyric FM radio, who introduced Tomas our conductor, and the orchestras two young co-leaders Emma Hobbs and Martin O'Farrell, followed by two pieces by the orchestra, Prokofiev's "Romeo and Juliet" piece "The Montagues and the Capulets" , and a Cuban flavoured piece with may complex rhythms whose name escapes me. It was immediately apparent that we were listening to a very fine orchestra, in fact you needed to to a double take - is this really 130 school kids aged 13 to 18? But is was, and they were wonderful - hard to believe that they were not a professional orchestra. Much of the credit must go to their conductor and musical director Tomas McCarthy, himself a former member of the CYO, who we met later (on Sunday) and was clearly very enthusiastic about his work and the orchestra.

And so to Hayley's first set. She walked on to much applause wearing - well you will see what it is from the pictures, I won't try to describe it since I will only get shot down by those who know about such things.

She opened with "May it Be", an unusual choice for an opening song, but I have a vague memory that she has used it before. Certainly it is quite a while since I heard her sing it live though
.
Where we were in the front row was a good place to see Hayley and take pictures and videos, and for once there were no notices or announcements that prohibited photography or recording. For that reason there are I'm sure many photos and videos around, many of which will appear on HWI I'm sure. The downside of the front row location was that we could not see most of the orchestra, and the sound balance and quality were not the best that the hall has to offer.

Hayley went on to perform "Dream a Little Dream of Me", "Over the Rainbow", "Who Painted the Moon Black" "You Raise me Up" and finally in the first half "My Heart Belongs to You". a song that Hayley often uses to close the first half of a show these days, and one that I always enjoy hearing her sing (but then I always enjoy hearing her sing whatever the song).

We hadn't heard Hayley live for a while, but it is difficult not to come to the conclusion that she is still getting better and better. Her voice has more power these days, and she is still as accurate as ever. The difference is she puts more emotion into her singing - once upon a time some people criticised her for lack of emotion - not nowadays though. She was fabulous as always and it felt good to hear her again. Somehow with Hayley you always feel safe - you know she is not going to suddenly mess something up or hit a wrong note or do anything else that detracts from the magic of the experience of listening to her.

During the interval, whilst we were chatting at the front of the theatre, a lady wearing a name tag approached us and asked if we were "a group". So we told her about HWI and tartan ties, and that there were those among us who had come from France, Germany and England to be there. She seemed to be genuinely impressed that we would take the trouble to come to Cork. She asked if we would like to go to the after show reception on the following "Sunday" night where "Hayley might pop in". Of course we would!

One thing I loved about Cork is that, as I have found before in Southern Ireland, it is full of lovely friendly and generous people who as they say "cannot do enough for you". So much politeness and pleasantness seemed to be everywhere. A lovely city full of lovely people.

After the interval, Evelyn mentioned HWI, where we had come from and tartan ties. We were applauded by the adience. I thought that was nice.

Then it was the orchestra's turn again. This was their "party piece", performing the music from "The Snowman" whilst the animated film was shown on a big screen behind them, and accompanied by a narration by Evelyn Grant. Now with things like that there are lots of distractons from the actual music. You can watch the film, or listen to the narration, and the music can be passed off as background. So it is a bit different to retune your mind to listen to the music first, and regard those other things a secondary, and I'm not sure I really succeeded. I think I did much better on the Sunday night, but more of that anon.
Now I've always loved "The Snowman", even though my daughter used to watch it incessantly as a child, and I have to say the CYO did a wonderful job with it. There are many sometimes subtle and unusual instrumental effects that I hadn't really noticed before, but the CYO performed them brilliantly. Of course in addition to the actual playing, the conductor had to think about synchronising the music with the film and the narration, something I do not think could have been easy. Yet it was spot on. In the end a really impressive performance, despite the fact that the sound balance heard from where we were sitting was less than ideal.

Then it was Hayley's turn again. Her second set started much more conventionally for Hayley, in mush the same way as most of her recent concerts, with the intro to "Summer Fly" being played before Hayley walked onto the stage to sing.

This was followed by what for me was one of the highlights of the show. "Peace Shall Come", one of only three Christmas songs Hayley performed. But this was the best performance of that song, composed by Hayley of course, that I have ever heard. Hayley, with the orchestra behind her, really brought the song to life, singing with terrific power and really expressing the joy of this song. Wonderful! I used to think that the less backing musicians Hayley had the better, but tonight she probably had close to a record number, 130 in the orchestra, and it was superb.

She went on to give us a beautiful rendition of "Silent Night", followed by "I Dreamed a Dream". Then we were into her "closers", all to soon. First the song that she nearly always used to close with, Kate Bush's "Wuthering Heights". Hayley mentioned that she had recently seen Kate perform, but that she didn't sing that song. And at the risk of upsetting any Kate Bush fans, I have to say that I think Hayley sings it much better anyway. A truly mesmerising performance.
And so finally to her "new favourite" as she called it, a real blockbuster to close the show "Bridge Over Troubled Water". As always a wonderful performance and yet another example of Hayley blowing the composer and original performer of a song out of the water. I love the way Hayley sings this, it is fabulous.
And so it was all over. Hayley walked off stage to a standing ovation, and there was much cheering, clapping and stamping of feet, even among the orchestra too, to bring Hayley back on the stage to receive her bouquet and then to perform two encores. The first was "Amazing Grace", a song that Hayley these days performs with impressive power and had made her own, something that cannot be easy with such a well known hymn. And finally, "I'll be home for Christmas". When we did eventually get to meet Hayley on the Sunday, she seemed very cagey about whether she really would be going home (to NZ) for Christmas, so we still don't know.
And so it ended. A truly wonderful evening.

Martin D

[martindn]

The "After Show"

As usual after a Hayley concert, we were looking for opportunities to meet Hayley. It has been a long time since Dublin for most of us. But we soon learned that she had already left the hall, it seems there was a reception involving the Lord Mayor. Oh well!

So we retired to a hostelry to drown our sorrows. Not that I, or I suspect any of us felt sorry. On a high would be more like it, having just been to a fabulous show with our lovely Hayley.

Juliette was staying in a hostel a few streets away from the Jurys Inn, which had a bar below it. We decided to accompany Juliette to her lodgings and get a drink there, but the bar looked a little too raucous for our taste. Not to worry, there was another one a few doors away that advertised "craic", actually a singer with a guitar. But a traditional Irish pub, and a place to enjoy a pint or two of the "black stuff". And so we did, eventually getting back to our rooms in the early hours of Sunday.

A fabulous night, and we still have another one to come tomorrow!

Martin D

[martindn]

Sunday

Up for breakfast, where Juliette joined us, then off to explore. We visited the North Cathedral, where there was a service in progress so we didn't go inside. We had a fine if rather cool day in which to do it. We also needed to get Juliette back to the airport; she was not able to stay for the Sunday show due to her work, so we accompanied her to the bus station, just a couple of hundred yards from the Jurys inn.

Then we had new arrivals that were to join us for the Sunday concert, first Martin, and later Joyce and her friend.

Then back to the Jury's Inn to eat before once again walking round to the City Hall for 6pm to queue for the show.

Actually, Comet, Tristan and myself didn't need to queue, since we were all in the balcony for this show, which does have allocated seats. But we joined the others in a spirit of HWI solidarity.

Martin D

[martindn]

Sunday's Show

Once again, doors opened at about 7.15, and in we went. Once again HWI were mostly in the front row. I however was up in the balcony, in row K, next to an aisle. Comet and Tristan were in the same row, a few seats away across the aisle.

Two things were immediately clear. Firstly, that we had a much better overall view, we would be able to see the whole orchestra and the whole of the big screen. Also, from the bits of sound that we heard, that the sound quality was far better up there. The downside was being further away from the action, quite a long way back, and would need a lot of zoom to get decent pictures of Hayley.

Even worse, as things filled ,up it was clear that without holding the camera above my head or out in the aisle, which would have blocked the view of those behind me, I could not position the camera to get a clear view of Hayley, and that even when I managed to get a line of sight, this could be closed in a moment by those in front of me moving about.

So although the sound quality and balance during the show were superb, the pictures were not. I ended up filming the big screen, which had live pictures of the performances instead.

The show itself was pretty much exactly as the previous evening. Once again HWI got a mention and applause, this time right at the start of the show. The difference was everything sounded better than the last night from where I was, and I was much better able to appreciate the subtle effects from the orchestra, particularly in "The Snowman". The guy sitting next to me didn't seem to pleased about "The Snowman" and said he would rather have had a few more songs from Hayley instead. For me, I think the organisers got the balance exactly right. "The Snowman" was a superb performance if you actually listened to the playing and did not let yourself get too distracted by the pictures and the narrative.

Hayley once again was in fine form. Once again, a wonderfully uplifting and enjoyable show. The setlist was exactly the same as the Saturday show, but being positioned where I was it sounded much better. I was told afterwards by others who had been in the front row that the Sunday show sounded better for them too, so perhaps some changes had been made to the sound setup.

For the first time I eventually managed to locate Tim and his piano on the stage. Behind Hayley, and facing forwards, as he told us afterwards, a very strange place to be. The previous evening I had been able to hear his playing, but had no idea where he was.

Once again Hayley received a standing ovation at the end and performed the same two encores.

Martin D

[martindn]

Sunday after show

This time we knew what we were doing. Before the show Grant had come up to the balcony to inform us that we should meet at the bottom of the stairs after the show.

In the event, rather than going to the reception, we were led to a space below the balcony on the first floor. There we were to wait for Hayley.
Tim emerged first, shortly followed by Hayley, and we spent a pleasant few minutes with her, signing programmes and chatting. We learned that she was flying straight from Dublin to her next shows at Madison Wisconsin, and not returning home to London.

Tomas, the conductor and musical director of the orchestra also appeared, and his love of what he does was obvious. And inspiring leader for those young musicians I thought.

All too soon it was time for goodbyes, Hayley disappearing off to her reception; this time we understood some councillors were involved, and we off to the Jurys Inn for drinks and bed.

As always we felt very thankful that Hayley had taken the time to come and see us. She was genuinely disappointed when Grant told her that Juliette was not able to be there.

Martin D