March 20th, 2006 Concert. Worcester, MA U.S.A.

[jim1009]

Just a quick note to get this one started. I will post more soon with a few pictures.
Hayley was accompanied by Jeff Franzel & Askold Buk

Set-List

1. Pokarekare Ana
2. Prayer
3. Both Sides Now
4. May It Be
5.[Instrumental] The Beatles - In My Life
6.[Instrumental] Askold Buk - Without You
7. Ave Maria
8. Never Saw Blue
9. Amazing Grace

Intermission

10. [Instrumental] Bill Withers - Ain't No Sunshine
11. [Instrumental] Jeff Franzel - Reminiscing
12. The Mummer's Dance
13. The Mists Of Islay
14. She Moves Through The Fair
15. I Say Grace
16. In Trutina
17. Hine e Hine

Encore

18. The Water Is Wide

Jim

[roger]

Thanks very much, Jim. It's always nice to know which songs Hayley includes in the latest concerts.

I have always hoped to hear her perform The Mummer's Dance live but, despite having seen her so many times, she hasn't done so yet. I remain ever hopeful.

Roger

[stevemacdonald]

I read where they had a hard time filling up the venue for this gig.

Two things strike me as possible reasons:

1. Worcester is not a big enough place to support an up-and-coming artist like Hayley and it's too far from Boston to tap into her considerable fanbase there.

2. Tickets: $37, $34 -- that may seem like a pittance to some but it's way over a lot of people's heads. It took me a long time to scrape up the $24 just to see Hayley at Joe's Pub (and then they made us pay a $12 drink minimum!). While Hayley is still establishing herself in the USA it just makes sense to keep the prices within easy reach for all.

[wormy]

That's right.. The guitarist is Askold Buk. I didn't get his name when they were performing in Melbourne, FL.
Pretty much the same set as the Melbourne one..
I'm sure you enjoyed yourself Jim.

[Joe]

Thanks, Jim, for the set list. I look forward to seeing your pictures!

Joe

[postscript]

Hi everyone!

Jim. Thank you for posting the detailed programme Hayley sang at Worcester. I look forward to your scans but is a report following? You mention a follow-through and it seems yo are the most likely candidate, please.

I note Steve's comment that he read they had a hard time filling the hall. What can it hold and how full was it? It was interesting learning of Steve's views that the venue was perhaps not a large enough catchment area? Possible explanation but it could also be lack of advance promotion. What are your views, Jim?

Worcester, I believe, was a replacement of a much earlier, perhaps in the Pure run, cancellation. It was that one i had intended to combine with a visit to friends but I recall at the time from my Rand MacKnally that it seemed an odd location. Can anyone tell us more, please?

Peter

[fusilier23]

Well, speaking as someone whose mom is from there and who spent four years in Worcester, and sang with his college chorus in Mechanics Hall, I am also surprised. Worcester isn't really THAT far from Boston, it takes about half an hour to 40 minutes to get there, BUT, assuming an 8 o'clock start time, that means you have to get going not long after 7 to account for parking and all that, and assuming a 10 o'clock end time, plus half an hour if you want to snag Hayley afterward, it's going to be well past 11 by the time you get home, and on a weeknight that's tough. Worcester itself, though home to four or five colleges, is kind of a rust-belt city otherwise, with a fair amount of unemployment, many areas you don't want to be in after dark, and a lot of empty or burned-out buildings. I could be wrong, but I always got the sense that it was a city whose best days had ended after World War II and who the rennaisance/gentrification had passed by. The intellectual life of that city really isn't enough to support Hayley, and i dunno what kind of press was done to drum up support for this.

It IS a pity this is as far north as Hayley got this time out. I know Kristyn really wants to see her and meet her, but, meaning no respect to the Pine Tree State, Maine is a little bit off the beaten track for a touring musician. There IS the Bangor Symphony, I suppose, if Hayley wants to appear with them.

[roger]

From eWorcester.com

Tuesday, March 21, 2006
Westenra’s odyssey a winner

MUSIC REVIEW


By Richard Duckett TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF


WORCESTER— Precocious 18-year-old New Zealander Hayley Westenra’s remarkable musical odyssey brought her to Mechanics Hall for the first time last night, where she put on an absorbing, often haunting and always enjoyable display of her vocal talents.

Westenra could be said to have already conquered her native country, Great Britain, and a few other countries as well. But although she hasn’t yet cornered the United States market, she is clearly on her way.

And last night’s concert — presented by Music Worcester Inc. — showed a singer well on her way to impressive mastery of all the music she wants to convey with her voice. The odyssey will continue, one hopes, and it would be wonderful to find her in Mechanics Hall again in a couple of years to see where her musical journey has taken her.


The 18-number performance (which included one encore and four instrumentals by accompanying pianist Jeff Franzel and guitarist Askold Buk) covered a wide range of styles — classical, operatic, folk, Maori and pop. Westenra seemed at home with each, although she particularly registered with such Celtic gems as “Mists of Islay” and “She Moves Through the Fair.”

The majority of the selections were from her latest (and second) major international CD, which is titled, appropriately enough, “Odyssey.”

Westenra’s voice has a soprano pureness as well as a richness that sometimes belies her young years. It’s a voice all her own, with great control and tremendous command of the upper register, but you could be forgiven for thinking about such singers as Enya and Judy Collins and wonder when or whether it will be safe to make comparisons.

Westenra invited that judgment to some extent by singing Joni Mitchell’s “Both Sides Now” which was also famously covered by Collins. Westenra did all the right things, singing the moody piece note perfect and with plenty of feeling. But one suspects both Mitchell and Collins had seen a little more of both sides when they recorded the song than the occasionally vulnerable looking 18-year-old. But could either of them — or anybody else, for that matter — offer “Ave Maria” in the haunting and perfect pitched manner Westenra sang the piece last night?

Looking beautiful in a blue dress, Westenra was a bright and cheery host, talking to the audience between songs. Her opening song was a Maori love song from New Zealand, “Pokarekare Ana” that almost had a poignant Celtic quality to it. Some of the more plainly commercial pop songs were rather unremarkable as compositions, but Westenra musically extracted the very best that could have been hoped for.

Hers is a voice that can move in an up tempo groove as well as atmospherically lament. A marvelous example of the former was a wonderfully rolling traditional number called “The Mummer’s Dance.” Another Maori haunting song closed the official part of the concert and a close-to-full-house of 1,200 people gave Westenra a standing ovation.

[Richard]

Thanks for posting the review Roger!

It's good to see that the press are now regularly comparing Hayley with Enya, and making favourable comments about her Celtic-style numbers.

I notice they call Hayley a New Zealander in the first paragraph, then in the second they say her native country is Great Britain! Trust me to spot that! i.postimg.cc/9fYxy370/smilie-big-grin.gif

Richard

[postscript]

Hi fusiler.

Thank you for the 'low down' on Worcester Mass. It about sums up my anticipation of it from discussion with friends but I am surprised (assuming you heed the speed limits!) it is so short a journey from Boston. In my case I would have been cutting more across country so I think I estimated it at around twice that but I would probably have stayed over in Worcester and made it part of an all-seeing trip, as I did recently when trailing Hayley around the UK last fall.

Thanks, anyway, for your contribution.
Peter.

Peter

[postscript]

Well, Richard, technically they are right! Little girl Hayley is now mature yong woman Hayley and her OWN home is of course her London flat!

But until the day some young man convinces her her home should be theirs, she will always regard NZ as home and her first port of call. I suspect that 'theirs' will also be in NZ. I can't see Hayley actully making home anywhere else! She's Kiwi through and through and proud of it! And rightly so! I'm very pro-NZ these days. Almost envious!

Peter

[postscript]

That is superb. Thank you for that report on Worcester, Roger.

I don't agree with 'precocious'. Perhaps he's a bachelor, like me, but more easily thrown than I when coping with young people of extraordinary maturity. As we have discussed elsewhere, Hayley close up does throw one's orientation somewhat.

Well, having made so sweeping a statement I thought I ought to check myself. Reference to Chambers led to Collins and then Websters (it is American journalism after all) and then back to the new Oxford Reference.

On the basis of all of these I still think he is wrong. To be 'precocious' is to have AN aspect of development ahead of everything else. This implies IMbalance. One of the most extraordinary aspects of Hayley is that with all the many aspects that are 'ahead of her development' she is extraodinarily well balanced!

Westenra could be said to have already conquered her native country, Great Britain,

In a fun way I'm sure that made her indignant, though of course she wouldn't d say so publicly!

Westenra’s voice has a soprano pureness as well as a richness that sometimes belies her young years. It’s a voice all her own, with great control and tremendous command of the upper register, but you could be forgiven for thinking about such singers as Enya and Judy Collins and wonder when or whether it will be safe to make comparisons.

Westenra invited that judgment to some extent by singing Joni Mitchell’s “Both Sides Now” which was also famously covered by Collins. Westenra did all the right things, singing the moody piece note perfect and with plenty of feeling. But one suspects both Mitchell and Collins had seen a little more of both sides when they recorded the song than the occasionally vulnerable looking 18-year-old. But could either of them — or anybody else, for that matter — offer “Ave Maria” in the haunting and perfect pitched manner Westenra sang the piece last night?

This is a fair and exciting critique. It recognises (purple) what Haley herself is aware of, the need to pace her desires to move on speedily, but not so fast she outpaces the collective whole of her abilities. As for that concluding part (red).He is recognising those qualities that are pure Hayley. She is becoming what i believe is her wish and intention, 'simply' to be herself and in creating that brand image of 'Hayley Westenra' she will move not only 'through the fair', but through the full gamut of the music she wishes to sing, regardless of genre or any other classification.

The simple message from Hayley, I believe, is 'don't box me in', don't type-cast me', I am myself.

Hayley is not heading for being recognised as 'just' a great singer. She is seeking to be recognised as Hayley Westenra. That is the brand image.

and a close-to-full-house of 1,200 people gave Westenra a standing ovation

That is a relief from previous posts implying a difficult sell in a less than ideal venue. Sounds lke it was a great night!

Peter

[stevemacdonald]

... Precocious 18-year-old New Zealander Hayley Westenra’s...

... Westenra could be said to have already conquered her native country, Great Britain, and a few other countries as well.

Bad phrasing aside, when you consider the opening statement in this review it becomes transparent in the following sentence that "her native country" was already named and that the subsequent "Great Britian," was being named as a second conquest. It's not that confusing if you study it under a verbal microscope.

Didn't Prof. Henry Higgins smugly say the Americans haven't been using proper English for years? What would he make of us now?

[Dave]

stevemacdonald said:

Didn't Prof. Henry Higgins smugly say the Americans haven't been using proper English for years? What would he make us now?

English?

Steve, I agree with your interpretation of the "native country, Great Britain" sentence and as you said it is badly phrased. For example, it is too dependent on correct interpretation of the comma placements.

Cheers, Dave

[Dave Gibson]

Hello from Allentown,PA,USA.
I was there in Worcester,Mass. that 1st night of Spring,March 20,2006.It was very cold outside [23 degrees],but warm as toast inside Mechanics Hall. A beautiful old building built in the 1850's.The hall was filled with the lovely voice of Hayley, accompanied by two very talented musicans.
One women I talked to who worked there said 900 tickets were sold before the show.
From what I saw it was not packed but it wasquite full. Maximum seating is 1200 seats. I have a few pictures to share and will do so soon. This is my 2nd Hayley concert and it was truly grand.
As the review in the local paper , I thought it was actually quite positive and fair despite the use or miss use of a word or two,but then again what do I know when it comes to the Kings English. Don't tell Prof. Higgins.
Cheers,Dave Gibson