|
Post by thomas on Jul 2, 2006 21:31:32 GMT
Hi everyone ! Hayley also comes to Germany from time to time but she appears in much more concerts in England. I didn't have time for the "world football concerts" in Germany where she appeared and her solo tour starts maybe in October (long, long time until then and unconfirmed as well). So I bought a ticket for the "Toast New Zealand" in Regent's Park to shorten the time until October. But here's my question: Did anybody of you who is also going there already received the ticket ? I bought the ticket online in the end of May but until today I haven't received it. The flight is booked, the hotel is booked but the ticket is still missing. I guess tomorrow I have to call the ticket centre to make clear what happened with my ticket. I know there are still 2 weeks until the "Toast New Zealand" but from day to day I get more nervous if I receive my ticket in time. Does anybody of you have the same problem with a booked ticket for this show ? I hope to meet many of you there. As long as they let me enter the venue.
|
|
|
Post by roger on Jul 2, 2006 22:13:16 GMT
Hi Thomas,
I understand your concern about the ticket but it is not unusual for ticket agencies to delay sending them out until about a week prior to the event. Then they send them all off at once. Certainly it would be as well to enquire but there is not likely to be a problem, provided they allow time for it to reach you in Germany.
This is most unfortunate but I don't know if any of the team are going to that event. I will be seeing Hayley that day but that is in the evening in Cardiff. Anyone else going to Regent's Park, please say so here!
Enjoy the concert, Thomas and we look forward to reading what you have to say about it afterwards.
Roger
|
|
|
Post by Richard on Jul 3, 2006 7:50:40 GMT
Hello Thomas! I'm not going to this event either due to other commitments that day, but I believe Peter (postscript) is going. I hope your ticket arrives soon, and I look forward to reading all about it in due course. Unless something else crops up earlier, my next Hayley concert will be at Cadogan Hall on 23rd September, and I'm expecting a good turn-out from HWI for that one! i.postimg.cc/9fYxy370/smilie-big-grin.gifBest Wishes from London, Richard
|
|
|
Post by thomas on Jul 3, 2006 20:46:53 GMT
Hi ! Thank you Roger and Richard for your replies. Today I've called the ticket office in England and they told me my ticket was sent on Friday so I should receive it in time. Let's see maybe there's Peter or also another HWI member I can meet there and if not there will be another event. Actually I'm thinking about the Cadogan Hall on 23rd September as well. Sounds interesting. I will see. I arrive in London one day before the event in Regent's Park so I have time to take a look at the ticket office there. I hope I have a chance to talk to Hayley either before or after her concert in Regent's Park. Because she's having another concert the same day in Cardiff I guess she won't have much time. Thomas
|
|
|
Post by roger on Jul 3, 2006 21:42:00 GMT
Hi Thomas,
I know Hayley will be leaving Regents Park as soon as she can because she has a difficult journey to Cardiff and not a lot of time to do it in.
If you are able to come to Cadogan Hall in September, you are sure to meet some of the team because several of us are going. I hope we see you there.
Roger
|
|
|
Post by postscript on Jul 4, 2006 8:04:02 GMT
Hello Thomas! I'm not going to this event either due to other commitments that day, but I believe Peter (postscript) is going. I hope your ticket arrives soon, and I look forward to reading all about it in due course. Unless something else crops up earlier, my next Hayley concert will be at Cadogan Hall on 23rd September, and I'm expecting a good turn-out from HWI for that one! i.postimg.cc/9fYxy370/smilie-big-grin.gifBest Wishes from London, Richard Hi Thomas and Richard. How apposite! Sorry i wasn't on yesterday to answer earlier but mine arrived yesterday. I too was beginning to get worried and was going to leave it until midwek beforoe ringing and chasing. Peter
|
|
|
Post by thomas on Jul 5, 2006 20:24:24 GMT
Hi Peter ! Today I also received my ticket. Now I have everything for my London-weekend-trip. Actually I also plan to go to New Zealand for about 4 weeks in Feb./Mar. next year. There could be some useful informations also at Regent's Park. But first of all I go there to enjoy Hayley's performance. Can't imagine a better reason. Let's hope we have the chance to say "hello" despite her busy schedule.
|
|
|
Post by Richard on Jul 6, 2006 7:27:28 GMT
Hello Thomas and Peter! I hope you both have a good time with Hayley at Regent's Park, and I'm looking forward to reading your reports. Although I'm not going to this one, I can make a small contribution... 9 days to go! i.postimg.cc/9fYxy370/smilie-big-grin.gifBest Wishes from London, Richard
|
|
|
Post by postscript on Jul 6, 2006 8:34:48 GMT
Well, Thomas, you know vaguely what I look like from my avatar, taken in a winter coat in Shrewsbury Abbey last December, so you will have to keep an eye out for me. There should be one or two others there (who also show themselves in their avatars) too but unless I missed it in earlier posts I'm not aware of more than a general awareness of each other, which I think is the same casual way we are all looking at meeting up at Newmarket, two days before.
I hope you have a good weekend in London Town. its a great place. If Hayley likes it then it must be pretty much up to scratch!
Peter
|
|
|
Post by thomas on Jul 6, 2006 19:48:37 GMT
Hi Peter ! I will look out for you in Regent's Park. I will be there the whole day from 11am until 6pm mostly because I don't know at which time Hayley has got her performance. I'm happy to go to London again. I has been more than 6 years now since I've been in London the last time at millennium. And thank you for your best wishes Richard. I hope to meet you and some others at another event.
|
|
|
Post by Richard on Jul 10, 2006 7:37:05 GMT
Hello again everybody! Here is an article from the Buckinghamshire Free Press, but I think they've made a little mistake! Win tickets to taste Oz and NZ at ToastCompetition closes on 7:00am Monday 24th July 2006 This is your chance to win one of five pairs of tickets to Toast - Europe's largest celebration of New Zealand and Australia food, wine and entertainment. The event will bring together the highest profile antipodean culinary talent, along with a top line-up of entertainers including Dave Dobbyn, Hayley Westenra, Roy & HG and Paul Kelly, to create the country's most prestigious celebration of New Zealand and Australian talent. Toast 2006 sees the introduction of Taste of Australasia', a food festival within the event. Taste of Australasia' will gather around 12 of New Zealand and Australia's top chefs and restaurants (from fine London restaurants and abroad) serving a selection of signature dishes. Shane Osborn of Pied a Terre, David Thompson of Nahm, Brett Graham of The Ledbury and Nic Watt of Roka will join the likes of John Torode and Bill Granger for Toast the finest Australasian food festival in the northern hemisphere taking place in Regents Park on 15th and 16th July.Exciting interactive features will also add to the visitor experience, including the new chef's demonstration stage which will showcase the events culinary talent, Wines of Australia Wine Appreciation Theatres and The Sunday Times Travel Theatre. All entry tickets to Toast include £10 worth of restaurant currency, to give all visitors the opportunity to sample the gourmet delicacies. Also, accommodating the high calibre of visitors, there will be a VIP experience available with exclusive entertainment performances and complimentary food and wine included in the price of the ticket. Tickets for this year's event will be strictly limited and are £35 each. For tickets call 0870 906 3776 or go to www.toastfestivals.co.ukWhat is the capital of Australia?Competition prize: Five readers will each win a pair of tickets to Toast valued at £70 Competition rules: The editor’s decision is final and no correspondence will be entered into. Newsquest employees may not enter. There is no cash alternative to the prize.
Click on the link to see the entry form, but I notice the stated closing date for the competition is over a week later than the event, so it probably closed this morning. Never mind, the rest of the article is still valid! i.postimg.cc/9fYxy370/smilie-big-grin.gifRichard
|
|
|
Post by thomas on Jul 10, 2006 20:21:34 GMT
Hi Richard ! First I was a bit confused about 24th July until I've read your complete post to the end and realized you were as confused as me about this date. So my English can't be too bad. I bought the regular ticket for 35£ for Regent's Park and not the horribly expensive VIP ticket. In Oberhausen I saw Hayley after her show also without having a VIP ticket, although there was one. Bye, Thomas
|
|
|
Post by thomas on Jul 13, 2006 19:56:31 GMT
On the webpage www.toastfestivals.co.uk is a link called "Entertainment" where you can find the schedule of the artists who perform on 15th July in Regent's Park. Hayley's performance is at 2.45pm. But I will be there the whole day anyway. Schedules can be subjects to change like everywhere. Thomas
|
|
|
Post by Richard on Jul 15, 2006 7:57:35 GMT
Hello again everybody! I'm not quite so upset about missing 'Toast NZ' today, now I've read this article from the New Zealand Herald. 'Jandal scandal' at Antipodes festival Saturday July 15, 2006 By David Eames Visitors to a London celebration of all things Antipodean have been banned from wearing jandals, and forced to follow the fashion dictates of the nation that gave us the knotted hanky. Organisers of this weekend's Toast Australia and New Zealand festival at London's Regent's Park have banned the rubber icons, despite the fact the mercury has nudged 30C in recent days. Former Herald reporter Ainsley Thomson, now based in Britain, contacted the Weekend Herald yesterday to raise awareness of the impending "jandal scandal". A quick check of the Toast website confirmed the dress code at the festival will be "smart casual: no board shorts or ripped jeans. Dress flip-flops only." Toast is the largest Australasian food festival in the Northern Hemisphere. It includes wine tastings, and performances by entertainers such as Dave Dobbyn, Hayley Westenra and Paul Kelly. Organisers have this year decided to go a bit upmarket, after the 2005 event descended into a bacchanal. "Last year's Toast was a drunken disaster," Miss Thomson said. "They only sold wine by the bottle, things got more than messy and [New Zealand band] Goldenhorse, who were playing, refused to go on stage ... because the crowd was out of control." The Australian Toast, which was held on the Sunday, was almost called off after the New Zealand excesses of the previous day, she said. The move to ban jandals and board shorts has baffled Herald fashion editor Fiona Hawtin, who described jandals as being "very Ibiza" of late. Though she admitted to being no fan of the rubber jandals with canvas or material toe straps, all-rubber jandals worn well could "look fabulous, and are very acceptable now". It was not uncommon to see young women out on the town "all glammed up, but wearing their flip-flops", she said. Clothing label Workshop's national retail manager Chris Snell reckons defining exactly what constitutes a board short could be problematic. "The whole category of what is a board short and what isn't ... I guess they must have very knowledgeable security guards." The ban seemed out of keeping with a New Zealand-focused event, he said. "I would have thought that, at a function like that, where you were celebrating New Zealand- or Australian-ness, that you would allow the full spectrum of New Zealand- and Australian-ness. Antipodean antipathy is understood to be building over the ban, with many New Zealanders planning to wear their jandals and board shorts in open defiance.
I hope today's event will be trouble-free, and I look forward to reading the reports. Richard
|
|
|
Post by postscript on Jul 15, 2006 18:52:52 GMT
[Modified at 10:28 Sunday 16th to correct a major faux pas on my part. For some inexplicable reason I called Thomas George throughout! I make this note for anyone re-reading and wondering what happened].
Hi everyone.
I have much to catch up on and tend to be one of the slower, if also one of the most volumninous posters--facts which are not always related, I might observe--but here is a quickie from Toast New Zealand approximately forty minutes after it closed and two and a half hours after I left.
I am going to rely upon later postings from: Grant, who is probably now on his train home and Thomas (from Germany), who is staying in London until Sunday. Both these people took pictures. So did I but on much limited equipment and ability by comparison and I need time to sort myself.
For the moment it appeared only we three were there. It was Thomas who picked me out from my avatar when I was wandering stagewise very early on, to get the feel of the place, only to find I had missed Hayley by five minutes. She was doing a walkabout with an aide who kindly took Thomas and Hayley's picture for him.
They had obviously arrived very early and had been there at the official opening in which Hayley had participated with an a cappella rendition of Pokarekare Ana. No further sign of Hayley again until we caught a glimpse of her through the hessian fronting the stage, where she was waiting to mount the steps at the back of the stage prior to her being announced.
Two things first. Thomas, Grant and I were able to get acquainted with one another (I shall be seeing Grant at Gawesworth Hall (Macclesfield) in August prior to Hayley going on holiday to NZ (hopefully, although it will be winter there).
Prior to Hayley's appearance, while we decided to keep our good posiitons in front of the stage area (no seating, squat on grass) way ahead of time by some two hours, some Maoris gave a half-hour rendition of Maori songs and chants including an original Maori rendition of Pokarekare Ana. The interpretation Hayley gives lifts it superbly. She herself was to sing it in opening her half-hour stage performance and what a difference! Nonetheless the Maori singing was a pleasant background presentation of NZ atmosphere.
There were several other entertainments, many of which had specific meaning for the many Kiwis that were there BUT, as I had indicated might be the case, and in preparation for which I had moved to the actual audience arena bar before the stage, the crowds began gathering and pressed likewise forward, so Thomas and Grant joined me.
The organisers reckoned they had 8,000 there and I reckon all 8,000 plus various attendants if they could get away with it, were in that arena for Hayley. Neither the previous nor the following acts which seemed particularly Kiwi-geared managed that response!
It is a shame that I report using a post reporting how the last year's Toast had descended into a near Bacchanalia but it is apposite. Hayley had two factors to cope with, which she handled with the superb aplomb of the well-accomplished Hayley.
One, was the dress she wore which was a simple lighweight summer dress of large white on black polka dots. This was not figure-hugging and so billowed like a sail. At one point I thought it was going to blow inside out like an umbrella and she was not wearing any underslip. She was totally unfazed as far as her singing and composure was concerned, in fact she shared a girl-to-girl laugh with Fiona about it during a pause.
Fiona was wearing a light top over jeans. Hayley continued to sing totally unfazed while very obviously her mind was taking-in how high the dress might blow, where the wind was coming from when it was most troublesome, so she could avoid that stage area and what was needed from her hands, as casually as possible, to keep the dress under control.
She was not helped by a few determined to follow last year's example of over-enjoyment of the liquid refreshments who wolf-whistled their applause at the wind's various impertinences.
She got her own back in a superb Hayley riposte of refined ladylike manners.
'Would you guys like any more beer?' 'Yes' they roared in response, as she had expected. 'Well, you see that tent way back at the other end of the field, it's over there!' They were sober enough not only to realise they had been caught out but gracious enough to recognise her guile and give her polite admonition a good laugh. They also heeded it! I think they also respected the way she handled them. They realised they were on a loser in contesting with her.
Regarding sound, you have to wander to know the full effect. Where we were we could not judge as the intention was for the 8,000 stretching back at least 100 yards from us. It is possible Fiona's violin wasn't as prominently mixed-in as it might have been and possibly the piano was over-amplified. Possibly it was less sensitively played than when Ian accompanies Hayley. He had been replaced by a young man whose name I forget. Sorry. Maybe it was a combination of the three points I have made that rendered the backing less than ideal. Hayley's mike was fortunately well balanced and obviously of high quality. She, as always was simply superb and her microphone chit-chat with the audience was excellent.
As with Newmarket she had an interruption but this time she responded simply by giving the guy a chance to say something and then telling him she simply couldn't hear him and carried on.
She gave a concert almost identical to Newmarket but for one or two specific changes. Her song cycle was: Pokarekare Ana The Water is wide Cassinni's Ave Maria Scarborough Fair Then she gave us what she said she had not sung for awhile Who Painted the Moon Black? It was great to hear her sing this.I thi nk it was the request made at Newmarket. Then the Lord of the Rings 'May It Be' In Trutina and concluded with Hine e Hine.
She declined an encore which she could have given without taxing the audience.
It was a superb summer's day. For Hayley, very reminiscent of her home country and i should add that yet again I saw something of my own country of which I was unaware.
I was aware, a few yearas back, that there was a major investment in Regent's Park upgrading the area. I had forgotten just how large that park is but also discovered the marvelous re-investment. The gardens from Portland Square to the Festival site had been relaid as originally designed in 1860 and the result is absolutely fantastic. So fantastic, I reckon they came up to Hayley's standard for that day!
Peter
|
|