Hi everyone,
I'm posting this report on Hayley's part in the Il Divo concert at Cardiff Castle, including "before, during and after" sections followed by some photos (far less than usual - read on!) that I managed to take. I've recovered now from two long car drives in three days, both late into the night with last night's being the latest (3 am home) so here are some details.
Before the concertAfter a trouble-free 160 mile car drive from SE Hampshire to Cardiff (Roger having journeyed to meet me in my home town), the first incident of note was on entry to the high-fenced concert venue, the open air Castle Field, which was roughly 100 yards wide and 250 yards long. There was a bag check and I was taken to one side by "security" for a lecture... about my camera, of course. Security was extensive and tight at this concert and after a wait of several minutes, I was informed firmly that if I took any photos whatsoever I would be removed from the arena immediately! I decided to ignore my warning but I would wait until about half way into Hayley's performance before starting to take any photos at all - and then, only furtive and "snatched" shots.
The Concert (Hayley's part)At 7:30, the appointed start time, there was no sign of Hayley - and Roger remarked to me that he hoped Hayley had made it in time from her New Zealand Toast concert in London (150 miles distant) where she was not due to leave until 3:30pm the same day. However, we needn't have worried as two minutes later, the announcer introduced Hayley as this 'very successful Universal recording artist' (or similar) and onto the vast stage in her lovely blue "Newmarket Races" dress strode Hayley... to loud applause! Yes, there were some empty seats near us in the front middle block, but this was expected from previous Il Divo concerts we had attended. Most people were seated but some of their fans would not reach their seats until after Hayley performed (but were probably somewhere in the Arena).
Hayley was bubbly in her initial introduction and engaged in some repartee with the audience about the wonderful weather etc., and there was a nice response from them (us!). She is certainly maturing these days in the way she interacts with her audience and there is no doubt that Hayley is becoming increasingly confident in her stage presence - a seasoned professional really, at 19 years of age!
To our delight (those who knew!) Hayley was soon joined on stage by her friend Fiona Pears on violin (both from the same home town in NZ) and who, frankly, is the best accompanist Hayley could have! I looked for another Hayley regular, her Musical Director Ian Tilley but no, the pianist was someone who we vaguely remembered (from somewhere!)... Al Gurr. He did a very good job... Fiona was amazing... Hayley was astounding!
The finer details of a wonderful show are somewhat blurred by now but I can tell you Hayley's repertoire, with a little help from Roger who wrote down all the song details while I plotted how to take photos without detection! She sang eight songs and they were:
Pokarekare Ana
The Water Is Wide
Ave Maria (Caccini)
Scarborough Fair
Bridal Ballad
May It Be (prefaced by a nice plug for NZ!)
In Trutina
Hine e Hine
I noted particularly that in Bridal Ballad, Hayley did not drop an octave when she reached the high notes - as she has done in a few other songs she first recorded in her younger days. She stayed true to the original 2004 version as on her UK "Pure" special edition, so she *can* still hit the high notes, when she needs to! Hayley left the stage to some appreciative and warm applause from an audience who were, of course, there primarily to see "Il Divo".
It soon became apparent that few people were taking photos - the concert "Gestapo" had spoken and we were being watched! But I did manage to take some undetected, and during Hayley's final song or two, I became somewhat bolder. As we left our seats in the interval, security wouldn't even let me take a "wide" shot of the crowd (perhaps 10,000) inside the open air Arena!!!
After the ConcertWe then found out from the main gate security staff, that to get to the performers entrance, we had to leave the Arena and there would be no readmittance - but as this was the only way to *possibly* meet Hayley, we had to do it. So we said goodbye to the concert and after a 15 minute wander through lovely Cardiff parkland and trees, we found ourselves at the rear of the huge open air Arena - but it was of course locked up, with security staff manning the gates - on the inside. This meant we could not explain to them why we were there, so we stayed a discreet distance away. After a while, just after Il Divo started their act (and were clearly audible!) the gates partially opened and I saw a car inside, with a young lady standing near it, she was waiting for something or other. It was Hayley! She was soon clearly visible and the gates were open, so Roger called her name... and she immediately recognised him then me... and waved back, with a gorgeous smile. Within seconds Hayley had had a quick word with the car occupant(s) and was striding outside on her own to meet us, beaming all over her face... and so were we! After the greetings, Hayley quickly explained that they had to go soon, as they were returning to London ready for their next day's engagements but yes, of course we could take photographs!
Well, we were about to start the photos when we noticed that two other people had joined us... it was Fiona and the tour Manager (explained Fiona - but we didn't catch his name!) so we quickly persuaded all three to join our impromptu photo session and we even managed to persuade them to let us use the parkland as a backdrop in some of them.
All three had, of course, been at Regents Park London a few hours earlier, so what a day for them!
All too soon, our brief encounter had to end and as we retraced our steps around the main arena, Roger spied a cute looking 'pig' in the grass
which was made out of landscaping. As I lined up my camera (photo later), Hayley and her small entourage slowly drove by... and waved. Soon, everyone had seen the pig, pointed and laughed; it gave us all a nice chuckle to end with!
Eventually, Roger and I got back to the Arena main entrance again and as we could not gain readmittance, we were leaving the grounds near the Castle itself... then I noticed that you could *just* see over the high fencing to where il Divo were on
stage
i.postimg.cc/9fYxy370/smilie-big-grin.gif However... they were about 250 yards distant - so that wasn't much use really. Well, not to be deterred, I still attempted a few handheld long distance photos and you can see the result later... you can just about recognise "the boys".
The final thing we had wanted to photograph was the impressive new(est) bridge across the River Severn estuary, on our way back to England. But unfortunately, it was almost completely dark as we reached it, and there was nowhere to stop so photography was impossible. But we tried anyway
and you will be able to see the, shall we say "interesting" result of Roger's wobbly handheld shot taken through my car windscreen at 60 mph with my camera, later.
Photos soon!
Cheers, Dave
She has the fun loving personality to match too! 
