Concert Review: Salford, UK - September 12, 2009
Andrea Lucas:
Good morning everybody and greetings from Manchester! We had to wait for roughly 2 hours until the gates were opened. In between I wandered around a little bit, we had some of the rolls Stewart had prepared and a couple of sweets. The weather was absolutely lovely and in fact the waiting time wasn’t that bad. While still waiting, we heard Chris doing the sound check. He sang “Missing You”, “The Long And Winding Road” and “Without You”. All songs he’d sang with an orchestra before. During his sound check the queue started moving as people were folding up their chairs and we were allowed to move on to the actual gate. I was surprised about how organized it was. Security made some people who arrived later and just took seats close to the head of the queue going to the back. I don’t think it would have been as “civilized” in Germany to be honest. While we were moving on, we could still hear Chris. Now he was doing “Don’t Pay The Ferryman”, “High On Emotion” and “The Snows Of New York”. Then finally it was time for the gates to open at 5 p.m. We had agreed that the one of us who was first would run to the stage to make sure we’d get to the front as close as possible. Stewart and I ran, but in the end it wasn’t necessary, because most of the people (there weren’t many in front of us anyway) didn’t want to be at the barrier and we settled down right in the front in the middle of the stage. As we arrived at the stage the boys from the band were just leaving the stage. Obviously they had waited with opening the gates until Chris had finished the sound check. We were well pleased, but of course sitting on the ground, we weren’t able to look over the barrier…. A nice security guy told us we would be allowed to stand up, but closer to the concert, Chris R (who together with Alison sat next to us) brought two chairs for them. You could hire them, so Chris W and I sent Stewart to get some for us too. Now we had a perfect view!! I was a bit surprised there weren’t any other fans besides the five of us. To be honest I would have expected some more to be there. From the program we had bought before, we knew Chris would be on stage twice and there would be an interval. The show started with Jon Christos, a tenor from Salford. He was very good and he obviously enjoys performing a lot. He was followed by a young lady named Jenny Williams and after she’d one a song solo they sang a couple of duets. I was very impressed and enjoyed it a lot. Jon invited us to sing along, if I remember correct most of the songs were on Italian, so there wasn’t much singing. At least at that point. I thought what a great start, but then there was a break. Actually I’d thought the orchestra would continue right away, but we had to wait for a while. The orchestra was the BBC Philharmonic and wow, they were very, very good and very, very loud. Well, no surprise with 78 people playing on stage… They did a couple of songs, then the presenter Heather Stott introduced Chris. For the introduction she had changed her dress – now she was wearing red!!! Of course the five of us were yelling like mad, so she noticed us and asked if we would be big fans and where we’ve seen Chris before. Chris W said “everywhere”. Well, almost…. Chris came on stage and was greeted with loud applause, but the audience was in good mood anyway. He was wearing his “normal” trousers, a white shirt and his jacket. We had thought he might wear a suit matching the occasion, but he did not. Now we not only heard the songs from the distance like at the sound check, but also saw him. He started with “Missing You”, followed by “The Long And Winding Road” and “Without You”. It was great! And of course he sang “Lady In Red”. There weren’t any steps coming down from the stage, as the concert was filmed and right in front of the stage was a camera man with his camera on “tracks” so he could move from one side to the other. Sorry, don’t know how that would be called in English. At first Chris was on stage, but then he got off the stage and walked along the front. There were like metal seats on the other side of the barrier we were standing at (we did get up as Chris came on stage) and he stood on one of those, so people could see him. Quite a lot of people rushed to the stage to be closer. Chris hugged some people, walked past us, shaking hands with some of the people at the front and then stood on the barrier again. He also took a ladies sunglasses and put them on. After finishing the song he climbed up on the stage again (Al had to help him a bit, as it was quite a high step) and waved to the audience before he disappeared. You could read from his lips that he said something like “I’ll be back later”. I think lots of people thought it would now be time for the intermission, but it was not. The orchestra played on and then Juliette Pochin came on stage. She did a song and then she was joined by Jon Christos for a medley of Abba songs. Both were wearing clothes in the style of the 70s and their performance was just great. I can’t remember all the songs, but among them were “Dancing Queen”, “Waterloo”, “Does Your Mother Know” and some more. What a pity that some people had left for getting something to drink or to eat. They missed a great part of the show. Again people got up to dance and sing along. They had told us before that there would be live TV conferences with the other places where BBC Proms in the Park were held. Like in Glasgow or London. And I think it was during the intermission they did that for the first time. The second part (it was quite cold and I was glad about the fleece jacket I had brought with me) started with the orchestra, then it was again time for Chris. Now he did three songs and started right away with “Don’t Pay The Ferryman”. We were standing again, as did many more. Like we are used to Chris asked “Do you want to dance?” and if we would be “High on emotion”. Of course people were yelling “Yeeeeeessss” and he did that song. Unfortunately there was only one more song before he left the stage, which was “The Snows Of New York”. OK, I know seven songs is more than I had expected and a lot of people were shouting “encore”, but he left. I think even IF he would have liked to come back, there wasn’t time for it, because now they did another live conference. As he introduced SONY, he said it would be the song to finish their short set. A couple of young composers had written a peace of music that was played simultaneously by all the orchestras of the different Proms. And it was always just one orchestra playing. Quite a nice idea to link them all, but I had the feeling, it kind of nterrupted our show in Salford. But the end of that part was quite spectacular with Handels “Royal fireworks music” and a live firework!!! Not only in Salford, but also at the other venues, what we could see on the big screens on the side of the stage. The end of the show was very patriotic. People were handed out little flags to wave before and also during the show. And they did wave their flags!!! For me not being used to things like that it was a bit strange, but all those around me enjoyed it a lot. Most people sang along with “Rule Britannia”, “Jerusalem” and “Land of Hope and Glory”. Juliette Pochin and Jon Christos were on stage again and did their best to make people get up, wave the flags and sing. She was wearing a dress in red, white and blue, he had a UK-flag attached to his suit. And for the very end of the show we had another firework. It was very good and a spectacular end of the Proms. Slowly people were gathering their belongings and left the park. We said goodbye to Alison and Chris R and walked to the car park. It took us a little while to get out, but it was just a short drive to the hotel. There we had a quick drink, then went to bed, being really tired. Well, that’s it, later we’re gonna drive back to Chris and Stewarts house and for me it’s back home in the evening. Take care and see some of you soon at the next concerts in Germany!!! Andrea