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| St.
David's Hall |
Some
Enchanting Evening
By
DutchMark and UKMark
If
you read our first impression of the concert you may be wondering what
PCCS is? Post Charlotte Concert Syndrome was first reported
in United States about two years ago. It is defined as
follows:
"Fluctuating
feelings of happiness and sadness after attending a
Charlotte concert". (Happy memories of the experience and
sadness because it is over!)
We
suspect this syndrome must be infectious because since
September 18th, there have been reported cases of PCCS
in the UK and the Netherlands. Seriously though, this really
was one of the most special evenings of "our
lives so far", and don't see how it could ever be
topped. (There's a book title in there somewhere!). You will
understand why as our story unfolds ........
Tuesday
Morning. DutchMark flew over from the Netherlands to London-Luton
airport and was met by UKMark. Together we drove to
Cardiff, which took about 3 hours. On arrival we checked
into our Hotel and had lunch before heading off to explore
Cardiff City.
We
found the shopping centre and a newspaper shop. We picked up
the South Wales Echo as USMark had already published details
of the Charlotte article earlier that morning! We then
headed for St David's Hall to pick up our tickets for the
evening. Ruth, of the Noah's Ark Appeal, had been kind
enough to reserve seat for us. Thanks
again Ruth! They were really great seats, but more
about this in a minute. As you might know,
CharlotteChurch.net also manages the official website
for Noah’s Ark Appeal; www.noahs-ark-appeal.org.
Charlotte had decided to donate the proceeds of all the
ticket sales from this performance to the appeal. It is a
shame that the appeal was not mentioned during the evening.
As
we approached St David's Hall we saw "Enchantment"
posters on each of the glass entrance doors. Dutch Mark
asked a lady at the information desk if it was possible to
have one of the posters after the concert was over to
take home to the Netherlands as a momentum. She said she had
one behind the counter that had kept falling down and gave
it to DutchMark. Naturally, UKMark asked if there were any
more available. Luckily, she produced another one! We picked
up our tickets and headed back to the hotel.
At
about 6pm we left the hotel again, this time smartly
dressed, and headed back to St. David's Hall.
At
7:15 we decided to take our seats. Our seats were in row F,
which we had been told was the 6th row from the stage
as you would expect. What we didn't know was that
the first 5 rows had been removed to extend the stage - row
F was the front row! And more amazing, they were centre
seats, just 3 feet from the beginning of the stage!
The stage was only about 2 feet high so we had an
unobstructed view. Charlotte was to be standing about
8 feet away! All of her family and friends were sitting in
the same section as us. Most of her family sat in the 3rd
row with a few, including her mum Maria in the
2nd.
You
might expect this would have been distracting for Charlotte
but in fact they were ideally positioned to provide support
(not that any was required). They were applauding and
cheering loudly throughout and of course her granddad was
whistling as usual. Charlotte clearly appreciated this.
After the concert the executive producer whom we got to talk
to confirmed this. We thanked him for this unique event. He
said something like: "Charlotte was absolutely
brilliant tonight. Her family and friends cheering to her
was an enormous stimulation. It makes all the
difference." Clearly Charlotte has a very close bond
with her family and they are all very supportive.
All
the production crew and recording equipment had been
flown over from America especially for the event. The
cameras were a new high definition format (1080 lines)
and required some bedding in. They had changed a couple of
the cameras already to ensure the recording would be
perfect. They were dotted all around the theatre.
The most impressive camera was on a telescopic arm (see
picture). This was able to sweep across the stage and the
audience, capturing views from all different angles.
Before
the concert actually started the executive producer
explained the set up for the evening. He praised the staff
and organisation at St David's Hall at some length. The
venue had been very accommodating over the past week as they
prepared for the performance. Monday night they rehearsed at
length. It appears from the newspaper coverage that the
press were permitted to attend these rehearsals.
He
told us it was going to be more of a television show than
just a regular concert. The show was going to be recorded in
4 sets, each time Charlotte was going to sing a couple of
songs and there were possibly going to be re-takes. The
people on the front rows sitting just in front of the
camera's, which included us :) , were asked not to stand up
even if we were tempted to give Charlotte a standing
ovation.
Charlotte
was accompanied by the BBC National Orchestra of Wales,
conducted by Arnie Roth. St.David’s Hall is home to this
orchestra so it was a logical choice. We really should thank
the orchestra and the conductor for doing an excellent job!
A
view of the stage…..
And
so onto the concert itself. We are finding it difficult to
express our feelings about the next couple of hours. Nothing
we say can possibly describe just how wonderful it really
was. We will do our best though and hopefully, when it is
shown on TV, you will also get to share the experience. Our
vantage point was quite unique though, something which the
TV recording cannot convey.
As
we have already indicated, the recording was split into 4
parts. For each part, Charlotte wore a different stunning
outfit.
Part
1:
Charlotte
appeared on stage in a white dress covered in sequins
looking every inch the glamorous young lady. She was wearing
golden hoop earrings. We were awestruck, seeing our
favourite singer so close and on such an occasion as this.
Even after the event, we are still finding it difficult to
come to terms with how lucky we were. For the first two
parts she had long straight flowing hair with a plait.
Like
all the previous concerts in the USA she opened with Tonight
(1)
from “West Side Story”.
Charlotte
told us she was really nervous singing for her home
audience, although this was not really noticeable. She
wasn’t as chatty as she might have been during normal
concerts since this one was being recorded and well
rehearsed. Anyway, Charlotte settled into the performance
effortlessly.
We
don’t know if the producers picked this next song or
Charlotte’s Nan, since
If
I Loved You (2)
is her Nan’s favourite song. It’s from the musical
“Carousel”. You can imagine how we felt though as she
sang those lyrics.
Next,
Charlotte sang The
Water
is Wide (3),
DutchMarks absolute
favourite song of the evening. It is a really beautiful
traditional folk song. He
had never heard this song before, but we can’t imagine
anyone singing this song better and with more feeling than
Charlotte did. The orchestral arrangement was really subtle,
very well suited for this delicate song.
It
was followed by Bali
Ha’I (4) from
“South Pacific”. As we said earlier it is difficult for
us to find the right words sometimes to convey the moment.
You must also appreciate we were sitting right in front of
Charlotte so there was no way we were going to take notes
whilst she sang – or take pictures. From a personal point
of view this meant we could just sit back and enjoy the
show, and we appreciated it all the more because of this.
Carrickfergus
(5)
followed. Charlotte said this was one of her favourites. She
has lots of favourites.
We
had thought that because we were sitting in the front row the sound
would not be optimal. We were pleasantly surprised though.
The orchestra sound was fabulous, and Charlotte sounded even
better, hearing her both through the amplified speakers and
direct!
Charlotte
left the stage after this number and there was a 10 minute
break whilst she changed into her next outfit.
Part
2:
Charlotte
returned wearing smart black trousers with silver stripes.
Her top was also black but with beads covering her
shoulders. She
wore a star shaped necklace and black earrings encrusted
with what looked like diamonds. This was our second
favourite of the four outfits she wore. (See Part 3 for
a description of the best one!)
After
a brief greeting, Charlotte sang Can't Help
Lovin'
Dat Man (6) from the musical “Porgy and Bess”.
This
next song was
A
Bit of Earth (7), from “The Secret Garden”. We
hadn’t heard this song before and we couldn’t imagine
anyone singing it with more feeling than Charlotte put into
it.
Charlotte
introduced us to Josh Groban who accompanied her on this
well known song called Somewhere (8)
from the musical “West Side Story”. They complemented
each other well and seemed to enjoy singing together.
There
was then a short break as Rhodri Davies’ harp was moved
onto the stage. Rhodri Davies is her usual harpist and has
accompanied Charlotte during many concerts, even in the USA.
Sou Gân (9) and
My Lagan Love (10) are on her first album “Voice of
an Angel”; so many of you must know these songs. But this
live performance with only Rhodri accompanying her on harp
and Charlotte standing only a couple of feet away sounded
was a very intimate experience.
For
The Prayer (11) Charlotte was
again accompanied by Josh Groban. This was a very powerful
performance.
The
performers left the stage and the producer told us there
would now be a 20 minute break. Everyone should return to
their seats by 9pm for the second half. He told us that
every performance had been perfect and there was no need for
any retakes.
Part
3:
The
second half started with the orchestra playing the Carmen
Overture (12).
Charlotte
appeared in a Spanish red dress. It was sleeveless and the length came down just below her
knees. She wore matching red high-heeled shoes and a
necklace of 3 chains. She looked truly stunning. For this
half of the show her hair was tied back in a small bun with small
playful curly strands of hair in front of her ears.
This
next set, Charlotte was accompanied by the Jesse Cook band,
backed up by the orchestra. Besides Jesse, the lead
guitarist, there was another guitarist and 3 other members
playing different kind of drums.
We
don't recall much about this next song, The
Little Horses (13), not because we did not like
it, on the contrary, we were so engrossed in this song that
our minds just went blank. We
look forward to hearing it again when the
"Enchantment" album is released in Europe (Oct
22nd).
Charlotte
explained that From My First Moment (14) was originally a
piano piece by Eric Satie that they had added words to. She
was very pleased with how the words complemented the music.
This was another of our favourites (aren’t they all!). You
may remember that at one point “From My First Moment”
was the working title for the new album. Looking back at the
track listing of the US release, see
/features/fallrel1.html,
Gymnopédie No.1 is really the same song!
We
were quite surprised when Charlotte announced she
was going to do a dance with the next song called Habanera
(15). It’s a song from the opera Carmen but she said this
was going to be a special rendition. And we were really in
for a treat. It started off quite traditional, but built up
throughout with lots of drums and reached quite a
“funky” rhythm.
If
you have seen the dance that traditionally accompanies this
song you will appreciate what a special moment this was for
us. We believe this is the first time Charlotte has danced
in public. It was very moving, all the more so from our
unique vantage point.
Part
4:
Charlottes
final outfit was a Black dress with silver features…... In
fact, rather than us attempt to describe it any further, why
not have a look at the photos below. We cannot do her
appearance justice through our descriptions anyway!
It
was amazing that there had not been any retakes of Charlotte
singing or announcing, except for the introduction to this
next song. Everything was so well rehearsed during the last
couple of days. It was a true reflection of the
professionalism of everyone involved.
Luckily
for us though – as Charlotte began to announce the next
song - the orchestra were not quite ready and they stopped
the recording momentarily. Lucky because it gave us the
opportunity to take a couple of pictures of Charlotte.
Unlike some happy snappers behind us, we had been respecting
the request of the organisers not to take pictures during
the performance. Apart from the flashes appearing on the
recording it may have been a distraction to Charlotte.
The pictures you see below were shot between takes so were
totally unobtrusive and the organisers were happy with this.
I
guess all of you know this song, Papa
Can You Hear Me (16) , originally sung by Barbara
Streisand. Last July she sang this song in Hyde Park,
and we must say she has improved a lot since then. It was
more dramatic and we like her rendition better than
Barbara’s now.
"For
this next song", Charlotte said, "you need a lot
of life experience, which I don’t have, but I will do my
best." The song was Bridge over
Troubled Water (17). This has become a favourite of
the audiences during her recent US tour, and we can now
appreciate why. We
hope it will find its way onto the Enchantment CD.
Charlotte
announced that the next song would be a tribute to victims
of last week’s terrorist attacks. She was clearly moved.
Charlotte sang John Lennon’s Imagine
(18) to the original lyrics. We had heard the song
may have been given special lyrics, but nevertheless, it was
a beautiful rendition and it was like being "Touched by
an Angel".
Charlotte
concluded the concert singing Amazing Grace
(19). This was
to be another tribute to the victims of the tragedy in the
USA. At the end, she received a standing ovation. We had to
control ourselves to not stand up! (because of the cameras
behind us). During
this standing ovation, again her family cheered loudly and
Charlotte gave a thumbs up in the direction of her mum.
Her
special guests accompanied Charlotte on stage as the
audience continued to show their appreciation.
They
all walked off together, Charlotte waving and smiling at the
audience and carrying a big bunch of flowers.
Sadly
there was not going to be an encore. Maybe for the better as
well or we would have suffered an overdose! (a very pleasant
one of course).The
producer returned to the stage and asked if we could stay
just a while longer. The orchestra performed Somewhere
as a musical piece, and a few bars from Tonight. To
end, we all had an opportunity to applaud the performance
one more time.
Until
the concert we wondered why they had changed the album title
from "From My First Moment" to
"Enchantment". Now we know. Thanks Charlotte, for
an unforgettable and Enchanting evening!
-
Mark & Mark
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