The anti-penultimate concert - tissues at the ready!

It was back to being a standing concert and the crowd were really great tonight! Although I kept my coat on throughout the whole show, there were loads of people (mainly women) who passed out! There were obviously some junior doctors there as a party (they were dressed in white coats with graffiti on them) and some of them were helping the paramedics!

Possibly the reason for all the fainting was that not only did Martin Fry wear his gold lame suit but he also had on a wide gold lame tie AND a gold lame shirt!!! They could have turned off the lights in the venue and we would still have been able to have seen him!

John Miles was dressed in classy all black again tonight and, for the final chorus of Music (Was My First Love), Charles II leapt onto the piano, got on his knees and really serenaded John Miles!

They had the special guest in the first half again tonight and it was “the French guy” making a welcome reappearance! Although he sings in French, both his songs are really catchy and easy to sing along to (even for me!).

Although I’ve rarely mentioned it, at each show Karl Jenkins conducts the choir, Fin Fleur, in three songs from Adiemus which is “a project which consists of extended multi-cultural works written for female chorus, percussion and orchestra”. The songs are in a foreign African-sounding language and are popular with the crowd, especially the one when two of the background singers sing the lead, as that was used for a Delta Airline commercial.

The background singers are mainly on in the first half of the concert and make a few quick costume changes (once one of them came on-stage still doing up her buttons) but I feel sorry for one guy from the orchestra who plays the recorder for part of an Adiemus song as he has less than half a song to get changed in before he’s due back in his black suit! As he leaves the stage in the dark, he’s usually already removing his power pack and unbuttoning his shirt!

The second half tonight contained Michael Borsato who was great as always but by this time I’d moved into the crowd near the front and someone managed to “springer” onto my feet twice!

Unusually Meat Loaf lead the boys out tonight with Kasim trailing last but people still didn’t start applauding until he sat on his stool! I was near a group of young girls and a couple of times I heard Boyzone being mentioned when he started singing No Matter What. I’ve got to say it but Kasim’s vocals were brilliant in that song tonight! I was near the speakers so I could virtually feel his vocals too!

After You Took The Words Right Outta My Mouth and Anything For Love we had the crowd’s obvious favourite, Paradise By The Dashboard Light! There is so much on stage to watch during that song! As well as what’s going on at the front of the stage, the orchestra generally is standing and sitting when conducted by Robert Groslot, as well as the antics of individual orchestra members! They don wigs, they head bang and they’ll shake their bows at each other - amazing! The choir too never stop moving and do a great bit when they all raise their arms as they’re singing “Aaah” - very dramatic!

As usual Kasim started the song at the side while Meat spotlighted Laurie Wisefield and then Mark Alexander. Again tonight they started the snogging part immediately that they finished singing so the Musical Director had one less chore to do! During the baseball commentary part, Kasim stood in the middle of the orchestra. I much prefer it when they walk out when we sing the word "light" badly and tonight Kasim was off like a shot! Kasim even started laughing at one of Meat Loaf’s antics towards the end of that song (Meat will make faces and stick out his tongue at Patti) before carefully watching Meat as both him and Patti sing the words softer and softer before Meat launches into it loud! Meat Loaf introduced the band again tonight so Kasim received some recognition!

After Land Of Hope And Glory, they had the massive line-up for Meat Loaf’s hand slap but, instead of walking to the front of the stage, Kasim headed backwards and sat with the harpist while she obviously was showing him some of the chords. Meat Loaf spotted him and I saw Kasim ask “Do you want to play or shall I?”! For the first verse and chorus of Yellow Submarine, Kasim played the harp before he joined the rest at the front of the stage! Tonight John Miceli stood behind Kasim and put his arms around Kasim so that his hands appeared to be Kasim’s! At one point Meat Loaf carried John Miles over his shoulder!

Roll on tomorrow night…..!

I love shooting shows in Antwerp! Heck, I’ve really enjoyed photographing the Proms shows in general, they’re quite a different show then anything I’ve photographed before. I have to say that everyone I came in contact with treated me really well, and that’s not always the “norm.” for concert photographers in America. Everyone tried to help me out with my photo pass, the set list, and just were really nice in general; I felt really comfortable and it kind of made me not feel as stressed as I do when I’m normally shooting anything. Granted, it is still a bit stressing (just not as bad as usual), especially when you only get one five minute (or longer, but not always by much) song per artist to capture as many (hopefully!) good photos as you can, and believe me, it’s not that easy!

I was able to quickly walk through the backstage area after being told the first version of songs I was able to shoot during (originally, before I arrived, I was told I’d be able to shoot the first and last songs of Meat’s and Kasim’s set - it was only the third song for Germany, and I figured it changed for here too, but was still hopeful, as they were first telling me I could in fact shoot the first song). I was then told differently by the guards and then someone else came and gave me the actual list and also helped me out further with things that I was allowed to do or not do. I was allowed to stand at the side when I wasn’t photographing, and so I was still able to watch most of the show.

It happened tonight. Martin Fry came out in the “gold ensemble.” My eyes are still readjusting from what I witnessed, not only did he have the gold suit on, but a gold shirt and tie as well! I never saw such a thing in all my life; it was rather scary! I notice from the list, that the first song he performs, The Look of Love, is “version 2” - I don’t know exactly what’s different about it, perhaps it’s that Patrick De Smet didn’t come down to play the xylophone before at the beginning, as he does now, but I’m not sure. Patrick got into the song a bit more tonight; he goofed around and danced with the backing singers a little more then he usually has. At some point during Martin’s second song, he took pity on his gold tie and decided to put it out of it’s misery and throw it to the audience; he didn’t seem to have great aim, as it landed in the pit, but one of the guards picked it up and handed it to a lady in the crowd.

One side note about the stage setting in Antwerp - the stage is higher then normal. It helps to see the majority of everyone onstage better, If you’re further away from it, but it makes things a little difficult if you have something to do close to the stage. Even the video camera operators have to be elevated as well, so they CAN do what they need to do. But one other thing, I noticed about the elevated stage, it makes everyone closer to the overabundance of stage lights. So, if you think Martin Fry caught and reflected every single light onstage with his suit before, you should have seen it in this setting! Very blinding indeed!

Next up is Adiemus. I haven’t commented on this before, but it is rather quite nice. There are two songs performed, the first one the vocals are handled mostly by Fine Fleur and in the second one, Karen and Hille, the backup singers for most of the artists, handle them. This is the Proms way of showing that this isn’t a male dominated show. It’s also partly why Patti and Pearl get the extra announcement at the end, but I still say Kasim, Mark and John deserve their names announced by the compre’ as well. Adiemus is the song Karen and Hille sing, they’re quite good but Hille always has these hand and arm gestures that are rather odd; I think she just gets into the song a great deal.

John Miles’ set brought the crowd to a more rowdy state then they already had been. I have discovered the one downside to an all standing, dancing and wild crowd - it means that a lot of audience members become quite ill and almost pass out. When I’ve been off to the side of the stage, I was right by the front medic stand and, unfortunately, every time the women would finally get a free cot and go to put it away, I would notice a guard would be helping someone else out of the crowd to get to the area; it unfortunately got to be so frequent, it was a slight joke that I’d be telling them “here comes another” every time they’d do that; they never got a break unfortunately. One woman was dropped when the guard was carrying her over the crowd barrier and into the pit during Meat Loaf’s set; I am glad to say she wasn’t hurt more then she was already and it didn’t seem to phase anyone onstage. Back to better topics, during John Miles set, Charles the second, actually sprung onto the piano, instead of just standing by it; when Charles is “on”, he’s really fun to watch; tonight he didn’t do too much other then play the violin (of course!) and getting onto John’s piano.

A French artist known as Gerard Lenorman was the surprise guest tonight. I was really hoping for Bonnie, as I would have loved to photograph her, but Gerard was still nice. I was told he’s actually a very popular artist, and the crowd reacted as such. He seemed to make silly faces at times in the songs; I’d love to know what he was singing!

Marco Borsato was a hit as always. Even the medics were hoping to catch at least his first song, and I think they caught most of it at least. Last night, for some reason, the three backing singers (for some reason, there are three backing singers only for Marco, when usually it’s only the two) wore Terminator style sunglasses for his first song; I had noticed that on the monitors. They must have decided they might have looked silly, as the glasses weren’t worn tonight.

Meat Loaf’s set was as nice as prior shows, despite some repeated needs for sound adjustments from Kasim and Patti (not sure who needed adjusting onstage, but if there’re usually any needs for it, it seems to be mostly Kasim - of course - and then Patti, who let the sound guys know). Something happened during Took The Words, Meat Loaf actually went into the orchestra to rile them up, and he did, more then he planned actually. On his way out, I’m not even sure if he realized it, but he knocked over one of the cellist’s music stands, music sheets and all. He was quite nervous, as I think they really need to follow the sheet music, with Meat, but a few other orchestra members quickly helped him get his sheets and stand turned up right again, and he was set. Home by Now, I really have to say Kasim sounds the best on the backing vocals of the three - he has a better grasp of the varying sound arrangement, it seems, and just his range on one word alone, “ahhhh” is quite nice to listen to. Paradise, the solos seemed longer, and that’s maybe why the length of the song still seems the same without the pre-make out acting of Meat and Patti. Laurie Wisefield was really enjoying himself during Paradise; I’m not sure if its because he really get’s to let loose on the guitar or stand near Pearl with her very low cut dress or a bit of both! He really is an amazing musician though. Soon enough the set was over and Meat was saying thank you to the audience; one thing I will say, for the past few shows, Meat has finally started naming everyone else in the band to the audience, besides Patti, which I’m glad to see; but I still say the compere should be announcing the ENTIRE band!!

Yellow Submarine was actually really fun, but I’ve said that for every show I believe. Patti, Pearl, John and Mark stuck to the front of the stage lineup, but seemed to act a little sillier then usual. Kasim appeared to the right of the piano finally, and had a balloon with him. John then grabbed him and proceeded to do some silly arm movements, as if they were Kasim’s hands and arms. Kasim didn’t stop smiling and laughing the whole time it seemed, which was so nice to see. Meat runs around onstage that whole entire song; people apparently are amazed that they’ve seen him totally drained after he get’s offstage; but you’d understand what kind of rush you get from performing, in any format, if you’ve been in the situation yourself. I used to be a dancer (not of the go-go variety, thank you!), and would perform several times a night and when you’re doing it, you just don’t think about anything but your performance (as it’s your joy), but it finally does hit you after you’re done; it’s basically an adrenalin rush, and it’s wonderful. As they say, “no matter what, the show always must go on.” Anyway, Kasim and the others didn’t wander about too much, just stayed, for the most part, in their spots, but they really were having a blast it seemed. Then soon enough, too soon actually, the show was over.

Tomorrow is the last show in Antwerp. I’ve been told that there are going to be a lot of special things and inside jokes. I won’t spoil it for anyone, but I have a feeling it will be one of the best shows yet! Can’t wait!

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