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06:04 PM, Feb 12, 2005 |
Date of Concert: 2/8/2005 | Location: Dresden, GER
The following review is available with photos on my webstite at: http://www.vanessa-mae.nu program: Sabre Dance Havana Slide - speech - Roxanne's Veil Bolero for Violin and Orchestra Solace Tango De Los Exilados Laughing Buddha (electric violion) Hocus Pocus - introduction of the band - Moroccan Roll - speech - Theme from Caravans (electric violin) Retro (electric violin) - speech - Bach Street Prelude I Am A Doun Raga's Dance Emerald Tiger - speech - Toccata & Fugue Storm encore Sabre Dance Review: Vanessa-Mae kicked of her 'Choreography' tour on Tuesday February 8th in Dresden. I visited the show together with Gerrit Bijsterbosch, a colleague fan from the Netherlands. We knew each other already from the 'Vanessa-Mae Fans Forum' but had never actually met. I think it is correct to say that we both enjoyed our mutual company on both the travel to Dresden, our stay in Dresden and the way back to home. Of course we talked a lot about Vanessa-Mae, but other diverse issues were topic of our conversation as well varying from our daily life, work and professional background to other musicians and artists of our interest. Fro me, this show was already my 6th concert of Vanessa-Mae and with this I can consider myself a real veteran by now. For Gerrit, the Dresden concert marked his debut experience of seeing Vanessa-Mae live on stage, and I think he enjoyed himself very much and considers it the worth the time and costs of travelling to Dresden. The show was more or less comparable with Vanessa-Mae's concert in the London 'Royal Festival Hall, last October, only 'Clear Lile Ice' was skipped from and 'Hocus Pocus' and 'Theme from Caravans' were added to the program. Moreover, the encore was limited to only repeating 'Sabre Dance' and the order of playing differed on details (compare the program listings with the program of the 'Royal Festival Hall concert'). All in all, Vanessa-Mae played 19 pieces during both concerts. More importantly though this evening, several of the songs were played in new and adjusted arrangements. I will elaborate into more details on this further on. Unfortunately, Vanessa-Mae wearing the same costume as during the London concert. Of course, she has a variety of outfits available for her tour of concerts and accidental she chose the same as she had in London. Although Vanessa-Mae looks great wearing this top made of satin fibre in colours of pink, blue to purple and the flowered blue pants, I would have preferred another outfit because this would have made my photos more differently from those taken at the London concert. Anyway, Vanessa-Mae's physical presentation showed the usual conceptual styling in details of matching colours of clothes and make-up. The colours in shades of pink to purple of her top and the blue of her pair of trousers came back this evening in the dark purple of her eye shadow and the dark red purple lipstick, whereas at the London concert she had light blue and pink as matching colours in her make-up. Whatever the combination is, Vanessa-Mae's clothes and face are always more than perfect; several of my photos below clearly show that Vanessa-Mae was quite heavily made up. The audience this evening was varied, ranging from teenagers and young adults, to middle aged and elderly people. The venue was sold out completely. I struck me during the concert that the audience though enthusiastic was very politely, applauded gently after Vanessa-Mae finished a song, and silenced immediately when she indicated that she wanted to continue with the next part of the show. Vanessa-Mae played very well and passionately, as did her band and acoustic string section. Vanessa-Mae was joined by a band of about 7 people (guitarist, drummer, percussion, keyboard, bass guitarist, flute, sax and some others) and a string section of violinists and cellists (about 12-15). Of course this concert can't possible be compared to Vanessa-Mae concerts at her pop tours like the 'Red Hot Tour' and 'Storm On World Tour,' but seeing her change from a 'happy bunny' girl of 16-19 years old into the adult she is now, it becomes noticeable that this young unconstrained girl who simply liked everything that crossed her path does not exist anymore. I more or less knew this already, but when Gerrit commented on the concert afterwards that he expected her to be more lively and movable on stage, I came to full conscious and active realisation of this fact. Today, Vanessa-Mae is a modest and reserved person, almost shy in fact. Basically she has always been a shy girl who has lived through a protected childhood as a young girl and as a teenager surrounded by adults. This makes an interesting topic and I will go into this in one of my forthcoming 'monthly letters.' I just need some time to think this all over and will come back to this soon. The fact as it is in my opinion, makes Vanessa-Mae a more likable and lovable person. It shows that she has a complex personality and such is not strange considering all she has gone through in her life of being a child prodigy who turns overnight into a world wide superstar. Several songs were played in special and new arrangements. Of course the music of the new album 'Choreography' was the most important feature of the concert, but there were also tracks from her previous work. Vanessa-Mae played music from her debut pop album 'The Violin Player,' 'Storm' and 'Subject To Change.' This selection together with the works from 'Choreography' adequately showed how versatile Vanessa-Mae is as musician and as an artist. However, a concert of a good 95 minutes can't possible be long enough to serve a comprehensive overview for Vanessa-Mae's unique and diverse career of her parallel achievements in both classical and pop music genres. For the most part of the show, Vanessa-Mae used her acoustic Guadagnini violin. I will specifically mention it when she used her electric violin. The show started with 'Sabre Dance,' the same opener as the London concert. This music offers Vanessa-Mae every opportunity to showcase her virtuosity as violin instrumentalist: and she did so by playing it perfectly and passionately resulting in full attention and involvement of the audience in the concert. Then 'Havana Slide' was played equally well, both song according the lines of the 'Choreography' album. Then Vanessa-Mae hold her welcome speech. She told the audience how happy she always is to tour in Germany as the country is beautiful and the audiences always so good her. She then commemorated the recent floods of the river Elbe and she expressed her feelings of respect that all the damage has been repaired so well and quick. Vanessa-Mae ended this first speech with naming Vangelis as composer of her next music and by mentioning the fact that 'Roxanne's Veil' is part of the sound track of Oliver Stone's movie 'Alexander.' 'Roxanne's Veil' is a wonderful track to hear when performed live on stage. Vanessa-Mae's acoustic violin sounds so great accompanied by the synthesizer sound. The song still grows on me, and now, after initial reservations, I am convinced to the opinion that Vangelis wrote an absolute masterpiece for our Vanessa-Mae. The 'Bolero,' the 'Tango,' 'Emerald Tiger,' 'Raga's Dance,' and 'Moroccan Roll' from the 'Choreography' album were all played very well according to the lines as they are on the album. I will not go into more details since my opinion on these songs has not changed: they all have been close to my heart from the first time that I heard them. For this concert, the album 'Subject To Change' was represented by 'Solace' and Laughing Buddha.' 'Solace' is such an emotional duet with a guitar. I used to listen to 'Solace' very often when I had sorrow times due to family circumstances. Somehow the song cheers me up when I hear Vanessa-Mae play it, live or from recording. 'Laughing Buddha' was played on electric violin and is such a virtuoso piece of music with great dynamics, tempo changes and fine tunes, sound effects that were triggered by Vanessa-Mae via pedals that she had to touch with her foot. Vanessa-Mae was exceptional great here!! 'Hocus Pocus' and 'Theme From Caravans' were the extra pieces with respect to the London concert. After 'Hocus Pocus,' played on acoustic violin, Vanessa-Mae introduced the band. I love this piece as Vanessa-Mae mimics the voice of Thijs van Leer on the original composition very well and convincingly that it is a sheer joy when she plays this music. 'Themes From Caravan' is one a great compositions on Vanessa-Mae' debut pop album 'The Violin Player.' She played it on electric violin. The nicest thing at this concert was that the arrangements for the accompanying instruments were markedly different from the album version, especially the flute parts sounded very nice. One of my all time favourites remains 'I Am A Doun.' This time, as well as for the London concert, Vanessa-Mae performed it without the vocal intro, but in an arrangement with much more drums and piano. An other favourite of mine to see and hear Vanessa-Mae play live at her concerts is 'Bach Street Prelude.' As at the London concert, Vanessa-Mae was seated on the edge of the stage when she played the song accompanied by a percussionist using all kind of attributes, small drums and all kind of other attributes to make tunes and noises. The nice part of this piece is that Vanessa-Mae and the percussionist stimulate and stir up one another to heights of contagious enthusiasm that really jump over to the audience. Only this time, both Vanessa-Mae and the percussionist sat on opposite parts of the stage and that made that mutual effect of body languages on the other less effective, especially considering the fact that for the audience it is impossible to view them both constantly at the same time. I have some photos below that show Vanessa-Mae sitting on stage when she played 'Bach Street Prelude.' After 'Moroccan Roll' Vanessa-Mae asked the audience: 'Do you want some electric?' The audience applauded and Vanessa-Mae replied: 'Yeah, then you'll get some electric violin!' After 'Emerald Tiger, Vanessa-Mae told the audience that she always needed to play some of the oldies and that she wouldn't name the titles because all would recognise them immediately. She said that these songs never ever age and that they remain close to her heart. Of course these well known oldies were 'Toccata and Fugue' and 'Storm' two brilliant compositions in wild live dynamic performances. 'Sabre Dance' as one single encore completed the concert! Rijko http://www.vanessa-mae.nu
09:01 AM, Dec 29, 2004 |
Date of Concert: 10/21/2004 | Location: London, UK
concert program Sabre Dance (Speech) Havanna Slide (Speech) Roxannes Veil Bolero Solace Tango (Speech) Laughing Buddha (Speech & tune) Clea Like Ice Retro (Speech) Toccata Im a Doun (Tune) Bach Street Prelude (Speech) Emerald Tiger Raga's Dance Moroccan Roll Storm Sabre Encore. encores Storm Sabre Dance A brilliantly and passionately played performance of 'Choreography' dances mixed with oldies by Vanessa-Mae Although Vanessa-Mae's concert in the Royal Festival Hall on October 21st of 2004 marked already the 5th time that I saw her live in concert, I felt the same enormous tension of extreme high expectations with respect to the technical level of her performance as well as to the emotional satisfaction her personal presentation and physical appearance would give me, as if it was to be the first time I would see her play live on stage. Each time I witness Vanessa-Mae live on stage, handling her bow in a state of sheer dreaming inner concentration, I experience comparable electrifying emotions conveyed to me. This very evening, Vanessa-Mae played passionately and motivated by the fact that she returned back to the live stages almost two years after the completion of the successful Asian leg of her 'Tour For Change' in November 2002. For me, it was already almost 3 years ago since the last time that I saw Vanessa-Mae during the European leg of the 'Tour For Change' in Berlin on December 7th 2001. For the present concert, I travelled to London with the idea that I would see Vanessa-Mae from very close at the signing session organised to take place immediately after the show. In addition, I had permission from Giles Holland, Vanessa-Mae's personal assistant, to hand over the traditional birthday present on behalf of the 'Vanessa-Mae Fans Forum' personally to Vanessa-Mae at the signing session. Giles assured me that Vanessa-Mae knew about it and she added: 'Vanessa-Mae will be very happy to receive your wonderful presents.' With all these exceptional high expectations, I went that particular evening to the Royal Festival Hall. The evening has been very rewarding and memorable in every aspect and I preserve precious memories to the event. This review is meant to share my great experiences with colleague fans, especially with those who have equally pronounced feelings of admiration towards our Vanessa-Mae. The show started with the light dimmed. Vanessa-Mae's appearance on the stage had the same mysterious impact as did the start of her performance during the Classical Brit Awards on last May in The Royal Albert Hall as she started to play 'Sabre Dance' as opener of tonights show. Vanessa-Mae had a large group of musicians on stage to accompany her through the evening. There was an orchestra consisting of about 20-25 members of the Royal Symphony Orchestra with violins, cellos, contrabasses, flutes, trumpets and drums. There was also a rock band of about 6 people present and two male backing vocalists. The rock band consisted of a guitarist, bass guitarist, drums and a percussionist. Vanessa-Mae looked awesome, of course as usual. Her long black hair was tied in a ponytail on her back and a few hair braids on the sides of her head. She had purple pair of trousers with silver coloured flower design. Vanessa-Mae had a sleeveless top of fine glimmering light garment (silk or some fine synthetic fibre) consisting of four parts of different colours ranging from pink to blue purple. The top was held by pink V-straps tied around her neck with a large pink strap hanging on her back under her ponytail hair. Vanessa-Mae was made up with pink lipstick and fine distinct eyeshadow in various grade of blue to purple. As always, Vanessa-Mae's make-up matched the colours of her clothes perfectly (see the photos shown above). Vanessa-Mae had black shoes with very high spike heels. As expected, Vanessa-Mae started the concert with 'Sabre Dance' accompanied by the orchestra. 'Sabre Dance' is a brilliant piece to start the concert with. Vanessa-Mae played it so well with a superb support of the orchestra. Vanessa-Mae played very well with high expressive power on her Guadagnini violin. I can not describe the great saying power of expression that Vanessa-Mae shows when she plays her violin: her sound is simple from heaven. I can only recommend the reader to buy a ticket and go to hear for yourself. Vanessa-Me used her Guadagnini violin for almost the entire concert. The concert was mostly acoustic and classical in nature. During the middle part of the show, Vanessa-Mae played a selection of music from her previous albums for which she also used the electric Zeta violin. She held several short speeches in her own typical style of her somehow naive charming girly English to explain or introduce her music. After 'sabre Dance,' Vanessa-Mae welcomed the audience and explained why she felt so good to be on stage again after a break of almost two years. Next, she played 'Havanna Slide.' This piece was played very energetically by both Vanessa-Mae and the orchestra. The music is entertaining and joyfull. Then, Vanessa-Mae told that she would like to play 'Bolero,' and that this particular music is very close to her heart because of the Spanish nature that is expressed by the fine rhythm and collaboration between the various type of instruments. Vanessa-Mae then explained that before playing the 'Bolero,' she would play 'Roxannes Veil' composed by a very special man, Vangelis, and that she felt proud that he composed this piece for her. 'Roxannes Veil' was played beautifully by Vanessa-Mae; the violin part is so wonderful. At first listening to the recording, I felt some reservations regarding this piece but this soon vanished upon further examination. After hearing it live now, I am completely devoted to this brilliant composition. From now on, I will remember and feel again the same emotion as I felt that evening when hearing the crystal clear sound of Vanessa-Mae Guadagnini violin in a subtle and refined mixture with the softly playing orchestra and band. I was so impressed with and pleasantly surprised with this result. The 'Bolero' is one of my favourites on the album 'Choreography' and it turned out to be a great piece for a live performance handled very well by Vanessa-Mae in combination with the orchestra. The seductive nature of the music is well expressed by the way Vanessa-Mae and the orchestra use all the dynamic power of their instruments. Vanessa-Mae played extremely well and with full passion to bring the music to her best of her abilities and she succeeded with ease in this. At this point in my review, I want to say something on Vanessa-Mae's style of playing, pose and body language while playing. During classical concerts, Vanessa-Mae is standing still and right up, her upper body only slowly moving on the rhythm of the music she is playing. Her face shows no sign of how difficult the music is, but the deepest concentration as if she is in another world, complete into herself: nothing exists around her, it is only herself, the music and her instrument. Looking to Vanessa-Mae when she is playing gives impression that playing the violin is easy and far from the difficult art it is said to be. I am always so impressed when I see her play live on stage in front of me. Regardless what she is playing, it is always a joy to see Vanessa-Mae play her violin live on stage. She is obviously the master of her instrument, standing above the music she is playing. After the 'Bolero' came 'Solace' from her previous album 'Subject To Change.' 'Solace' is a piece with a wonderful emotional violin part. This song is my favourite on the STC album. Then another favourite of mine, 'Tango' from the new album was played. 'Tango' is a great piece; the violin part brings the inherent nature of the Tango to life. Then Vanessa-Mae told the audience how strange she felt being responsible, at least partly, for the birth of a whole new musical style called now classical crossover, but that she wanted to develop further beyond this image. Nevertheless she said that the old material of her previous albums will remain close to her heart always as she also realised that is will always be popular among her fans. She explained that she now would start a section within the show that would consist of old material and that she would use her electric violin for this. Vanessa-Mae went to a table and changed her Guadagnine for a grey Zeta violin. After some tuning, she started to play 'Laughing Buddha.' I have always found 'Laughing Buddha' a strange piece. I like it but have never been able to really translate to music into a story or images for myself in order to give a meaning and motive. I like the piece, but it remains mysterious to me about its inherent sense. The next piece was 'Hocus Pocus' composed by the Dutch rock band Focus (Thijs van Leer and Jan Akkerman). In the original, Thijs van Leer plays flute and has the vocals. Vanessa-Mae mimics van Leers role brilliantly on her electric violin. For both songs 'Laughing Buddha' and 'Hocus Pocus,' Vanessa-Mae used pedals that were placed on the stage to activate certain sound effects for her electric violin. The supporting rock band played very well too. Then Vanessa-Mae had a short speech again and next she played 'Clear Like Ice,' a beautiful quiet piece, and 'Retro.' She then explained that the next song was an ever must in each of her concerts because with this song her career really took off and all her audiences loved to see her play it live on stage ever since. Of course, Vanessa-Mae meant 'Toccate & Fugue.' Both the rock band as well as the string parts of the orchestra joined in playing this very recognisable oldie that really defined Vanessa-Mae as the first ever successful classical crossover artist. I have seen her play this music in all the concerts that I attended and it has always been received by the audiences with great appreciation resulting in rewarding ovations. Then, Vanessa-Mae started to play 'I Am A Doun.' For this nights concert, she skipped her vocal introduction and started with her violin part immediately accompanied by the band and the two male vocalists. Then, she held a short speech again to introduce 'Bach Street Prelude.' 'Bach Street Prelude' is really one of my all time favourites to see her play at live shows. Vanessa-Mae always plays it with so much joy, passion and energy, well driven and highly motivated. The duet of her violin with the percussion work on all kind of bells, drums, kits and sticks, or virtually anything that makes a some kind of noise on being moved or tapped against another object can be used and has been used during this wonderful paying together. For this show, Vanessa-Mae was seated on the edge of the stage opposite of the percussionist that started to use his toys to accompany Vanessa-Mae on her violin. Both had so much joy in playing this piece, as Vanessa-Mae smiled constantly towards her percussionist who smiled back occasionally. Towards the end of the song, Vanessa-Mae was seated on her knees at the edge of the stage. The audience rewarded both with a long lasting grateful ovation for this exceptional performance. I find it such a joy when Vanessa-Mae starts to play this particular piece; 'Bach Street Prelude' is one of the highlights of her live shows. 'I Am A Doun' and 'Bach Street Prelude' were p[layed by Vanessa-Mae on her acoustic violin. After this intermezzo of oldies, Vanessa-Mae returned to present music by playing 'Emerald Tiger,' 'Raga's Dance' and Morrocan Roll.' The orchestra played the leading role in accompanying Vanessa-Mae on her acoustic violin for all these three songs. 'Emerald Tiger' has such a strong expressive violin part, exceptionally well played by Vanessa-Mae. The same holds more or less for 'Moroccan Roll.' I like both pieces very much. 'Raga's Dance' is a strange piece because of the outspoken Indian atmosphere that must be expressed. I missed the vocals a bit, because only two backing vocalists were present which rendered a low profile in this setting. Nevertheless, I liked this version but had somehow expected a little more fireworks form this. Vanessa-Mae played beautifully of course. Then the finale of the concert approached rapidly. 'Storm' was as spectacular as always in all Vanessa-Mae's live shows. 'Storm' is a must for all Vanessa-Mae's concerts. In my opinion, she should never skip it from her program. To be honest, I can't imagine that she ever will. 'Storm' is such a magnificent music; very dynamic and full of expression and so characteristic for everything Vanessa-Mae stands for musically. Then there were only encores with 'Sabre Dance and 'Storm' once more. The end of yet another brilliant and memorable concert of Vanessa-Mae that I attended. The signing session It was announced that Vanessa-Mae would sign her new album in the foyer of the Royal Festival Hall shortly after her concert. In the cd store of the venue, almost all copies of 'Choreography' had been sold already before the concert. The foyer was crowded with people who wanted to see Vanessa-Mae and have their copy signed. A long queue of fans was waiting for Vanessa-Mae to show up. A table for Vanessa-Mae to sign her albums was placed in front of card boards with 'Choreography' posters. After a short while Vanessa-Mae took place standing behind the table surrounded by security people. She rejected the chair and preferred to stand during the session. She was now wearing a tight fitting short dress with straps over her shoulders and open round neck. When it was my turn, I approached the table. I impressed by the energy and strength Vanessa-Mae radiates despite her only small and very tiny posture. She is incredible gorgeous blessed with an impeccable skin. Her face is, of course completely made up, not overdone but very nice in enhancing the natural beauty of her perfectly smooth skin. I complimented her on the brilliant concert and her fine play, and said that I found the music on her new album very impressive and beautiful. I told her the new album was well received among her best fans. She thanked me for the compliments by saying: 'thank you that is nice to hear.' I then told her that I represented the 'Vanessa-Mae Fans Forum' and that we had a present for her upcoming 26th birthday. Vanessa-Mae smiled and said: 'oh yeah the fan club, I know.' I briefly showed her the birthday greeting cards, our letter and the amulets. I explained to her that these amulets were meant to provide her with the 'spiritual guidance and protection' of her best fans in this dangerous world. I then asked her attention for the list with submitted question and asked her whether she would be so kind to answer them for us. She smiled and promised that she would take care that her answers would be delivered to us. Then I asked her to sign my 'Choreography' booklet. Without thinking, she draw a heart in it, together with three crosses, and then placed her signature below it. I feel very privileged to have seen Vanessa-Mae from so close and having been able to talk to her, yet only briefly. But I certainly feel privileged too to have been rewarded by her with the drawn heart in my booklet, which I see as a clear sign of her appreciation for our annual birthday presents, and continued support for her music and for her as a person. Rijko Ebens http://www.vanessa-mae.nu
April 23, 2002Add |
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