Post by Alrik on Mar 28, 2007 21:32:42 GMT
Hello, everyone.
This is a review I just wrote for friends in another small forum (Enya-related).
I put it here as well, because I just want to share this with you.
Okay, my impression(s) :
It was a great show. The music was extraordinary, and the overall performance imho excellent.
Because of the length of the pieces I had the impression that the whole concert was rather short - but this kind of concert (no pop music) was definitively new for me. Okay, I have listened to small classical music concerts once or twice, but that was looong ago.
The impression of the concert was rather of listening to a story-teller than of a "real" concert where the audience is content with just listening to the music. And indeed, I think, Loreena tells stories rather than merely making music.
From my point of view - on a seat far, far away, I couldn't see the details of the stage, but at least I could see the individual artists and their instruments.
Everything was so new to me ... The influence of different instruments from all opf the world was really astonishing to me. I love that.
She definitively has a very good rhythm section, although the rythm patters are often quite complex. In a few things, the rythm was so strong that it was hardly possible to actually sit still ! It was no music for dancing, on the other side. Just ... moving, some sort of. The rythm grabs you deep in the venes, the arms and legs, the hole body - and the heart. This is truly moving.
Since I don't have her latest album, I cannot say much about her songs. I just listened to them for the first time. (At least those I didn't know. ;D )
There was one song from the second set, which was overall very rhythmic. I think it was the second or third song. At one point, in the heat of the rythm, she even made a jump ! Which astonished all of the people, many of them crying and shouting out.
Nevertheless, I sometimes found it a pity that I couldn't quite understand the texts. I would've loved to fully understand what she was singing, yet I know that I'll have it when I buy all the albums, I guess.
In the loudest parts, I found her voice too loud. I might be a bit sensitive towards that, but I had the feeling as if the loudness - although never long - actually hurt my ears a bit. But eventually I managed to accustom myself to that, mostly.
As I already wrote above, I found the use of an electric guitar and a drum kit quite unusual. It gave the songs a slighter "modern" touch, "rock music", as I would say (which is often heavily based on guitars and drums as well). Some songs became far more rhythmic through that (especially the "Mummer's Dance", which came of all songs closest to the feeling of really wanting to dance).
And as I already stated above, I had the impression as if all songs from the new album were rather sounding that way.
Well, what was more ? The stage ... During the concert it occurred to me that the stage was set up in a way as if you were looking into a big tent - with the entrance at the back of the stage. The mostly blue tent was cut in half, and the audience was looking into it - seeing what the musicians and story-tellers really did.
In a line where she sang of a sunrise (I think that was in the song of the Highwayman), the entrence at the back became glowing red, whereas the rest of the tent still remained in older, colder colours indicating a night (I think).
The whole light effects were fantastic ... That means that thre weren't really not much effects, but rather light. They made it so that at one point the stage - the tent - was really glowing in Gold !
I don't know how they made it ... apparently a mixture beween red, orange and yellow hues ...
But the most prominent colour was really violet. It's my favourite colour since childhood, so I was very pleased !
Okay, before I post the set list (they had given small pamphlets away for free ), a few words about the merchandise :
As I already wrote above, they sold a DVD called an "tour exclusive" with the title "Nights From The Alhambra". It was sold out very "shortly".
However, they had T-Shirts there, Postcards and Posters and a few DVDs ... What struck me most was that some of the older CDs had a side printing called "remastered". That sounds positive. I might perhaps stick with those in the future.
The other point that astonished me was that some of the regular CDs were sold as "Limited Editions" - exclusives, perhaps - including DVDs as well (I think). Like mine. So I wonder where my CD comes from ... I bought it from a a friend who was running an rather esoterical shop. She was selling her wares and concentrating rather on the services she gave there (Reiki, mostly). I bought two CDs there. One of them was Loreena's "Book of Secrets", which is an fact such an "Limited Edition" containing a DVD. The DVD is seemingly the documentation "no journey's ens", plus music videos (The Bonnie Swans, The Mummer's Dance") and a small discography.
I've just read on the web site that the Alhambra-DVD will be available somewhere in March ... Maybe it's first sold via the tour merchandise.
Second, I just read that she comes to Canada & the USA as well ... so you might spare some money if you want to see her in concert. (The concert wasn't very expensive. My ticket was about 50 Euros, which is relatively good compared to my Genesis ticket for 80 Euros ... but it's still quite some money for me.)
Well, Okay, I this that's it (for now). You can ask questions anytime, so mabe something more will emerge from my memory ... ;D
Now the set list (as taken from the pamphlet) :
Set I
She moved Through the Fair
The Gates of Istanbul
The Mummer's Dance
Penelope's Song
Marco polo
The Highwayman
Dante's Prayer
The Bonny Swans
Caravanserai
Set II
The Mystic's Dream
Santiago
Bonny Portmore
Beneath a Phrygian Sky
Kecharitomene
The Lady of Shalott
The Old Ways
Never-Ending Road (Amhrán Duit)
Plus three songs I didn't recognize.
Good Night.
Alrik
This is a review I just wrote for friends in another small forum (Enya-related).
I put it here as well, because I just want to share this with you.
Okay, my impression(s) :
It was a great show.
The music was extraordinary, and the overall performance imho excellent. Because of the length of the pieces I had the impression that the whole concert was rather short - but this kind of concert (no pop music) was definitively new for me. Okay, I have listened to small classical music concerts once or twice, but that was looong ago.
The impression of the concert was rather of listening to a story-teller than of a "real" concert where the audience is content with just listening to the music. And indeed, I think, Loreena tells stories rather than merely making music.
From my point of view - on a seat far, far away, I couldn't see the details of the stage, but at least I could see the individual artists and their instruments.
Everything was so new to me ... The influence of different instruments from all opf the world was really astonishing to me. I love that. She definitively has a very good rhythm section, although the rythm patters are often quite complex. In a few things, the rythm was so strong that it was hardly possible to actually sit still ! It was no music for dancing, on the other side. Just ... moving, some sort of. The rythm grabs you deep in the venes, the arms and legs, the hole body - and the heart. This is truly moving.
Since I don't have her latest album, I cannot say much about her songs. I just listened to them for the first time. (At least those I didn't know. ;D )
There was one song from the second set, which was overall very rhythmic. I think it was the second or third song. At one point, in the heat of the rythm, she even made a jump !
Which astonished all of the people, many of them crying and shouting out. Nevertheless, I sometimes found it a pity that I couldn't quite understand the texts. I would've loved to fully understand what she was singing, yet I know that I'll have it when I buy all the albums, I guess.
In the loudest parts, I found her voice too loud. I might be a bit sensitive towards that, but I had the feeling as if the loudness - although never long - actually hurt my ears a bit. But eventually I managed to accustom myself to that, mostly.
As I already wrote above, I found the use of an electric guitar and a drum kit quite unusual. It gave the songs a slighter "modern" touch, "rock music", as I would say (which is often heavily based on guitars and drums as well). Some songs became far more rhythmic through that (especially the "Mummer's Dance", which came of all songs closest to the feeling of really wanting to dance).
And as I already stated above, I had the impression as if all songs from the new album were rather sounding that way.
Well, what was more ? The stage ... During the concert it occurred to me that the stage was set up in a way as if you were looking into a big tent - with the entrance at the back of the stage. The mostly blue tent was cut in half, and the audience was looking into it - seeing what the musicians and story-tellers really did.
In a line where she sang of a sunrise (I think that was in the song of the Highwayman), the entrence at the back became glowing red, whereas the rest of the tent still remained in older, colder colours indicating a night (I think).
The whole light effects were fantastic ... That means that thre weren't really not much effects, but rather light. They made it so that at one point the stage - the tent - was really glowing in Gold !
I don't know how they made it ... apparently a mixture beween red, orange and yellow hues ...But the most prominent colour was really violet. It's my favourite colour since childhood, so I was very pleased !
Okay, before I post the set list (they had given small pamphlets away for free
), a few words about the merchandise :As I already wrote above, they sold a DVD called an "tour exclusive" with the title "Nights From The Alhambra". It was sold out very "shortly".
However, they had T-Shirts there, Postcards and Posters and a few DVDs ... What struck me most was that some of the older CDs had a side printing called "remastered". That sounds positive. I might perhaps stick with those in the future.
The other point that astonished me was that some of the regular CDs were sold as "Limited Editions" - exclusives, perhaps - including DVDs as well (I think). Like mine. So I wonder where my CD comes from ... I bought it from a a friend who was running an rather esoterical shop. She was selling her wares and concentrating rather on the services she gave there (Reiki, mostly). I bought two CDs there. One of them was Loreena's "Book of Secrets", which is an fact such an "Limited Edition" containing a DVD. The DVD is seemingly the documentation "no journey's ens", plus music videos (The Bonnie Swans, The Mummer's Dance") and a small discography.
I've just read on the web site that the Alhambra-DVD will be available somewhere in March ... Maybe it's first sold via the tour merchandise.
Second, I just read that she comes to Canada & the USA as well ... so you might spare some money if you want to see her in concert.
(The concert wasn't very expensive. My ticket was about 50 Euros, which is relatively good compared to my Genesis ticket for 80 Euros ... but it's still quite some money for me.)Well, Okay, I this that's it (for now). You can ask questions anytime, so mabe something more will emerge from my memory ...
;DNow the set list (as taken from the pamphlet) :
Set I
She moved Through the Fair
The Gates of Istanbul
The Mummer's Dance
Penelope's Song
Marco polo
The Highwayman
Dante's Prayer
The Bonny Swans
Caravanserai
Set II
The Mystic's Dream
Santiago
Bonny Portmore
Beneath a Phrygian Sky
Kecharitomene
The Lady of Shalott
The Old Ways
Never-Ending Road (Amhrán Duit)
Plus three songs I didn't recognize.
Good Night.
Alrik
