Inkanta
Group: Admins
Posts: 1453
Joined: Feb. 2000 |
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Posted: Mar. 10 2008, 21:35 |
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Good evening!
Thanks, Richard, for your incessant work and diligence to make this possible! You spent countless hours on the phone, writing emails, working with Universal, etc. Well done! Tim, thank you, too, for your efforts!
A HUGE thanks to Rume, who collected us at the airport! It was great to meet you after all these years!
Here are a few thoughts to share about that evening.
In my IMHO, there isn't much that compares in the musical universe with a live, orchestral performance--all that experience, energy, and passion in one room, channeled by a conductor.
When the orchestra kicked in after the introductory notes of music, I had chills up and down my spine, and that was the first of many. Hayley W's solos were shining, crystal lights--breathtakingly gorgeous--goosebump producing. Mike's guitar solos, sorry to say, were not the highlight of the evening. They seemed to get lost in the rest of the orchestra--too weak to highlight or punctuate much of anything. But--that might have only what was reaching my cloth ears.
From time-to-time, Mike looked around at various sections of the orchestra. Perhaps he was interested to see how the musicians were reacting--which made me wonder if it would have been better for him to have been in the audience and to have had a guest guitarist. It was being recorded so he probably wanted to be the one playing. It was interesting to watch him as a member of a team taking direction from a conductor.
I was one of the fortunate few to actually be able to see Mike during the performance. It was distressing to learn afterwards that those in the back couldn't hear in addition to not being able to see. Despite being in a decent position, I was in so much pain that it was distracting. I had worn very comfortable boots and am used to being active and on my feet. But there was something about standing in one place for a long time. I was just so happy to be there that I took it (no pun intended) in stride. We had expected to stand, and were told that the view would probably be somewhat obstructed (but auditory obstruction hadn't occurred to me).
If the fans had been seated among the journalists, we'd have been invisible--there wasn't any difference in our looks or our demeanor. The difference might have been in our knowledge level--which in turn could have been very helpful to the journalists. Tubular.net, the Spanish group, Hiawatha, Dark Star, etc. represent the new media--the new type of journalism. Our groups promote and increase record sales, maybe even more than journalistic reviews. Our sites are high traffic and we are credible sources. And you know? Universal Music gets this. They are in an incredibly difficult position of being in the middle between the fans who they know are the ones who drive the market--and artists who may have a different take on everything. Not a wrong take from, say, Mike's perspective, but not one very conducive to customer happiness.
I wonder if any of the journalists commented in their accounts about the stoic, standing-up fans.
Besides being present for the launch, it was absolutely wonderful to meet the other fans--the resulting networking and camaraderie was fantastic! It was remarkable to watch Marko, cartoonist extraordinaire, draw. What a privilege!
In fact, we fans had such a great time, that we're entertaining the thought of future outings! Hergest Ridge, anyone? Who can bring airplanes? Actually, there are many talented musicians in the Oldfield community, so perhaps guitars, drums, bagpipes, voices, etc. would be in order. Maybe we'd even invite Mike. Hmm.
-------------- "No such thing as destiny; only choices exist." From: Moongarden's "Solaris."
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