Let me first thank everyone for their patience as I settled back into my routine and recovered from what truly was only a mild case of jet-lag. Really, it was having to return immediately to work that did me in.
But I have at last recovered and have had an opportunity to get my thoughts together enough to post my impressions.
Where to begin? Well, what the hell, how about the long version? (Those who couldn’t give a rat’s zzz about my personal stuff, feel free to skip ahead a few paragraphs...)
Late Friday night of last week was when I first got wind of the gig, via the web. “WTF?” thought I. “What kind of advance notice is this?” Grrr!
I immediately set to trying to find a way to purchase a ticket, but, as we all know, that was impossible. I also began checking airfares, but thought it unwise to book a flight until I had a definite event ticket. The timeframe of the contests and the way airfares increase drastically the closer to flight time one books, however, meant that if I were to be fortunate enough to secure a ticket I’d be better off having already arranged travel. So, after having screwed up my (normally penny-pinching) nerve and much Googling for discount airfare websites, I went ahead and made my flight/hotel reservations Monday night. Somehow I managed to stumble into a deal for flight and hotel for a quite reasonable sum, even though I didn’t need the hotel as my cousin, coincidentally, was flying to London Wednesday night and had told me I could crash at her friend’s house. Oddly, if I removed the hotel from the booking, the cost shot up a grand! Hell, I thought, I’ll keep the hotel in the deal whether I stay there or not!
Then I checked out the location and, lo and behold, it was about 3-4 blocks from the venue. I took that to be a favorable omen.
From then it was pins and needles waiting to find out if I would even be able to get into the venue. But, again, fate (in the form of a dear, dear friend) smiled upon me and as of Wednesday, I had been provided with a pair of seats for the show. Woohoo! I honestly had to read the email repeatedly to be sure my eyes weren’t deceiving me with wishful thinking.
My cousin and I arrived at Heathrow just after 7am and took the tube to Earl’s Court together. She went off with her friend and I walked the rest of the way to my hotel on the other side of Hyde Park/Kensington Gardens. I registered and dropped off my single small suitcase at about 10am but could not get into my room until 2pm. I decided to take a walk to Porchester Hall, thinking it a good opportunity to time the walk for later and also to pick up my tickets. Upon arrival, I noticed the BBC trucks already outside and entered, in search of a box office. Not finding one, and seeing another woman just ahead of me on the grand stairway (and assuming she was there for the same purpose as I), I made my way up the stairs. Next thing I knew, I was in the performance space as the crew was assembling the stage, lighting, etc., for the evening’s event. “Cool!” thought I. The woman turned to me and said, “Well, I guess this is the place. Should be a good night.” It became obvious that, while I had thought she was there for the same reason as I,
she thought
I was there for the same reason as she, i.e., as a member of the crew. Haha! As I didn’t wish to appear an intentional gate-crasher, I introduced myself and explained the situation, saying I’d best be on my way. Her name was Kate, and she told me she was sure it would be OK if I hung around a bit. So I did. We had a lovely chat, I mentioned that a close friend is a production manager back home, my freelance work as a wardrobe assistant, etc. More of the crew began to arrive and she needed to get to work, so I made my exit, thanking her for her hospitality.
On the way out, I inquired with someone from the BBC as to how/when one could retrieve their tickets and was told they wouldn’t be set up for that until 11:30 or so.
Still needing to kill some time before check-in, I wandered about and came upon Whiteley’s shopping emporium. “Aha!” I thought, “I can kill time here easily. Shopping!”
Bit of a disappointment to find many of the same stores as we have at home, though. Any rate, passing a florist the idea struck to have some flowers delivered to the dressing room. Funnily enough, the clerk, a most helpful young woman by the name of Siobhan, had no idea where Porchester Hall was, even though it was about a block and a half away. We had a good laugh at the fact that a Bostonian was giving a Londoner directions – in London. ;D Once the flowers were settled, I popped into the Porchester, a pub just down the road, for a bit of lunch. Afterwards, I made one more visit to the hall in an attempt to pick up the tickets. This time I wound up speaking with another BBC gent who summoned yet another person who informed me there were no actual tickets, per se; it was simply a list of names. She was kind enough to verify that my name, + 1, was on the list. Then it was back to my hotel to at last get a much-needed nap.
I was awakened an hour later by the telephone – it was Sue calling to let me know she’d arrived and was at the same hotel! Wheehoo! She dropped in an hour later and we had a great chat. Doreen (Cristalina) arrived an hour or so later, and we all had a lovely visit.
We made our way to the hall, planning to arrive an hour before the doors were scheduled to open so that we might grab a quick dinner at a little tapas restaurant just across the street. However, upon arrival, we observed that there were already a few folks queuing up in the entryway. Still not realizing our seats were reserved, we opted to get in line and skip the food.
We decided to locate the artists’ entrance, thinking we might try to get a post-show autograph. Sue and I went outside, leaving Doreen to hold our place in the queue. As we rounded the corner, a woman I’d seen outside earlier in the day asked, “Have you really come all the way from Boston just for this?”
“Yes,” I replied. “And I fly back tomorrow.”
“Well, come here. I’ve got a bit of a treat for you,” she said. She introduced herself as Janet and she proceeded to escort Sue and me into one of the BBC production trucks, saying that they were just about to start up rehearsals and that she thought we might enjoy getting a sneak preview of Yusuf on the monitors. Neat-o! Alas, Yusuf did not appear on the screens. Rather, a stand-in was used. So there we were, Sue and myself, watching a quite handsome young man (if you’re reading this, You know who you are!
) standing behind the main mic and holding a guitar while Janet directed various cameramen, lighting techs, et al, in preparation for the night’s event. Sue asked whether it would be alright if she took some photos, and they had no objection. She even managed to take a bit of video.
After a bit, Sue popped back to the queue intending to send Doreen out to take her place in the truck, but unfortunately just then additional personnel began to arrive and we needed to leave to make room for them.
John and his lovely daughter Rachel joined us in line, and Marie followed soon thereafter. Six of us, all from the site – perfect!
Soon enough, the velvet rope was unhooked from the stanchion and we were checked in two by two. Once we were issued our table numbers, we were directed to a small bar area where we were able to buy a drink. (There may not have been alcohol during the actual performance, but it wasn’t entirely absent. I truly think one main reasons for the "no alcohol during show time" rule was to minimize foot traffic during filming. But I digress…)
Once we had finished our beverages, it was time to take our seats. I made a quick trip to the ladies’ room and took a moment to speak with Yusuf’s brother, David, before heading back to the bar area. As I made my way up the stairs, someone introduced me to Alan Yentob (from the “Imagine” documentary), telling him about my journey. Seems my little tale had made the rounds a bit. LOL We briefly saw Muhammad in the entryway to the performance space, and, once inside, were pretty much flabbergasted by our table’s proximity to the stage!
Really, it couldn’t have been any more perfect!
I thoroughly enjoyed seeing how the set had developed from the nascent stage I’d seen it in earlier in the day. John introduced me to Alun Davies, who was mingling among the guests prior to the show, and, as Sue has already mentioned, we each took the other’s photo with him. He’s a lovely, lovely chap, quite friendly and open.
Well, we settled into our seats and things got underway shortly. A PA made a couple of announcements, including one asking us to remain seated during the performance (hence my opinion on the beverage service situation) and another letting us know we would be permitted to take photos prior to the performance but not during. Another woman appeared a little while later to introduce Yusuf…and this is where I am at a loss for words, quite frankly. My immediate impression was: Wow! He looks great! So relaxed, at ease, great outfit, the colors really suit him, etc.
Then I thought, “I’m really here! We’re
all really here!” LOL
And then he began to sing…what can I say? Sublime! The set list, which Doreen has already kindly posted, included so many wonderful pieces! A real pleasure, for me, was to again hear “Wind East West”, this time with additional instrumentation. The rendition back at the Royal Albert Hall in ’03 was beautiful, as was this newer one. I can’t say as I have a preference for either; they are both gorgeous in their own right.
And to hear “Don’t Be Shy”! Pure bliss! “I Think I See the Light”, “Heaven/Where True Love Goes”, and “The Beloved”, all from the new album, were, quite simply put, magnificent. Joyous, joyous music, meant for sharing live. Rollicking is the word that springs to mind. “How Long/Peace Train Blues” was a special treat – a truly unique take on a song which he’s now re-worked into several variations over the course of his career.
I can’t tell you how often I felt tears trickling down my cheeks as wave upon wave of a variety of emotions coursed through me, the dominant one being joy. Pure and simple joy to be experiencing such beauty as this music, this happy noise, this connection of ideas and philosophies that we are indeed all one, all essentially the same even with, or perhaps in spite of, what we think of as our cultural differences.
When the lights went a bit wonky and only the band was properly lit, I must confess I found it quite appealing. It seemed to me that this was how someone would have seen him “back in the day”, before the more elaborate productions later in his career. And having never had the opportunity to attend a show back then, I got a kick out of visualizing that.
Once the show had ended, I was extraordinarily pleased that my friend who had arranged my tickets managed to locate me and say hello at last, having never met before. I do hope I thoroughly expressed my immense gratitude; I felt truly blessed to be there. My friend told me that when he’d told Yusuf that I’d be coming to the show, Yusuf said he was “so happy” to know I’d be there. LOL! Not half as happy as I, I thought! Haha! Really, I was a bit flummoxed when he told me that, yet really pleased. ;D
Sue has already posted about our time backstage, so I won’t go into detail. I will say it was lovely to meet everyone and that, while we posed for our photos, I whispered to Muhammad that I was enjoying his new album.
When Yusuf asked what I thought of the set design, due to my long friendship with Jon (a production manager here in Boston), I was put right at ease, feeling somewhat conversant on the subject. I told him I liked it very much, pointing out the “cupolas” when I think in fact the word I’d wanted was “arches”. (I still think there is a more specific term I wanted to use, but for the life of me I can't think of it!) No wonder a blank look crossed his face. “Coversant” my zzz! LOL He said thought was being given to doing similar, small “café-style” shows such as the one we’d just enjoyed, perhaps with a question and answer session included and wanted to know my thoughts on that. Well! Haha! I remained calm (I think!) and told him I thought it a wonderful concept, remarking that the set certainly looked as though it were built for travel.
Oh, and as we left the backstage area, I remembered to say, “Vivian says ‘Hello!’” which got a lovely smile from Yusuf. ;D
Marie had to make her way home, but Doreen, Sue and I went round to the Porchester for a quick drink. A man and woman sitting on a bench waved me over. I approached and said, “Do I know you?” LOL The man said, “We were just at the same concert and backstage.” I was slightly embarrassed, but I’d honestly not noticed them. We all three joined them for a drink and it turned out his name is Martin (Hayes?) and he’s working with Yusuf on the Moonshadow musical production. If I recall correctly, he said he’s Yusuf’s musical director. We had a great chat with him and his wife, Holly. Lovely people. At one point, Martin asked how I’d gotten “into” Yusuf’s music and what was it about it I liked so much. I gave him the brief version of how I rediscovered Yusuf a few years ago, and attempted to explain just why I continue to find the complete body of work so immensely appealing. The best I could seem to do was to say I found it to be incredibly genuine, heartfelt, and real. The intimacy of the recordings, being able to hear an intake of breath, lips parting to form the next word, etc. I said I like that the humanity is “there”, the music is, simply, “present”. I think he understood what I was getting at, at least I hope so.
Oh, and Janet said the programme would likely air sometime around Easter, as she wouldn't be doing the edits until after she returns from holiday in Mauritius.
-Joanne
P.S.
The only photos I took were of the set, pre-show. I've tried to put them somewhat together so that one can perhaps get a sense of the whole thing:
?!!!!!!!! You're kidding!!
tnx in advance
Did he have back up singing with him when he sang "Wind - East and West"? And what did you think of the arabian stage decor. It sounded really exotic. 
