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Post by Novim on Sept 21, 2007 20:00:05 GMT -5
Hi all. I am just back from London and it's 01.40! I thought I'd better get a brief report out on the concert. We arrived an hour early and had the pleasure of meeting up with some of the other Majicatters who had managed to get to the concert. Thanks to Joanne for arranging the meetup!
The concert itself was a really good event and all participants were excellent, I thought. Performances were interspersed with videos encouraging World Peace - so much has been done and this event is growing in strength every year! Yusuf was the first artist on after the mid concert break. He performed with a keyboard player and a guitarist. Sadly, Alun Davies was not by his side on this occasion. He spoke about the importance of the event to him, then he sang three songs: One Day at a Time (something I've not heard him sing live before and which was brilliant), the brief version of Peace Train, which he says he wrote because the Peace Train was taking too long to arrive! and he finished off with a superb version of Stevie Wonder's Saturn. Then he was gone - so quickly. It seemed to be over in a flash! Our seats were nowhere near as bad as I had thought they might be - we were very close to the stage but high up.
After the concert we met up again with Joanne and the other Majicatters. Yusuf, we were told, had left early but we noted the guitarist and the keyboard player who now form a regular part of Yusuf's band. We went to meet them and they were really nice people who seemed delighted to meet us and who were keen to chat about their time working with Yusuf. Of interest they said that Yusuf was putting most of his time at present into the Moonshadow stage show - that is something to look forward to! They mentioned that Yusuf was still writing songs, some of which he has sung to them and they said were superb! A new album will be out sometime but not for a while yet. One of them mentioned that they had just recorded a new song with Yusuf which was part of the stage show, but he said it was a great song!
The concert, or excerpts from it, is to be shown very early on Sunday morning in the UK at 01.00 on Channel 4. It has been trimmed to an hour. I'm sure there's more to be said but I'll leave it to the others and get to bed. I hope this has been of interest. Good Night!
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Post by Vivian on Sept 21, 2007 20:50:19 GMT -5
How WONDERFUL!!! Thanks so much for sharing. I can't wait to read everyone elses stories!!!
Peace,Vivian
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Post by Lucy13 on Sept 21, 2007 21:27:51 GMT -5
Cool! Thanks for your hot-of-the-press report, novim!
Nice to get a glimpse of what Yusuf has in the works...
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Chris
Oh Very Young
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Post by Chris on Sept 21, 2007 21:40:17 GMT -5
Thanks Chris, it sounds like a wonderful night! So happy you were able to attend. Love the fact that Yusuf sang Saturn again. :-)
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Post by Lucy13 on Sept 21, 2007 21:45:13 GMT -5
oh, yeah. Meant to say cool about the keyboard.... It's about time!  |
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Post by suncatcher on Sept 22, 2007 0:22:16 GMT -5
What a wonderful post, Chris! Thank you for being so quick. Can't wait to hear more!
~Sun~
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Post by butterfly on Sept 22, 2007 2:41:35 GMT -5
Thank you Novim for your report. It really is a wonderful experience to hear Yusuf "live"!! Can't wait to see some pictures.  |
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Post by SuzieQ on Sept 22, 2007 13:00:22 GMT -5
This is how the day went for me... I met Joanne at around 5pm and we made our way to the Royal Albert Hall.... (This was taken on the way)  ... where we met up with Marie we also met a few other members from Majicat, Novim (Christopher) and his wife, John (who I had met before at Porchester Hall) Helen (Lady Helen) and her daughter. It was so nice to finally put faces to the names. Then we took our seats. Well, the concert was a Fabulous!!! Yusuf came on after the interval, he sang, One Day At A Time, Peace Train Blues, he said he’d changed this, as the Peace Train was so long in coming!!! Or something like that, memory not what it was, but his exact words will be on tonight’s highlights I would imagine. His final song was Stevie Wonder’s song Saturn. Then as quickly as he came on, he was gone again, no encore  but we can never get enough!!! Corrine Bailey Rea was good, James Morrison was great, but I like him anyway. Annie Lennox was simply Brilliant! She really knows how to get the audience up and dancing!!! There were a couple of other acts too equally good. In the interval, Marie and I had pictures taken with John Themis and Peter, The keyboard player, (Sorry can’t remember his surname just now) I promised John, I would put this picture on his MySpace page.  Marie will probably post her picture That’s assuming she hasn't already We had arranged to meet up with everyone at the stage door, then we waited and waited, but eventually, we were told that Yusuf had already left. I thought he might have, as this is the month of Ramadan and he was most probably shattered. It was now past 11pm and people had to get home, unfortunately we didn’t get chance to go for a coffee as originally planned, so we said our goodbyes and Joanne and I headed towards our Hotel, then we saw a restaurant open, I asked if they had a bar? I was told there is a club next door, he said it’s £10, each to get in, but that he would say we had eaten in the restaurant and get us in for free!!! So we went into this nightclub. Well, talk about the oldest swinger in town!!! That’s how I felt!!! It sure did bring back some old memories LOL. Anyway, the music was too loud to talk, so we ended up back at the hotel, not before popping into the open 24hrs Sainsbury’s (supermarket) next door to get a bottle, a selection of cheeses, a bread stick, biscuits and a bunch of grapes for a midnight feast. Well, we hadn’t eaten all day, (maybe we were in sympathy with Yusuf!!!) I must say, it all went down rather well, as we spent the early hours of the morning chatting away. It must have been around 3am when I eventually got to bed, I didn’t take any rocking I can tell you!!! The following morning, Joanne and I spent some time together having a coffee before I left to return home. If only I had known before that she was staying over the weekend, I could have stayed longer! Ah well, maybe next time! Here are a few shots I managed to take, loads of them were out of focus but these aren’t too bad.           James Morrison   Annie Lennox   Jude Law was there too!    |
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Post by Vivian on Sept 22, 2007 13:18:58 GMT -5
These pics are ABSOLUTELY GORGEOUS!!!
Peace,Vivian
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Post by butterfly on Sept 22, 2007 14:12:58 GMT -5
Wonderful pictures!!! Thanks a lot!!!!
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marier
Moonshadow Member
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Post by marier on Sept 22, 2007 14:54:55 GMT -5
Well, I certainly can't follow Sue's photos, they are fantastic! I was seated in the stalls and even though I had a good view, not the best for photos and mine are all crap for want of a better word  So thank God for Sue ;D ;D I arrived outside the Hall about 6.10 p.m. to wait for Joanne and Sue. While I was waiting got chatting to 2 couples and the younger of the two guys asked if I would take a photo of the 4 of them and of course I obliged. It turned out that he was Annie Lennox's drummer as told to me by his proud father who asked me if I would like a picture taken with him ;D Me with Annie's drummer lol  Sue and Joanne arrived and we were standing around chatting when we met up with, as Novim said, other Majicatters ;D Really lovely to meet up with likeminded people  Corrine Bailey-Rae was great, beautiful young lady with an equally beautiful voice. I was really pleasantly surprised at how good Marc Almond was, was never really a fan, but he sure pulled it off last night!! James Morrison was equally good, and of course all the young girls went crazy (and some of the older ones too ) Sue, Joanne and myself had arranged to meet if there was an interval. Joanne and myself met Marc, Yusuf's manager, Sue was in the ladies, and he remembered us from Porchester Hall (he was the "nice man" who arranged for us to meet Yusuf ;D ;D ). He shook hands with us and we chatted. He apologised and said that unfortunately he couldn't bring us to meet Yusuf again as security was pretty tight downstairs (where the stars were) as the Sultan of Brunei sp? was there and also the actress Faye Dunaway. I mean didn't he realise that we would have felt right at home  We said not to worry but to say hello to Yusuf. Myself and Joanne went outside to wait for Sue and we met John Themis and Peter and chatted to them for a few minutes. Peter, Moi and John  The guys said that Yusuf was on next and told us what he was going to sing (inside information eh). We went back in and waited for the big moment. Yusuf was great as always, but unfortunately not on for near long enough which for me was very disappointing, but at least I got to see him again Annie Lennox came on last and she was just amazing. I think every single person at the Hall was on their feet. Afterwards we went round to the stage door in the hope of meeting Yusuf, but unfortunately heard that he had already left  but all in all it was a wonderful night! |
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Post by bookworm on Sept 22, 2007 17:07:57 GMT -5
To everyone who posted pics and thoughts of their experience at the Peace One Day concert, thanks!! Great commentary and pictures.
Best,
Sue
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Post by Lucy13 on Sept 22, 2007 19:58:35 GMT -5
Wonderful, wonderful writeups, susie Q and marier!
It's so satisfying to see huge, colorful, like-I-was-there images.... aww, England! How I miss England............. Man, it's been way too long..... (1984!!) Maybe next year...
Great, great pics of everyone. Thanks!
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Post by SuzieQ on Sept 22, 2007 20:22:41 GMT -5
Well, how disappointing, just watched the 1-hour, very edited Peace One Day Concert, THEY CUT YUSUF DOWN TO ONE SONG!!! One Day At A Time is the only song shown!!! Sob! So disappointed, as I know you all must be!!!
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Post by Vivian on Sept 22, 2007 21:41:26 GMT -5
When will the DVD be released?
Peace,Vivian
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Post by crobarbie on Sept 23, 2007 3:10:44 GMT -5
Hm, it seems that Yusuf's performance was too short... BUT, also the reports about his part were too short , so 1. was the RAHall full? 2. how was the atmosphere? 3. how the crowd react to Yusuf's performance (coming to stage, performing, going out the stage:)... more details, please? How did they sound as only "3 man band"? |
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Post by helen on Sept 23, 2007 5:14:53 GMT -5
My daughter and I arrived at the Royal Albert Hall about 6.30pm where I spotted Joanne, Sue and Vivian outside I belive that Novim was there I'm sorry that I did not introduced myself to you. Our seat were in the Loggia box ours was the first one next to the stage. Very good seats I can highly recommend them. All the performers were excellent the RAH was packed and the atmosphere was great. My daughter enjoyed watching Jude Law. Yusuf came on after the short interval and only sang about 2 and half songs which lasted about 10 minuets. He did sound good. But as a fan I'm always going to say that. Like the girls said after the show we all met at the stage door hoping to see Yusuf after about 20 minuets we found that he had already left and gone home. It was late and most things closed so we went home. As Marie also lives in London we travelled on the same tube together and was able to catch up which was nice. Sue, I think they only showed one song of Yusuf because after that song the picture came up behind him of the Cup and being on TV no advertising is allowed. If my photos are any different I shall post them. Oh yes during the James Morrison performance I caught a glimpse of my daughter and me. Surprised really as we were next to the TV camera's and they did not swing round that far. This is for not seeing Yusuf leave the RAH. |
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Post by crobarbie on Sept 23, 2007 6:51:16 GMT -5
My dear Magicat friends, if you follow this link you coud taste a peace of Peace One Day Concert  ) |
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Post by crobarbie on Sept 23, 2007 6:51:47 GMT -5
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Post by crobarbie on Sept 23, 2007 7:04:44 GMT -5
Well, after watching Yusuf's performance (One Day At a Time) it seems to me that he was a little bit tired, but reaction of the public when he finished song was great... It looks that the public brought back some energy to him... you can see that in his smile... pitty that it was shortened version of the concert, because I would like to see him performing Saturn...
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Post by bookworm on Sept 23, 2007 7:21:49 GMT -5
Thanks for the link crobarbie, it was good to watch One Day At A Time.
Best,
Sue
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Post by crobarbie on Sept 23, 2007 7:28:16 GMT -5
Yes, but it seems that the others were also not bad... Corrine Bailey Ray and Kate Nash... and the furious Diva Annie Lennox
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Post by Vivian on Sept 23, 2007 8:26:59 GMT -5
Yusuf was absolutely brilliant as usual! THanks for posting the link. Does anyone know when the DVD will be released?
Peace,Vivian
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Post by butterfly on Sept 23, 2007 13:01:10 GMT -5
Wow, Thank you for this brilliant link!! I like to know too, when the DVD will be released. I hope it will be in 2007?? |
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Post by SuzieQ on Sept 23, 2007 19:28:35 GMT -5
It was a 3DD Production for Channel 4 that is all I can tell you, there was no mention of a DVD, but that doesn't mean there won't be one! Here is the email address. info@3DDgroup.com Maybe if enough people email them they may release the unseen footage??? Thanks so much for the link Crobarbie Nice find. |
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Post by SuzieQ on Sept 23, 2007 19:31:22 GMT -5
Lady Helen has graciously allowed me to post her pictures from the concert, so here they are... Helen's View of Joanne and myself from her seat. If you look on the right of the picture, you will see Joanne standing in white, I am sat on her right!  Yusuf, as if you needed telling!    And this is Marie and myself waiting outside the stage door after the concert, in mid conversation, and don't we take a pretty picture!!! lol  |
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Post by Lucy13 on Sept 23, 2007 19:57:50 GMT -5
Lady Helen has graciously allowed me to post her pictures from the concert, so here they are... Helen's View of Joanne and myself from her seat. If you look on the right of the picture, you will see Joanne standing in white, I am sat on her right! LOL, that is really funny! In a cute sort of way, of course. Joanne looks like she's got some attitude going, there.... |
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Post by butterfly on Sept 24, 2007 7:36:53 GMT -5
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Post by SuzieQ on Sept 24, 2007 11:42:55 GMT -5
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Post by crobarbie on Sept 24, 2007 13:14:53 GMT -5
I have to post this question once again... what was the public reaction during the Yusuf's performance... watching his recent performances, it seems to me that he is always nervous/unconfortable with first song (see how he almost mistaken first verse of One Day At...), and after that he usually become more relaxed... and, after all, Royal Albert Hall was his first big real/secular event, even "mini concert" in UK/London after many, many years ... Porchester was an intimate gig... Hamburg was in Germany etc.
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but we can never get enough!!! 
So thank God for Sue ;D ;D
but all in all it was a wonderful night!
)
