What a fantastic evening we had at Proms in the Park yesterday - the weather was the best it had been for days, we brought a huge and unhealthy picnic with loads of booze and managed to get a prime spot near the stage and the giant screens, ahead of a crowd of at least 40,000 people.
The first half of the concert (hosted this year by the affable Ken Bruce) is, as has become traditional, the home of the "tribute band". Last night we had three of them - all very good, admittedly - the Counterfeit Stones, One Night Of Queen, and a Motown act The Emperors of Soul. Think what you will of tribute acts, this lot got the crowd in a really good mood and we were all up and dancing and chanting along...
After the break Our Tel took to the stage to thunderous applause, appeasing the cheering crowd by stating "Rumours of my retirement are somewhat premature". In his own inimitable style he led us through the evening's entertainment, opening with the incredible voice of Icelandic tenor Garđar Thór Cortes, who was simply breathtaking. Faux-classical strumpets Escala strutted around the stage like the Pussycat Dolls, giving the elderly men a heart attack and the younger ones something to "phwooar" about.
Katherine Jenkins proved to possess a far better mezzo voice than her publicity and reputation would lead one to believe, and looked absolutely stunning to boot. Charmingly, she also gave us a rendition of the first song she sang in public at the age of four, I'm Going Down The Garden To Eat Worms.
But the block-buster headline act that many of the audience (particularly the women d'un certain age) had really come to see was a certain multi-million-selling megastar Barry Manilow!
Several of our little gang (Julie Pie Lady and Madame Arcati in particular) loathed him, yet by the time he was into his second number all of us were singing and dancing our hearts out. As I said in yesterday's blog, he may be the epitome of cheese, but many of his songs are indeed classics.
Then came the ultimate surprise, as Mr Manilow was joined on stage by none other than John Barrowman! The crowd went absolutely bananas, of course (you could practically hear them fainting onto their picnic blankets...), as they duetted on I Made It Through The Rain. Our throats were hoarse after singing along to numbers such as I Write The Songs, Bermuda Triangle, an up-tempo version of Could It Be Magic, The Old Songs and of course Copacabana.
Whew! I was impressed by his performance - it reminded me that love him or hate him, the man is the consummate showman. Throughout his hour-long set, he kept the audience exactly where he wanted them and never failed to deliver. I like Barry Manilow.
After the shower of fairy-dust of Bazza, John, Kathryn and Gardar it was time to go over live to the Royal Albert Hall, starting with the by now obligatory link-up between musicians in other outdoor Proms events in County Down, Glasgow, Swansea and Salford, playing some awful atonal "Fireworks Fanfares" by new young composers (yawn). This dull bit was soon forgotten as we were treated to excerpts from Handel's "Music for the Royal Fireworks", accompanied by actual fireworks - a first for all of us - which was spectacular.
Although we were disappointed not to get the Henry Wood "Sea Songs" this year, we still managed to do a bit of a bob up and down as the traditional build-up to the finale began. The excellent mezzo-soprano Sarah Connolly (dressed bizarrely as Nelson in men's naval costume) led the sing-along for the rousing Rule, Britannia!, followed by Land Of Hope and Glory, Jerusalem and the National Anthem. More spectacular fireworks exploded overhead, we sang Old Lang Syne, and it was all over for another year.. A fabulous night's entertainment!
And here's the finale of the Last Night, for your delectation...
Sublime.
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