Aled Jones concert, Swindon

A bit belatedly - I stayed overnight with another fanclub / forum member after the concert so there was a delay in getting back here- a brief review - with a couple of (jokey!) mentions of other classicalx stars!

Aled's London concert at Cadogan Hall was postponed as he got called up for filming for the BBC. So the group already going to Swindon was joined by a couple more of us who were lucky enough to get returns - the hall was sold out. And so eventually 10 of us gathered in the cafe before hand - but not wearing our usual Aled badges, but some I had made for Hope House Hospice, of which Aled is patron and for which we were collecting in the interval ("the mad ladies with red buckets", as he described us when announcing the collection just before the interval!)

It was a great audience - very receptive and responsive, as Aled himself agreed afterwards, so it gave a really good atmosphere. Anyone who has been to an Aled concert will know that he has a support act - in the past it has been he who took on tour Katherine Jenkins, Hayley Westenra, and, this time last year, Keedie. This time it was Triniti, who were also with him on his autumn tour - to be honest, the concert was much the same as in the autumn, with a few alterations, and Aled himself described it as the continuation of his New Horizons Autumn tour (he had to cancel a week at the end of November because of filming commitments again and the venues were re-booked for this mini tour) Accompanying him, as usual, were Dom Kelly on the piano, who also gave us an oboe solo, and his "Angels". And so the songs were mainly from New Horizons, with San Damiano (from Higher) as the encore and How Great Thou Art (from Aled) as the final song, which invariably brings the house down.

But we started, as at the Autumn concerts, with a piece from "Aled's Angels", and then the stage went dark and silent. And then we had, unaccompanied, the first verse of "Lead kindly Light", with just the voice coming out to the audience from the empty stage, as Aled was singing off-stage. It was incredibly moving during the Autumn tour, and remains so. Aled then came on stage to the applause, singing the second verse

Aled always has, also, Ask Aled cards which can be completed in the interval, and he reads out as many of the questions as he can in between the songs in the second half. These are sometimes serious but usually lighthearted, and give the evening a great mixture of the serious and Aled's sometimes naughty humour. (For example - are you glad you didn't live a couple centuries ago when someone might have come to you with a knife?! - answer, when I was about 14, someone did suggest that, and my mum was so upset! ) It makes for a wonderfully varied evening, with something for everyone, Aled's lovely adult voice and his moving interpretations of his songs, but also his self-deprecating references to "Walking in the Air" (complete with a falsetto warble) and "Strictly Come Dancing". And in this concert he also shows how diverse are his talents - accompanying himself on the piano for the first verse of "I found a dream" which he also wrote.

And the mention of other classicalx stars? During the Ask Aled cards, he was asked how long it took to prepare the Good Morning Sunday programme and said that it actually took a good part of his week, including organising the interviews if they were not live. At this stage he said that he had intervened Russell for last Sunday morning's programme about 2 weeks ago. He was also asked how "The Two of Us" was going and said he had been watching while off-stage when Triniti were singing. Did we want to know who won? _ "Yes", called the audience - "Well too bad, I'm not telling you!"

And lastly - please remember he was joking....!- he was asked who he preferred - Katherine Jenkins or Russell Watson. "Never heard of either of them!" was his answer. A good way not to have to make a choice!

We went round to the stage door afterwards at Aled's invitation, he signed autographs etc for the other people waiting, and then turned to chat to us, have photographs taken, and have a quick look in the buckets and he was delighted, as were we - Tabby and I counted the money Monday morning and we had over £400! We talked about Good Morning Sunday, and how that was going, The Great Music Show, and how delighted everyone had been at the success of that (but the BBC say they will not make another series - shame!), some more programmes in the near future, and the present tour - he was driving straight down to Torquay that evening from Swindon. As usual he was his relaxed friendly self - drinking his usual glass of red wine as he chatted.

I know Brina is going to Liverpool on Thursday - enjoy ! - you will!

Added: March 9th 2006
Reviewer: Bonita
Score: