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Royal Albert Hall - 18 Nov 2014
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  • Vote Up0Vote Down Halloween_JackHalloween_Jack
    Posts: 2,293
    Just watched your video of Voicething, UT. Outstanding, both sound and vision! :-)
    Avondale guesthouse
  • Vote Up0Vote Down Appy61Appy61
    Posts: 638
    Nah - we're all off down to HJ's gaff for a Goldfrapp weekender :-)) HJ's reaction to this:-O
    What if the Hokey Cokey is what it's all about?
  • Vote Up0Vote Down littlepeatlittlepeat
    Posts: 31
    Off down to HJ's gaff for a Goldfrapp weekender? Manchester or Newquay? I vote for Newquay! 
  • Vote Up0Vote Down Halloween_JackHalloween_Jack
    Posts: 2,293
    Ahem! Seeing as this is the RAH thread, here are some pictures that I took last night. Sadly, there was only one of Alison that was worth keeping. But lots of us lot.

    Link
    Avondale guesthouse
  • Vote Up0Vote Down Hells_BellsHells_Bells
    Posts: 1,792
    I cant really add anything else to what others have said apart from it was bloody handsome  :x

    Alison was her usual gorgeous self and performed top notch (albeit nerves). Will on stage, the usual gang. Choir, orchestra, John Grant, lighting, signed programme!!
    Best bit is always the meet up with fellow Frappers. Fabulous bunch of people that I have the privilege to know 

    :D
  • Vote Up0Vote Down John_The_Flower_ManJohn_The_Flower_Man
    Posts: 25
    Sadly, I wasn't able to make it to the get together at The Queens Arms - I was otherwise engaged wasting four and a half hours of my life freezing my bits off at the RAH stage door. (A surprisingly solitary vigil - I was on my Jack Jones for the entire time.) I had hoped to maybe meet Alison when she arrived as I had a bouquet of roses for her but she must have arranged to enter through one of the venue's numerous other doors. (Either that or she was wearing an invisibility cloak. Of the two possibilities I think that may be the slightly less likely!) I met Charlie early on and he was as friendly as ever, chatting to me about his solo work - which I'm a great admirer of.
    By 5PM I figured that I must have missed Alison but I still hung around - not because I'm a fan of double-pneumonia but in the hope that Charlie would come out for a smoke so that I could ask him if he'd be kind enough to give my flowers to Ms. G (as he has graciously done before). Unfortunately he didn't reappear and at 7 I trudged shivering into the hall to thaw out.
    After the show I returned to the stage door and bumped into Charlie and, thoroughly decent chap that he is, he did indeed give my flowers to Alison and even came over to me later on to confirm that he'd done so. He really is a lovely (and extremely talented, of course) fellow. Anyway, along with a rapidly diminishing handful of other fans I hung around at the stage door in the vain hope that Alison might just put in an appearance. Will did - but quickly went on his way. I stayed for an hour until there was only me left, everyone else having gradually drifted away, before giving up and heading back to my nice warm hotel room... via the nearby KFC that's thankfully open until the wee small hours. Ah well - maybe I'll get to pay horticultural homage to Ms. Goldfrapp in person one day.
    As for the show itself: stunning! I loved every glorious moment. I especially enjoyed the AG/JG duet of Nancy & Lee's classic 'Some Velvet Morning', having been a massive Nancy Sinatra fan since I was four years old. (A long, long time ago!) I really enjoyed the performance by The Lips Choir too - reminded me of the choral work of another musical hero of mine: Philip Glass. Oh and it was great to see Will making one of his all too rare appearances.
    Here's hoping it isn't TOO long before Goldfrapp hit the road again. I'm missing 'em like mad already!
  • Vote Up0Vote Down KeithJ_gmbKeithJ_gmb
    Posts: 249
    It was a very, very special night, wasn't it?

    I must admit that I didn't expect any great surprises, assuming that it was simply a way to round off the Tales of Us era (starting off at the Albert Hall with orchestra & choir; finishing at the Royal Albert Hall with orchestra & choir) and given that there's rarely much deviation from a tour setlist & often heard repertoire. So something a bit different was welcome & what we got was breathtaking.

    The social gathering always makes these gigs/events even more special and yesterday was no exception. Great to meet some frappers I hadn't met before and wonderful to meet well known stalwarts, once again. Absent friends were remembered, too.

    Laura & I were so lucky with our seats too. Row 10, right in the middle and with the two seats in front of us empty! A perfect view and the sound was simply brilliant. A combination of the acoustics, the sound mix, technology etc. no doubt, but whatever it was, I've never Alison so clearly at a gig, even when the band, orchestra and choir were in full flow.

    Perhaps that was part of the reason the impact of the songs was even greater than usual. I was highly emotional during most of the Tales of Us songs and 'Laurel', as ever, was a highlight. It was worrying at the beginning, though, when Alison didn't sing a line during 'Jo' and it was left to Angie to rescue the moment. Alison was clearly highly nervous and there were one or two other times where I wondered if she was going to be overwhelmed by the occasion. It's probably just as well 'Yellow Halo' wasn't on the setlist.

    Yet, for the most part, her vocals were unaffected and she sang beautifully. 'Utopia' was just sensational (the best I've ever heard it performed) and there was a great contribution from one of the sopranos in the choir.

    Those unexpected moments were the cherry on the icing on the cake, so to speak. The 54 female choristers performing 'Voicething' were superb and it was an inspired idea from Alison and Will to have this done in such a way.

    Then there was John Grant. Oh my word - brilliant. Such a perfect complement for Alison on 'Some Velvet Morning' and offering such rich but understated accompaniment on 'Monster Love' - perfect. I'm going to see him in Edinburgh on 29th. It would be nice if Alison was his guest that night! Plus Will on sax, again.

    Downsides? Apart from the tension when it seemed Alison might struggle to hold it together & the fact that we only got 'Black Cherry' for the encore, nothing that really mattered. It'll go down, for me, as one of the top Goldfrapp gigs (and I've been to 26 now). I can only hope there'll be more in two or three years time. That pause after she said that this will be the last gig....... for a long time anyway, set off alarm bells. Pray that she was just teasing us.

    Oh yes, one other downside. It was impossible to find a pub that was open for long after the gig.We managed to find one but it was only half an hour before they chucked us out. Lesson learned. We should all stay in a hotel with a residents' bar, just as in Manchester last year. Now that was the perfect way to round off a night.






  • Vote Up0Vote Down WhickwithyWhickwithy
    Posts: 5,163
    Hells_Bells said:

    I cant really add anything else to what others have said apart from it was bloody handsome  :x




    :D


    Actually, thanks for that.  It gave a good sense of things.
    The Sentient Struggle For Transformation

    https://www.amazon.com/Sentient-Struggle-Transformation-Whickwithy/dp/1734822147/
  • Vote Up0Vote Down LittleBirdLittleBird
    Posts: 194

    It was an incredible evening from start to finish. Lovely to meet the gang again in the pub beforehand and thanks for making my parents feel so welcome - they loved it!

    The gig left me speechless and like Hells_Bells I can't add anything further but I feel very lucky to have been there to witness it.

    Bring on the get together next year

    :D
    Post edited by LittleBird at 2014-11-20 03:27:28
  • Vote Up0Vote Down VisualFallacyVisualFallacy
    Posts: 242
    I am now back in the office and apparently working.  I'm quite glad my meeting at the royal albert hall got cancelled today, I'm not ready to be back there yet.  hopefully by the time it gets rescheduled I'll be back to my usual robust self! 

    Here are my photos for those I'm not friends with on Facebook (it's an exclusive club ;))... I was incredibly lucky and sat 3rd row slap bang in front of Alison... although this means there's a mic between her and I in most of the photos... enjoy anyway. 


  • Vote Up0Vote Down Halloween_JackHalloween_Jack
    Posts: 2,293
    The one decent image of Alison I managed to take:
    image
    And one of some of us... in the pub afterwards. Left-right: Laura, Una, Giancarlo, Marlou, pob, Dreeke, LittleBird, Alice, Halloween_Jack, CaravanGirl, Drew, st185cs
    image

    Post edited by Halloween_Jack at 2014-11-20 10:31:04
    Avondale guesthouse
  • Vote Up0Vote Down KatRobinKatRobin
    Posts: 2,769
    Thank you all for the posts. Great all round. And THANK YOU UT - you know why xx
  • Vote Up0Vote Down Urban_TribesmanUrban_Tribesman
    Posts: 5,681
    Hi All
    This is a link to my pictures from the night on Flickr. Goldfrapp, avec John Grant, Mara and some other familar faces from a pub around the corner.  One of these is not named.  Is it Una?
    Anyway, hopefully you have found the vids on Youtube but I will post them in the next post so they are here.

    The Moving Finger writes; and, having writ.
    Moves on: nor all thy Piety nor Wit.
    Shall lure it back to cancal half a line,
    Nor all thy Tears wash out a Word of it.
  • Vote Up0Vote Down Urban_TribesmanUrban_Tribesman
    Posts: 5,681

    The Moving Finger writes; and, having writ.
    Moves on: nor all thy Piety nor Wit.
    Shall lure it back to cancal half a line,
    Nor all thy Tears wash out a Word of it.
  • Vote Up0Vote Down Urban_TribesmanUrban_Tribesman
    Posts: 5,681

    Post edited by Urban_Tribesman at 2014-11-20 12:40:18
    The Moving Finger writes; and, having writ.
    Moves on: nor all thy Piety nor Wit.
    Shall lure it back to cancal half a line,
    Nor all thy Tears wash out a Word of it.
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