Tag Archives: Glory Glory Hallelujah

On This Day, 13 December 2014, Alfie Boe Sang…

Glory, Glory Hallelujah, from his 2013 album, Trust,  on the last night of his UK Winter tour.

Thanks to the ever lovely Linda W for sharing.

This was a bittersweet concert for most of us as we were delighted to see Alfie and share the moment with everyone but we also knew that we would not be seeing him again in concert for a while.  It was while in Cardiff that Linda and I bought our tickets for Scarborough – and of course, Alfie has just announced he’ll be back there in 2016.

Trust is available here:

trust

thanks for reading – please share

if you like what you see, why not subscribe?

all your Alfie info straight to your inbox

plus 4 exclusive photos

xx

So Alfie Asks Us To Dance – Should We?

I imagine quite a few of you are saying “of course we should” in answer to this question – well, I think we would all like to dance with Mr B – but in this instance I’m talking about dancing at an Alfie concert.  Alfie is well known for urging audiences to stand up and dance at concerts but what is the right thing to do if you want to dance and no one else does?  If you are on the front row and dancing, how does that affect others behind you?  Alternatively, if you have paid a lot of money to sit on the front row, how do you feel if a lot of people come and stand in front of you for half the concert?  I’m not sure I have the answers to these conundrums but here we go anyway.

In his recent UK tour, Alfie several times, at a certain point in the show, asked us all to dance.  We were left in no doubt that he wanted us to dance as he urged us to “get up, on your feet, that means stand up”! Now I didn’t need much encouragement to get up and dance but in some cases it can be a bit awkward if you stand up and look around and….you are the only one standing!  Particularly if you are near the front – it takes a bit of nerve to keep on standing when all around are sitting and looking a bit disapproving.  I’ll admit, at some shows I was a bit like a yo-yo!

Of the shows I attended on this most recent tour, the best dancing crowd was at the O2 in London; being halfway back on the arena floor I was well placed to see that a lot of the audience was up and dancing for most of the show after Alfie had asked us to dance.  However, the next night, and last night of the tour, Cardiff, was a totally different kettle of fish.  Although the audience responded well when Alfie first asked us to dance it was short lived as most sat down immediately after that song (Volare, I think) and the majority didn’t get up again.  They made up for this by being the best singing crowd – Wales really is a nation of fabulous singers.

So, when I asked you all for your comments on this contentious subject, the main response was that if Alfie asks, then you should definitely dance if you are able.  Having said that, a fair amount of people did raise the point about the possibly blocked view of those behind you – some respondents had been stuck behind a lot of standing people and ended up seeing not much at all.  Fans unable to stand / dance are more likely than others to face this problem.  They don’t want to spoil the enjoyment of others but they do want to be able to see Alfie too.

And there we have the conundrum: how to enjoy yourself and dance whilst not spoiling the enjoyment of others.  Even after researching this post and talking to lots of fellow fans I still don’t have the definitive answer.  I love to dance at a concert so if appropriate I will do so although I’d like to think I wasn’t spoiling it for anyone else at the same time.  I suppose the only way to ensure that is to get everyone else to stand up at the same time – answers on a postcard please as to how we can do that!  Perhaps it would help if we were allowed to dance in the aisles or at the front, something that happened at a few venues on the Storyteller tour but not this time around.  Then again…what about that question I posed at the top, what if you had a front row ticket and everyone came and stood in front of you? You might still have a good view being at the front but then again…and there we are going round in circles again.  Did I mention I don’t have the answers????!!!! We will probably have this discussion for as long as Alfie urges his audiences to get up and dance so feel free to add your thought to the comments box.

One reason for dancing, given time and time again, is that Alfie so clearly appreciates and loves seeing his fans dancing and having a good time.  I have to agree with this – in London, he was thrilled to see a group of fans standing and dancing through the Quadrophenia songs in the encore.  Additionally, where possible, he gets fans on stage to dance with him (this happened in Bournemouth) and at the Huawei Winter Concert at the Royal Festival Hall in December 2013 he pulled a girl out of the stalls to dance on stage with him as she was almost the only one dancing.  The main set finished with almost half the audience on stage (thanks Linda for sharing):

Glory Glory Hallelujah, from Trust was only heard a handful of times on Alfie’s recent tour but it was certainly the song that got people to their feet…mostly!  When I first heard the song, I was dancing round the kitchen to it and every time I’ve heard it since I have to dance so no way was I sitting down on the tour!  It’s a song I just HAVE to dance to, and I know I’m not alone in that opinion!

Alfie Boe’s 2013 album Trust is available now:

thanks for reading and sharing

would love to hear your comments on this please!

if you like what you see, why not subscribe?

all your Alfie info straight to your inbox

plus 4 Alfie photos!

xx

 

 

Storming End to Alfie Boe’s 2014 Tour

So, to paraphrase the opening song of the Storyteller tour, It’s Over for Alfie Boe’s 2014 UK tour.  Just writing that first sentence has taken me most of the day – sad the tour has finished but feeling incredibly thankful that I was able to see five concerts.  Additionally, thanks to the incredible generosity of my lovely friend Linda I was able to get a photo and a hug with the man himself…I just about managed to keep upright!  More about that in a later post!

Anyone who is an Alfie fan will be aware that for him to headline at London’s O2 arena is a very special moment in his career.  As he acknowledged on Friday night, the last time he set foot on that stage was as Jean ValJean at the Les Mis 25th anniversary concert and of course it turned out to be a career changing role.  A considerable number of Alfie Boe fans know him through the Les Mis connection and THAT Bring Him Home moment in particular so although that song always brings the house down wherever Alfie sings it, his rendition on Friday was even more powerful and emotionally charged for audience and Alfie alike.  Here is where I can let you into a secret: I am actually a little bit over Bring Him Home these days.  Sacrilege I know but I’ve heard it plenty and it’s not my favourite Alfie song.  However, on Friday I was completely bowled over by the emotional intensity in Alfie’s performance – and so was the rest of the audience.

The set list had changed again from the last show I saw (Manchester), largely due to Alfie’s throat infection which sadly meant the postponement of Brighton, but I was thrilled that he still sang Nessun Dorma and the two Quadrophenia songs.  Never heard them before but they are fast becoming firm favourites, and I’m really excited for the album and show next year.  One or two of us were worried about Alfie’s voice but we really needn’t have been; he was in fine fettle.  This was one hell of a performance and a resounding success – lots of tweets saying people had taken family members as a treat but been totally blown away and ended up fans themselves.

And so to the end of the tour, Cardiff.  The evening started emotionally for me as Sol3 Mio (who trained in Wales) sang an impromptu Calon Lan which had me in tears…my Dad used to sing it to me when I was a child.  Although their on stage banter could do with changing up a little before their 2015 UK tour, their performances have been outstanding and many Alfie fans have become Sol3  Mio fans too.  The lucky Cardiff audience even got to see and hear them perform Volare with Alfie too – although only after a considerable wait while they were tracked down from somewhere around the venue!

Cardiff audiences are always great and this was no exception; however, even though Alfie invited us to stand up and dance, not many did and this led to some awkward moments for those of us who did want to dance.  Concert etiquette is something I’ll definitely come back to at a later date – there are wildly opposing views on this!

The main change to the set list in Cardiff was the inclusion of Glory Glory Hallelujah from the Trust album – that really got the audience up and dancing.  Alfie looked so happy during that song and the jumping bean dancing was well and truly unleashed!  Apparently his nieces called it Dad dancing but we all loved it.  The revelation for me on this tour was hearing Danny Boy.  It is not one of my favourite songs, in fact I could easily say I can’t stand it…until I heard Alfie sing it.  I have always said that Alfie could sing the phone book to me and I’d be happy but this is the first time that he has transformed a song I hate into one I love – albeit only when he sings it LOL.  Danny Boy will be one of my tour highlights – I’d love to hear your tour highlights so please leave a comment.  Thanks Linda for sharing the video:

Once again, Alfie gave us a fantastic show – every single person I have spoken to about it had only praise, not one single negative comment.  In my experience, that is rare – such a shame there is no official DVD.  The musicians in Boe’s Band, Murray Gould, Matt White, John Tonks, Richard Causon and Dan McKinna were incredible and more about them in a later post but outstanding.

Lastly, as with all Alfie Boe concerts / tours etc, it is not only Alfie but the friends we meet up with and make along the way.  So, in no particular order (and apologies if I miss anyone, please let me know!) huge thanks to Linda W, Linda A, Janet, Nikki, Katie, Sally, Pat and Janet, Jan and Brad, Carole, Shelley, Sue, Pauline, Chelley, Cecelia and Cassie, Annie, Marcia, Tienne, Sonia, Marie, Geri, Linda E, Carole and Eric, Nancy and Marj, Andrea, Sally, Lea Ann, Roberta, Ellen, Emma, Nicola, Claire, Tracie, Margie, Gill and Malc, Karen and Richard, Gloria and Joan for making this tour so memorable and happy.  Some of you were there only in my heart, some of you I’ve known for a while and are fabulous friends and some of you I met for the first time on this tour but you all played your part xxxxx

UK fans need not despair though as new 2015 dates are being added all the time – Hampton Court Festival has just been announced today.

Serenata is available here:

serenata

thanks for reading – don’t forget to tell me your tour highlights in the comments section!

if you like what you see, why not subscribe?

4 Alfie photos straight into your inbox!

xx

Alfie Boe Confirms New Album for September!

This time last week, I was waking up to the glorious videos of the Seoul concert that Alfie performed in on 15 March.

This week, I wake up to the equally glorious news that Alfie is back in the UK to record a new album! The album is as yet untitled and we don’t know the genre of music (other than it will be GOOD music) but we do know it is due for release in September.  Yet again Alfie will be thrilling us at the end of the year, as the new album is scheduled just a couple of months ahead of the Trust tour. Yippee!

When I first listened to Trust, I couldn’t stop myself dancing to Glory Glory Hallelujah and this is exactly how I feel today – thanks to Linda Wellington for the video:

Trust is available via the link below:

alfie shop LOGO