Wendy
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Feeling very content after last weekend!... 03-Dec-2022 12:24:23
| CorrsClub Time: 24-Apr-2024 23:35:56 |
Hi all! Sorry I haven't written about last weekend's Meet and Greet/Q&A and concert yet. The morning after the concert, I literally travelled from the airport straight to a work event and haven't had a day off until today.
I need to think about how to best share all my observations, videos, and photos from the experience. There's a lot to wade through!
But to summarise - I'm so glad I went to both events. It was a big effort logistically, an expensive adventure, and I felt a lot of stress about it in the lead-up. But, I decided I'd rather spend the money to see The Corrs, than to spend the same amount seeing 5-10 other shows I only half care about.
The Q&A had more people than I was expecting (and I was a few minutes late because I'd just flown in that afternoon, so I didn't have a close seat unfortunately). But luckily, I was chosen to ask the band a question on the microphone about their songwriting strategies! (In a nutshell: Andrea and Caroline said they usually write using chords first which lead to melodies. Sharon said to not put too much structure/methodology on it). They confirmed it was Jim's idea to change that one note in the end melody of 'Runaway'.
The Meet and Greet was FAST, but I got to stand next to Andrea! After smiling for the photo, I turned to her and blurted out "Thank you! This is the best day of my life!", then I mumbled, "Well, this year", because I didn't want to sound like the rest of my life was terrible (because it's not!).
Andrea flashed her beautiful smile, gave me a really warm, heartfelt look into my eyes and said "thank you". She seemed really genuine. Then she kindly brushed her hand down my arm as I was ushered away by staff (it was a tight schedule!).
That tiny in-person connection with Andrea meant the world to me. It was worth it for that moment, after looking up to her for 25 years! (In real life I was looking down to her because I'm taller!).
Then I got to meet Rachel, aka 'Corrazy Rach' on this board, who is lovely and not crazy at all!
The funny thing was that I wore my red and black tartan dress because it happily reminds me of Andrea's dress on the 'Jupiter Calling' album cover. All night I kind of regretted it because I felt a bit under-dressed. But when I met Rachel, she picked up on the dress reference, so I'm glad someone got it!
The next day I caught two trains from Sydney to my hotel in Newcastle, then got the official bus/coach to the venue. It took 3-4 hours of travel all up but it was a lovely scenic trip.
Hope Estate was beautiful - surrounded by hills/mountains in the distance, a lake near the stage, and a vineyard. The weather was delightful - clear skies with just wisps of clouds. No rain! The stage was massive - I've never seen an outdoor stage that big before.
I got there at 4pm, but The Corrs weren't on until 9pm, so I wandered around a lot, got some food, hung out with Rachel and a few others, and watched some of the support acts. Wet Wet Wet put on a good show, and there was a stunning sunset at the end of their set.
My seat was in the 'D' section, which the last section with plastic seats. Behind me was the grassy 'General Seating' section where people sat on picnic blankets. There were probably 15,000-20,000 people at the venue in total. It fits 20,000 but it wasn't fully sold out.
It was completely dark by the time The Corrs came on, and the crowd was so excited! 'Give Me A Reason' was an unusual way to start, but it was magical. The band sounded excellent, and the audio from the speakers sounded really great! They played some of their more haunting, wistful songs at the start (like 'Give Me a Reason', 'Forgiven Not Forgotten', 'Dreams', 'Bring On The Night', 'Radio'), so that part of the concert had a ghostly, mystical feeling - especially with Andrea twirling around the stage like some kind of Irish mythological spirit. The fact that we were out in nature beneath the stars made it seem more ethereal.
'Bring On The Night' had a lengthened instrumental section (which I later discovered is what they did at Royal Albert Hall), and Sharon's violin part had a Middle-Eastern flavour, which I loved.
A lot of the songs had different openings to the recordings - like 'Only When I Sleep', which took a while to reveal itself! The band played that song (and some of the others) with deeper, more laid back grooves than the recordings. It's hard to describe, but it made them sound more modern.
Andrea looked so confident on stage and seemed to be having a blast! She made lots of little jokes throughout the concert, and told wonderful stories - like how her Mum and Dad were considering moving to Australia before the kids were born. At one point she raised her arm to the night sky to signal to Jean and Gerry. *sob*
It was lovely to hear the vocal harmonies on 'Ellis Island'. Sharon and Caroline sounded great on No Frontiers. I've not heard Caroline sing solo in years so I was pleasantly surprised by how good her voice sounded!
In the middle of the concert, there was a verbal fight in the crowd near me (some ladies were dancing and people behind them yelled "Sit down", so they yelled back etc). That was a downer. But the mood picked up again, and by Toss the Feathers, everyone was up dancing!
There are some Corrs songs that I don't listen to much anymore ('Bring On The Night', 'White Light', 'So Young') but I really enjoyed the live versions. I would have preferred an original Corrs song to 'Little Wing', but I know that's a well-loved song. I also wasn't really in the mood for 'Queen of Hollywood', even though I used to love that song!
At some point (maybe before So Young?), Andrea said they wouldn't leave 21 years before the next Australian gig, and announced they'll come back next year. The crowd roared!
After 'So Young' she said "that last song was true...the next one is not" and they launched into 'I Never Loved You Anyway'. Then, they pretended to say goodbye before coming back on stage. (It obviously it wasn't over, because they hadn't played 'Runaway', and the drone show hadn't happened!).
They played 'Runaway' as soon as they came back on stage, and had the whole audience singing along to it. At the end, Andrea said she could hear the accents (which has been captured in a video on YouTube).
Then they played 'Breathless' and the drone show began. I thought the drone show would be a bit of a gimmick, but it was actually really impressive and futuristic-looking! It added more power to this already powerful event!
And of course, 'Toss The Feathers' at the end felt like a massive celebration. As you'll see on one of the videos online, I think it was Andrea who said "that was definitely worth travelling a LONG way for!".
The show was a blast and the whole atmosphere was electric! I got the coach back to Newcastle that night and we convinced the driver to put on a Corrs playlist over the speakers. The whole busload of people sang Corrs songs the entire way back! It was the icing on the cake!
It was reassuring to find all these people who love the same band that I have loved for so many years. I didn't know they were all out there! And I've never been to a concert that big before so it was a lot of 'firsts' for me.
I'm still coming down to earth, but I'm so grateful to have finally seen the band, and to have made some new friends along the way!
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