"Choreography" Tour: Live In Riga - 12.2007

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Gatis
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"Choreography" Tour: Live In Riga - 12.2007

Post by Gatis »

Hey there, yesterday I visited this concert in Arena "Riga", but I am now in a middle of one job, so I hope I will post a review a little bit later.

Concert was delayed for about 1h, but when it started everything went well.

And before you wait on some updates: here is a nice picture from this concert, hope you like it.

PS. i haven't posted here for sooo long, but I hope some of you maybe remember me. Actually later I will have some stuff to share with you.

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Post by Gatis »

Here you can see some additional photos, which were just published.

http://www.apollo.lv/portal/fun/2110/articles/115648/0

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Xanthippe

Post by Xanthippe »

Hi Gatis, great to see you here in this forum again.

I hope to read your review soon. I trust you had a fantastic evening seeing and hearing our beloved Vanessa-Mae.

Thanks for the photos and the link to more.

Wow, she did look gorgeous, as always of course. I really like the dress with stripes in shades of white, to green and blue. Also, she looked really made up. I like the lipstick and blused cheeks that well counterbalanced the overwhelming dress.

I will use these photos in next update of my website Vanessa-Mae: Saying Power On Strings @ VMSPOS this coming weekend
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Post by wylde8 »

Very cool. Were a lot of people there?
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Post by Gatis »

Hey there, well I hope I will write a review on weekend. About concert visitors, I don't know how many seats were there, but the half of the Arena Riga hall was full. So maybe more than a 1000 maybe 2000 people.

I found some more pictures, you can see them by this link:

http://easyget.lv/muzika/read/4195/

Just click on the link named: "Vanesas Mejas koncerta apskats"

PS. I am glad that some of you still remember me. :) And I see that Rijko had changed a nickname :)

Sure you can use those photos. Hopefully I will later send or post here some more. Still have this Vanessa A4 format picture which you send me long long time ago.

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Post by Xanthippe »

Hi Gatis,

Yes indeed, I changed my login name!

Thanks for the links to the photos. I really like the way she looked at the show. Vanessa-Mae is always so gorgeous.

When searching for photos and reports on her show in Vilnius, Lithuania , I cam across this link:

http://www.alfa.lt/straipsnis/160968

click at the link foto to see 9 photos of the concert!

Vanessa-Mae apparently had the same dress as at her concert in Riga. Usually, she doesn't use the same dress at concerts at 2 days after eachother.

Gatis, can you tell us from the link if these photos are indeed from her concert in Vilnius or are they from the Riga show.

BTW, I am glad that you still have the A4 photo that I sent you!
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Post by Gatis »

I checked the site. The set is very similar, but it seems, that it is in Vilnus, Lithuania. Also as far I can tell from text - I undesrstand a couple of words.

Anyway, here I found also one text about Vanessa visit in Lithuania, also one new picture - I think.

http://www.lrytas.lt/?id=11974417291195769052&view=4

PS. Here are some more pictures from concert in Vilnus

Image

http://whatson.delfi.lt/news/music/arti ... D=15287862
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Post by Xanthippe »

Thanks Gatis,

In the meantime, I found out that she is now in Bratislava for a concert tomorrow evening, see:

http://www.sktoday.com/content/1011_van ... bratislava
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Post by Gatis »

Nice. Maybe we should rename topic on something like "Vanessa tours - end of 2007".

I will check on some updates from Baltic concerts. Anyway, maybe there are some members that visited concert in Lithuania?
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Post by Gatis »

Ok, I just sat down and wrote a review, so you don't have to wait to weekend. :) Here it comes! Oh and this is my 300 post in this forum - how great is that :)

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First of all, I must say that the program of this concert was quite the same as mentioned in other Choreography tour reviews.

When I arrived at arena Riga, there was a huge crowd of people outside, one by one they went in the hall. Everybody was checked by guards – no cameras, food etc.

Then everyone were waiting for the beginning of concert, but the entrance to the seats and stage sector were closed, so we should hang out at the cafe and bars in other sectors of this hall.

Actually I must say that this hall was build for ice-hockey championship, so it's a bit cold inside.

So we waited and waited, but the entrance was closed. People were quite impatient, because the concert was delayed by 1 hour, because of the delay of the Vanessa plane.

Some of the people started to whistle and some just joked around, that maybe we should go home. I think the mistake by organizers was, that they did not inform people about the delay, so we had no knowledge what is happening and why.

Ok, the concert began. It began with Sabre Dance and was followed by Havana Slide. So as I said the program was similar to other concerts during this tour.

Now, some facts. Vanessa told that she just took a flight from Miami, that's why almost after each song she adjusted the violin. She said that her violin is going crazy, because of the change of humidity. In Miami it's about 70%, but in Riga maybe 30%.

During some other brakes – talking parts she said, that she feels so old, because of some tunes, like Red Hot.

Also Vanessa joked about her "new" album. She said that this is the tour, where she promotes her new album – Choreography, which is almost 4 years old. Actually when I first heard commercials on TV about the concert, I was fooled, because they said that Vanessa comes with brand new songs from her new album. Shame on them...

Anyway, old tunes are also good.

Well about some worse songs in this concert – maybe it was Destiny. I don't know, I don't like much this tune - the performance was quite good, but maybe bad choice of the program. Actually during the performance of Destiny, Vanessa shouted – Get up, have some fun, but when one of the people from the first rows got up and throw a flowers for Vanessa, he was stopped by guard, who put him back on place. Maybe some of the people who saw that, thought, that maybe it's not a good idea to get up from their seats.

Also one bad thing was that Vanessa had a stage from which she could not get off. I don't know if that was request by her or mistake by organizers. I remember previous concert in Riga, she walked down the stage and played around. It was nice experience, but not here.

The security was quite high, but I thing they were wrong, because Vanessa fans are not so crazy, at least here in Latvia.

Let me tell something more about performance. I was glad that she played some of my favorite – Solace, Night Flight and I'm A Doun. Of course as closing performance it was Storm.

She does not sang during the performance, so they just played the singing parts, as also some other parts during the Tango De Los Exilados and other songs.

The sound in the arena was not the best (it's designed for sports events), but it's a wide and nice.

One of my wish for future concerts would be to hear in live Blessed Spirits, which is very emotional and touching composition. I hope that she will do this song live someday.

Oh, one other thing that I didn't like was some people from the audience. When Vanessa played the last track (as she said), some people got up and left. Maybe it's because of the delay. But of course we were clapping and waiting for encore – so Sabre Dance again and also Storm.

The concert was shot on camera, so somewhere is the record; I hope it's for DVD or something. Hopefully it will be out someday.

In the end, I must say that concert was good. I enjoyed watching Vanessa again here in Riga. Some complains from me, but sometimes I like criticize.

As for criticize, I think one thing that was missing is a surprise, everything was predictable. It would be nice, that Vanessa would figure out some surprises during the performance. Maybe would do a longer Encore. Maybe some not waited compositions. Don't know, but I would call this concert a bit academic. By this word I mean, she came, do everything as written and left.

Vanessa tried to play around a bit, but I think she can do it more freely. Just improvise sometime or do something unusual. These are just my thoughts.

Maybe I want that, because I am from younger generation fans. Some older people like the perfect style and no surprises.

How do you think? Also, as I think Vanessa was quite tired after flight and fast rehearsal, but she did a good job. Hands up for that. I cannot wait for a new album and new tour, as during the concert, she promised that if Riga will invite, she will come here again, because she really like this city.

As for the Latvian people, there are so many Vanessa lovers. So the fans love her here! I am glad about this fact!

If you have some additional questions, please do not hesitate to ask them.
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Post by Benji »

THANK YOU GATIS, for the wonderful pictures. Both you and Rijko have really given us some nice photos for our wallpapers :D

I just have a couple of general questions:

1) Did she use her electric violin any? If so, do you remember what pieces she used it for?

2) "Red Hot" is by far my favorite song by any musician ever, so I thought it was quite wonderful that Vanessa-Mae has started playing it again. Now if only she would use a full orchestra ... :D Do you remember if she used her acoustic violin for this piece?

3) Did she play any songs that were unexpected? Perhaps a song that she hasn't played in a while, like Contradanza or perhaps Themes from the Caravans?
Xanthippe

Post by Xanthippe »

Hi Gatis, thanks very much for your nice and interesting story.

Vanessa-Mae was in Miami where she participated in an event for contemporary Asian art in the Mandarin Hotel of Miami. The art event was organised by Sothebys in cooperation with the Mandarin Hotel group, held on December 6. I have no idea whehter Vanessa-Mae did some performance there too, or that she was just present because she is a celebrity of oriental decent. I have photos that I will make available atthe next update of my site VMSPOS

Benji, Vanessa-Mae played Red Hot on her acoustic violin at her concert in hamburg this summer. Most likely she did so too in Riga, but hopefully Gatis can tell more about this.

I have indicated which violin she used for all pieces at that concert in Hamburg, see my review at review Vanessa-Mae in concert in Hamburg, July 2, 2007.

Indeed, she has not played Red Hot for a long time. The only concert that I visisited so far where she played Red Hot was in The Hague in 1998 for the Storm On World Tour.
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Post by Gatis »

Yeah, she played Red Hot on her acoustic violin, not the electric Zeta. Mainly the program was similar that are posted in Rijko reviews and the use of violin is also the same.

For me surprise was I'm A Doun, but as I said, I waited for Blessed Spirits, but there you need no only orchestra, but a huge chorus.

Also it would be nice to hear Happy Valley. But also chorus is needed. I think Vanessa could arrange such a concert here in Riga, because we have a good chorus and also a good orchestras.

Hopefully she with her management maybe would do this :)
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Post by Gatis »

While searching some info about the concert in Bratislava, I found a picture from her previous visits there.

This photo is from 1999, concert in Bratislava. Maybe you have seen it, I saw it first time.

Image

Also there are some news, but I cannot find pictures from concert:

http://www.gregi.net/vl/category/Sporto ... slava_756/
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Post by Xanthippe »

Thanks Gatis for powsting the photo of Vanessa-Mae in Bratislava at her concert in 1999. I have it already but I am sure it will be new to many others here. Anyway, it is a fantastic shot!

I would love to hear The blessed Spirits live again too. I remember she openend her Storm On World Tour concert in The hague in 1998 with it. It was a fantastic and very emotional start of a superb concert then.

BTW, The Blessed Spirtis is also in the extended version of The Storm On World Tour movie (it is not in the version most people have)!
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