Anne de Bretagne

[PaulT]

I've been listening more to the CD set, and I must say it's growing on me - even the couple of slightly "Euro-by-numbers" ballads.  

[GubGub (Al)]

We've not been long back from Nantes - the least said the better, I think.  Suffice to say, we are spoilt by the professionalism of Fairport.

Well, hopefully GubGub won't be so reticent 

Weren't some members of Fairport there to provide some professionalism to the event?

Have just got home. I was at the Tuesday night performance and it sounds as though there were some differences. I will post a considered report later (hopefully).

[GubGub (Al)]

Anne De Bretagne – The Good, The Bad & The Ugly

And so to the Tuesday night performance. The advertised kick off was 8.30 but when I arrived at the Chateau at 7.15 the audience appeared to be already filtering in. I had planned to get a quick beer first but decided I had better join the queue. This turned out to be a bit of an error of judgement as we were in fact only being marshalled into the moat (mercifully free of water) until the gates opened properly some three quarters of an hour later.

I would echo Chris’s thoughts on the unscheduled, unnecessary and tiresome support act. The locals seemed to love him but not quite as much as he loved himself and his turn was only enlivened by the appearance of Laurent Tixier for the final song. The scheduled start time had come and gone and it was 8.45 before even this “special surprise” was foisted on the audience. God knows what time Anne De Bretagne would begin.

The answer to that one was about 9.45. Well, that’s ok I thought. The album is just over two hours long. I guess they will play it straight through and we will be out of here by midnight. WRONG! They inserted a second interval at about 11.15. I guess they had not sold enough overpriced beer (for which, bizarrely, you had to queue up for tokens, which you then exchanged for your beverage, like bread queues in Soviet Moscow!)

OK, that covers some of the bad. There was much to admire. Nantes Chateau is a spectacular setting for a concert. It was a perfect evening but it took a long time for darkness to fall and for the lighting effects to make full use of the building’s contours. The participating Fairporters were on stage throughout, augmented as Chris has pointed out, by a number of other musicians to form the backing band. Simon though looked a bit out of sorts. I did wonder weather news of Swarb’s decision about the reunion show had reached his ears but it may just have been down to his costume (I’ll explain in a minute) which was the most elaborate and I imagine hot and heavy one on stage. It was 32 degrees at show time and still in the mid 20s when it finished at…. Well, I’ll come to that in a minute too.

The costumes. Hmmm. Based on my viewings of the Excalibur DVD, I had expected this to be a straight run through of the new work. I don’t know whose idea the costumes were or whether the French have a less cynical approach to this sort of thing but for me, in that setting, there was more than a whiff of one of those medieval themed editions of Jeux Sans Frontieres.

The show. I am at a disadvantage because, unlike Excalibur, the majority of this is in French and my command of the language is not sufficient for me to have followed a great deal of the story. What I can tell you is that it was not suitable for vegetarians as a broad streak of ham ran right through the middle in the form of the narrator, whose contributions elongated the piece by at least half an hour. Even the locals seemed to be aware that his performance was over ripe and took to sniggering quietly while he was on stage. Much of the music is splendid (though some, less so) and it was for the most part tightly and dynamically performed. The Fairporters rose to the occasion. Chris and Peggy in particular seemed to be enjoying themselves though Chris’s song, the epilogue on the album, was confusingly transferred to the start of the second half. Simon got to reprise Duchesse Anne as a finale (or was it an early morning alarm call?) The Breton pipe band who marched through the audience were undeniably stirring and spectacular and were a highlight of the night, as was Les Holdroyd’s “Desire”, my favourite song on the album, which closed the first half. Kudos too to Cecile Corbel and Laurent Tixier for pitching their performances perfectly and avoiding the chest beating grandstanding of a couple of their compatriots (“Chanson” is alive and well in gallic rock music). The only real disappointment, or should I say irritation musically was Pat O May, whose approach to playing the guitar seemed to be straight out of the 1970s cock rock handbook. The fact that his soloing was buried so far down in the sound mix only served to make his absurd posturing look even more preposterous.

As the clock rounded midnight and the narrator continued to declaim, I found myself mentally ticking off the songs from the album that had not yet been played and considering the fact that my hotel finished serving breakfast at 9am and I didn’t want to miss it. The finale did however eventually roll around and in the end the entire two hour album had been performed in just a shade over three hours! Nevertheless I was up and cheering with everyone else. There was, ultimately, something inspiring about it. There were definitely problems. The narration fatally slows down and breaks up the performance and the timing was scandalous but I was glad I went and I had fun. It was only  a short walk back to the hotel, which I reached just after 1am.

Roll on Kaltenburg. I’m taking a tent, sleeping bag and a Red Cross survival kit!

[PL (Peter)]

GubGub, Thank you for the review.

When will you be in Kaltenberg ? Saturday or Friday ?
We have booked for the Friday show.

Peter

[GubGub (Al)]

I booked early so I am going to the Saturday show. I am staying in Garmisch on the Friday. If Excalibur goes on as long as this did, I am a bit worried about getting back to my hotel in Munich afterwards. It seems to be quite a long way from the U Bahn station (assuming they are still running).

[johanna/ulla]

I booked early so I am going to the Saturday show. I am staying in Garmisch on the Friday. If Excalibur goes on as long as this did, I am a bit worried about getting back to my hotel in Munich afterwards. It seems tto be quite a long way from the U Bahn station (assuming they are still running).

I checked the timetable for you. The last train of the S-Bahn to Munich is at 01:54. So no worries  

[GubGub (Al)]

I booked early so I am going to the Saturday show. I am staying in Garmisch on the Friday. If Excalibur goes on as long as this did, I am a bit worried about getting back to my hotel in Munich afterwards. It seems tto be quite a long way from the U Bahn station (assuming they are still running).

I checked the timetable for you. The last train of the S-Bahn to Munich is at 01:54. So no worries  

Thank you.

[Chris]

I booked early so I am going to the Saturday show. I am staying in Garmisch on the Friday. If Excalibur goes on as long as this did, I am a bit worried about getting back to my hotel in Munich afterwards. It seems to be quite a long way from the U Bahn station (assuming they are still running).

As this is a straight forward show with no filiming, I suspect a reasonable start time & hence a finish time of well before midnight. I also recollect that it wasn't overlong either, with little or no narration?

[PL (Peter)]

Entrance is granted from 19:30 h onwards (Friday) and 16:00 h (Saturday)
Show starts at 20:30 h

It should be finished by about 23:00 h

[Jan_]

Some photos of rehearsals ...

[attachment deleted by admin]

[Jan_]

.

[attachment deleted by admin]

[Jan_]

.

[attachment deleted by admin]

[Jan_]

.

[attachment deleted by admin]

[Jan_]

.

[attachment deleted by admin]

[Jan_]

Simon seemed very cheerful when we spoke to him on Sunday afternoon, or rather he spoke to us, having spotted Katy's Dad's t-shirt, so I guess he was okay with his costume.

The ballet was incongruous since it wouldn't have existed at that time - invented by Louis XIV, I believe.

And why did the stewards remove the tops from our water bottles?  Very odd!

[JJ (Joanna)]

And why did the stewards remove the tops from our water bottles?  Very odd!

....because 'Fairport folkies' might just throw them at the performers on stage?!  

[Andy]

I just got an IM asking how come I was onstage in those pix.

Tweren't me, honest. Who is that big bloke with the geetar? (I don't mean Norm [not that I mean Norm is big])

[Chris]

John O'May - no, I don't know him either.....

[Jim]

John O'May - no, I don't know him either.....

pah, its just another of Andy's thinly disguised aliases

[GubGub (Al)]

John O'May - no, I don't know him either.....

No, Pat (not John) O May is the other one, to the right, in the bandana. He is the one who appeared to think he was Jimmy Page, circa 71. The big guy was French I believe but I don't currently have his name to hand.