Special thanks to André Boon and David Brownlow for these great photos.
# I cried a tear, you wiped it dry #
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Soaked in Snowdonia
Here’s my report on last night’s concert.
More reports, news, photos and video clips will follow this week.
* A magnificent show, with DSB on fine form
* Duet with Bryn Terfel
* 12,000 audience
* Torrential rain
* Canary yellow gown
The orchestra struck up with those familiar Goldfinger chords under the direction of Mike Dixon. The large outdoor stage was flanked by two giant screens and an excellent PA system.
The drowned audience, a sea of plastic capes and assorted rainwear, were glad to welcome our superstar. The spotlights focused on that dazzling yellow gown we have grown to love this year.
The playlist was equally familiar, until the surprise ending:
James Bond Medley
She launched into the Bond trilogy.
Classic Bassey, at the top of her voice. Mike Dixon’s arrangement mesmerised the audience and helped us forget the weather.
“Good Evening Wales!” Shirley called to a warm response.
“Good Evening North Wales!” she called to an even warmer response.
I’m Still Here
Light My Fire
“Now I know I’m back in Wales with all this bloody rain!”
Shirley acknowledged the rain soaked state of the audience in this waterlogged open-air venue. I later heard rumours that she nearly cancelled the show.
Something
DSB made us laugh with her introductory comment
“ I think the Beatles had a hit with it as well.”
Then Mike Dixon disappeared.
“Oh, I’ve lost my MD. I’ll have to conduct myself. But I don’t know how to…”
Mike rushed back on stage with some Kleenex for Shirley to wipe some of the rain off her face. She was getting nearly as cold and wet as all of us, in that flimsy open-shouldered gown. I’m sure I saw her breath condense as she sang.
Big Spender
New York New York
Then Shirley announced that Nikki and Christine, of Never The Bride, had written
The Living Tree.
She joked that she, too, is never the bride. This provoked some gentlemen in the audience to instantly shout back with offers of marriage.
“I got two offers already… it’s like an auction!” she replied, to roars of laughter.
Shirley described how she had liked the song the first time she heard it. It had set the hairs on the back of her head on end. She instinctively knew she had to do The Living Tree, which she performed to an entranced crowd.
Rapturous applause, to which she replied “Diolch yn fawr” (thank you) in a fine Welsh accent.
“That’s my school Welsh. That was a long time ago” she smiled “I won’t tell you how long.”
Lady Is a Tramp
He Needed Me
Hey Jude
What Now My Love?
“You’d like me to go on all night, wouldn’t you.” the Dame teased, with a strongly positive feedback. “But you’re all wet!”
She was right. I now understand what a drenched sheep must feel like in that relentless mountain weather.
I wonder if she knew that her fans would go and see her at the North Pole if she did a gig there.
Hits Medley, as in the June tour
After the encores, Shirley ended by singing that well known Welsh song
We’ll Keep A Welcome In The Hillside
Bryn Terfel joined her to ecstatic cheers, and they finished it as a fabulous duet.
A fireworks display, then that was it. We have no idea when she will be on stage again. It took nearly two hours in rain, mud and misery to get off that hill. The worst place I have ever seen Shirley. The arrangements for the disabled were disgusting. I witnessed vulnerable people in wheelchairs kept waiting for at least an hour on an unsheltered, muddy slope right next to traffic. With no assistance from the stewards, their health and safety were severely compromised.
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We’ll Keep A Welcome
Music by Mai Jones. Lyrics by Lyn Joshua and James Harper.
Released in 1999 on the various artists album Land Of My Fathers together with The Black Mountain Male Chorus and the Buy As You View Cory Band.
Shirley Bassey already performed the song in 1986 on Des O’Connor’s Christmas Show with Des and Tom Jones. She performed it again with Bryn Terfel and Michael Ball during the Rugby World Cup 1999 closing ceremony (November 6th) before the final game. Unlike World In Union this song was performed live in front of thousands in the stadium and on the TV screens.
Wales is known world-wide as being “The Land Of Song”, and this famous Welsh song (Jones, Joshua, Harper) epitomises Wales as a country which will always be singing and which will always be welcoming. The word hiraeth is used in the third verse – a word which is almost impossible to translate, but is frequently used in Welsh as a means of describing the longing that one would feel when away from Wales for any length of time.
The song was originally published in Cardiff in 1943.
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Lyrics (partial)
We’ll keep a welcome in the hillside
We’ll keep a welcome in the Vales
This land you knew will still be singing
When you come home again to Wales
This land of song will keep a welcome
And with a love that never fails
We’ll kiss away each hour of hiraeth
When you come home again to Wales
We’ll kiss away each hour of hiraeth
When you come home again to Wales
(Transcribed by Patrick)
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A short report from icWales, the national website of Wales:
“One of Bryn Terfel’s long-term ambitions came true last night when Dame Shirley Bassey finally performed at his Faenol Festival.
The Welsh diva was greeted by huge cheers as she walked onto the stage at the Faenol Estate, near Bangor. Terfel’s festival is now in its seventh year and he has been hoping for fellow Welsh stars Dame Shirley and Sir Tom Jones to put in appearances since he launched ‘Brynfest’.
While Sir Tom has yet to find a window in his diary, Dame Shirley did not disappoint when she set foot in North Wales last night.
‘At last my one big wish, to welcome Dame Shirley Bassey to Faenol, comes true,’ said a delighted Terfel.”
Copyright Karen Price, Western Mail
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August 28, 2006
Categories: Peggy's Blog . . Author: Peggy . Comments: Comments Off
