All Angels Anniversary Concert

11^th December 2018

If I may start on a personal note – All Angels changed my life (with a little help from Hayley Westenra).

About ten weeks after my wife died from cancer in August 2009, a memory came into my head of a Hayley Westenra performance from six years previously. I knew with a strange certainty that I needed that voice to help me through my grief, and I started searching for Hayley’s music on Amazon. I willingly fell prey to Amazon’s “customers also bought…” suggestions, and by the following day I had also ordered All Angels ‘Into Paradise’ album. I immediately fell in love with those heavenly voices with their intertwining harmonies. All Angels’ eponymous debut album was soon added to the rapidly growing CD collection and I resolved to buy ‘Fly Away’ as soon as it was released.

Whereas Hayley’s voice could reach into my dark world and transform it, I found that All Angels could lift me out of that world, making me feel like I was soaring high on Angel wings. I couldn’t get enough of their music, and when I discovered that they would be doing a concert at my local theatre I felt compelled to overcome my timidity and book to see them.

Thus, All Angels at Epsom in April 2010 became my first Classical Crossover concert. The concert was as wonderful as I had hoped, and was a highly emotional experience for me. I wept buckets, the tears bringing relief for me, and also felt for the first time the elation which such beautiful music can bring when experienced live.

I had recently discovered the Classical-Crossover.co.uk website, which offered profiles and helpful insights on many of the artists that I was coming to like. I had also seen that the site included a ‘forum’, but thought “no, that’s for others – not for me”. I found a thread there discussing the audience demographics for All Angels, and thought maybe I could make a useful contribution to the discussion based on my observations at the concert. My first tentative step into the online music community was warmly welcomed by Nicola (the website creator) and other members. I was encouraged to continue posting and soon became a major contributor to the forum. After months of resistance I was eventually persuaded to join Facebook, where I uncovered a whole new level of activity and started to make friends with people from around the globe. I had entered the world of social media and my life has never been the same since.

Back to All Angels – by the time I saw them again in July 2010, Laura Wright had left the group for personal reasons and there was much speculation over her replacement – if any. At Wollaton Hall in Nottingham, the fourth place in the line-up was taken by Rachel Fabri. Rachel did not attempt to emulate Laura vocally, but her own talents brought a fresh dimension to the group without detracting in any way from their appeal for me. Rachel was firmly established in the group for the All Angels concert at Leicester Square in September 2010, and I saw them once more in the ‘Young Voices’ tour in December that year.

All Angels’ concert in the Elgar Room at the RAH in June 2011 was eagerly anticipated, but I was gutted to find I had to go abroad for work that week. So it was after a two year gap that I finally managed to see them again as guest artists for the British Legion Christmas Concert at London’s Guildhall on 11^th December 2012. They only sang three songs, but oh the thrill of hearing those voices together again – they could still lift me above the clouds. I also got to meet the girls after the show – the first time I was able to spend more time with them than just a few seconds at an after-show signing.

Their performance at the Guildhall (repeated the following evening) was I believe the last time All Angels sang together in public. A couple of faint hopes arose – maybe a concert in Vienna, or perhaps Malta, but nothing came to fruition. The prospect didn’t seem rosy – Charlotte was busy with her TV work, Rachel was making a home in Malta, and Mel had seemingly disappeared from the scene. Daisy was my only semi-regular contact as I made every effort to attend her gigs around London whenever possible.

Then in November 2017 I received word from another supporter that the girls had agreed to get together for a concert in November or December 2018. Hope started to stir, but nothing was definite and things seemed to go quiet for several months. Finally, at Daisy’s ‘London’s on Fire’ concert on 20^th September, she announced to the audience that All Angels would be holding a reunion concert on 11^th December at Pizza Express, Holborn. It would mark the twelve year anniversary of their first album release, as well as six years since their last public performance.

Holborn is an intimate venue with a seating capacity of just 150. I secured my reservation within minutes of tickets going on sale just four weeks before the event. The Pizza Express website was showing “Last few tickets” after four or five hours and in a couple of days it was completely sold out.

At last the 11^th December arrived. It was my sixth time seeing All Angels perform, six years to the day since I had last seen them. By total coincidence, it also happened to be my sixtieth performance from Daisy, who had taken part in exactly one sixth of the concerts/gigs I had attended in the year to date. It was certainly an auspicious alignment for an event which had been so keenly anticipated for so long.

Due to transport delays, I arrived at the venue a few minutes after the advertised doors open time, to find a group of people waiting at the top of the stairs (the entertainment venue is in the basement). Most of the faces were ones I knew well from past events attended together. At last, the “secret preparations” downstairs were finished and we were allowed to descend the spiral staircase. Pizza Express have their own guidelines for seat allocation, and you can never be sure where you will be placed. The majority of seats are at small tables for two or four, but Holborn also has a unique large semi-annular bar/table seating about twelve, which forms the boundary of the performance area. I was delighted to be shown to a seat half way round this table (equivalent to front row centre). Although we had all booked separately, I found myself placed between two good friends – Ron Davis and Drew Bone (‘rosegrower’ of YouTube video fame). After ample time to partake of the culinary delights of the establishment (yes, you guessed it… pizza) it was time for the show to commence.

Melanie gave the welcome and introduced the first song – ‘Flower Duet’. A perfect showcase for those intertwining harmonies, this had been arranged for four voices and I don’t think it will ever sound the same again as a mere duet. I was floating in the clouds again.

The second number was ‘Black is the Colour’. Most of the songs (apart from the acapella ones) were accompanied by Dave Ridley on piano and some also featured Midori Jaeger on cello.

‘Singing You Through’ was always one of my favourites, and usually (but not always) used to set the tears rolling. I had puzzled over this inconsistency in the past. The Angels often used to swap the parts around in their live performances and I eventually came to realise that it was only when Daisy was singing the poignant last verse that the tears would flow, equally in a live performance or a recording. Daisy’s emotion-packed voice has always spoken to me in a unique way – therein lies the reason that I have made the effort to see her more times than any other artist. Daisy sang the first and third verse this time, and sure enough… I cried.

The girls had each chosen an individual number to add variety to the sets, and first up was Daisy. She sang ‘Troubadour Boy’ accompanying herself on guitar, together with Midori on cello. This is perhaps my favourite of all Daisy’s solo songs; her gentle voice sends me into a trance, and this time was no different.

Another All Angels classic followed – ‘The Scientist’ with Melanie taking the lead part – just beautiful.

Charlotte’s solo was next, except that it wasn’t a solo. It was great to see her brother Luke join her on stage to sing ‘Weightless’ – another wonderful emotional song, written by Luke.

Imogen Heap’s ‘Hide and Seek’ was followed by another tearjerker – ‘Goodnight My Angel’. This arrangement by Daisy seemed different to me from either their recorded version or the one that I heard them sing live at Leicester Square.

The first half was brought to a close with a medley of ‘Infant Holy’ and ‘Ding Dong Merrily on High’. Christmas was only two weeks away after all. This brought back fond memories of the last time I had seen them, six years before, and left a pleasant anticipation of what was to come after the interval.

The second half opened with ‘The Sound of Silence’. One of Simon Lole’s arrangements in the inimitable All Angels style; I don’t think I have ever heard a more beautiful version of this song, though the original from Simon and Garfunkel still reigns supreme for me.

Next was ‘1234’ in an arrangement by Dave Ridley (the pianist for the evening), and then ‘Cucurrucucu Paloma’ – basically a Daisy solo but with some lovely harmonies added by Mel (I think it was Mel, or was it Charlotte? I’m not sure). I saw Mel sing this with Daisy once, two or three years ago – the only time I had seen her in the intervening years.

Rachel’s solo was ‘Someone to Watch Over Me’ – a perfect match for Rachel’s lovely vocal style.

‘Songbird’ was another favourite All Angels classic.

Melanie pulled the biggest surprise of the evening with her solo ‘Lullaby of Birdland’, the only song of the show which was unknown to me. It was a jazzy number, sung with power and feeling.

The show concluded on a Christmas theme again, with a beautiful arrangement of White Christmas before the girls left the stage…

… at least, that was the last entry on the set list which had been distributed to the audience. The standing ovation, continued applause and shouts of “More!” produced the hoped for result, as the girls returned for their brilliant ‘Sixties Medley’, culminating in the fantastic ‘Mr Sandman’.

It was wonderful to see how the girls interacted with each other as they always used to, turning to look at each other to time their entries, and clearly enjoying performing together again. That interaction is sadly something which is often lacking in other groups that I see, and maybe it contributes to All Angels’ unique appeal. Whether it is the musical content, the arrangements, the style, the voices, or a combination of all these and more, the Angels still have something which I have not found in other groups (and it is not for the want of trying). Admittedly the performance was not quite as polished as in their heyday (there were a few missed entries and they were not always as together as they might have been, but I believe they only had one day together to rehearse) but their sheer joy and good humour abundantly overcame any slight technical issues.

The evening more than delivered on my long held expectations, and I hope it will not be another six years before I see Charlotte, Daisy, Melanie and Rachel singing together again.