Wow. We had another excellent day of entertainment this year's Proms in the Park yesterday - in spite of the wind, the showers, the depleted number of attendees from "our gang", Tony Blackburn and all...
The closing party fo the extensive Proms season has long been a highlight of our social calendar here at Dolores Delargo Towers, serving as a most fitting end to the "Summer Season", and the herald of the "Autumn/Winter Collection" to come. For many years, we have attended
en masse, but this year it was just Madam Acarti, Baby Steve, Houseboy Alex and I. We still managed to bring enough provisions for a siege, however, and had a hoot, to boot!
Having got through the security blockade (very early, considering the doors weren't supposed to open till 3pm), we made our usual dash and bagged a spot in our usual area close enough to the stage, but not hemmed in, and cracked open the booze. Oh, and food, too.
Holding court over the early section of proceedings was the annoying longest-serving DJ on Radio 2 Tony Blackburn. We ignored his inanity, as he introduced the opening act - the rather cute and immensely talented Hungarian pianist
Peter Bence - a world record-holder for the most piano key hits in one minute (765) - who treated us to some examples of his mastery with a selection of interpretations of rock and pop hits by the likes of Sia, Queen and Michael Jackson. Like this one:
It did rain. Quite a bit, for a while. But the wind soon blew the black clouds away, in time for our next act.
After resounding applause, Mr Bence gave way to the universally popular and brilliant
Texas! With a back-catalogue such as theirs - including
Black-Eyed Boy,
Summer Son,
Inner Smile and (of course) the anthemic
Say What You Want, and with the charismatic charms of lead singer Sharleen Spiteri, the audience was singing and dancing along. Everyone thoroughly enjoyed their set.
Up next was the very talented and energetic cast of the musical
Five Guys named Moe [based around the boppy jazz music of bandleader Louis Jordan], which, with the incorporation of brilliantly choreographed and instantly recognisable numbers such as including
Is You Is Or Is You Ain't My Baby? and
Choo Choo Ch’Boogie, was excellent entertainment indeed!
Speaking of sing-and-dance-alongs... Our final act on the "daytime bill" was the one we had been looking forward to the most - those incomparable "party faves", Steps! We sang, we attempted their famous dance routines, we whooped and cheered! Celebrating
twenty years this year since they first formed, they whipped us all into a frenzy with a cavalcade of hits such as
One for Sorrow,
Last Thing on My Mind,
Story of a Heart (written by Abba!),
After The Love Has Gone,
Neon Blue and their barn-stormer
Tragedy. [One comment on the whole thing, however - despite all the rehearsal (we heard Steps while we were queuing), why was the sound so shit? The BBC should be ashamed.] Here (with some very shaky hand-held phone-camera work by someone in the 40,000-strong audience) they are, performing
Stomp:
As the screams from the audience subsided and the sun began to set, it was time for the break, and the inevitable trek to the loos. For the second half we had a far more sensible MC, the lovely
Michael Ball who (inevitably) opened with a song. But it wasn't he who was the "proper" opening act. Oh, no - that honour went to the booming tonsils of the superb Sir Bryn Terfel, with a couple of fabulous numbers including the Welsh folk song
Ar Hyd y Nos (All Through The Night).
But then it was his turn to give way to another "national treasure" - the powerhouse that is
Elaine Paige! She sang (beautifully) an eclectic clutch of songs, including
Radio Ga Ga by Queen, Piaf's
Hymn to Love (If you love me, really love me), and
As if We Never Said Goodbye from
Sunset Boulevard. Sadly missing from the set were such "hand-wavers" as
Memory,
Don't Cry For Me Argentina or
I Know Him So Well. Which left us feeling a bit deprived, really.
Bryn came back to the stage to perform a fabulously OTT rendition (complete with a milk churn as prop) of a song with which we all identify -
If I Were a Rich Man from
Fiddler on the Roof. Superb! Again, he handed over the baton - this time to that unlikeliest of '70s pop superstars, Mr
Gilbert O'Sullivan. Never a "house favourite", nevertheless we all knew ever word to every song he performed - and sang with gusto to such "classics" as
Matrimony,
Nothing Rhymed and of course, the eternally popular
Get Down:
This year, our "hosts" BBC Radio 2 celebrate
fifty years as a broadcast station (previously known as "The Light Programme"), and here is the lavish celebratory video montage they put together for the occasion, which is fab:
[Needless to say, it was
"Our Tel" Terry Wogan - long-time host of Proms in the Park - who go the biggest cheers.]
That over, it was time for our headliner, the legend that is Sir Ray Davies, erstwhile leader of The Kinks (looking slightly frail). Regardless, he managed to whip up a storm with a romping set of hit after hit, including
Sunny Afternoon,
Victoria,
You Really Got Me,
All Day and All of the Night,
Dedicated Follower of Fashion,
Days and, fittingly,
Waterloo Sunset:
Brilliant!
However, of course, no "headliner" can compare to the riotous entertainment yet to come, as we transferred our attentions from park (
"Hello Park!") to the Royal Albert Hall (
"Hello, Hall!"), starting with a rather wonderful
Finlandia performed by the BBC Symphony Orchestra [in celebration of the centenary of Finnish independence]. Then, without further ado it was time for the traditional Grand Finale - opening with the hugely popular "Sea Songs":
Swedish Wagnerian soprano Nina Stemme stormed onto the stage dressed as a Valkyrie to deliver
Rule Britannia:
After the impassioned speech by conductor Sakari Oramo, we braced ourselves for the lung-bursting, flag-waving, foot-stomping final numbers -
Land of Hope and Glory...
...and
Jerusalem:
Thus, with fireworks,
Auld Land Syne and the National Anthem, that was it. Farewell to another great evening, and farewell to summer...
Same time, next year?!