2018 US Summer Tour

[Surpinto]

Libera's concert in Plano was phenomenal! This is my third concert since San Antonio 2015 and Tulsa 2017, and it's certainly surpassed my highest expectations!

Excellent! I remember when you posted about your first concerts and how glad you were to have attended. It sounds like this concert was even better; so glad to hear it. They're really good aren't they?

Your choice of favorite songs is definitely a good one and it sounds like they were in top form - even more so than San Antonio. Thank you so much for your review, it was a pleasure to read!

As in any live concert (let alone one by a group of young boys!) there were a few slight problems balancing instruments, harmonies, and soloist or melody lines. I was seated in the tenth row so it may have been better further back. It is a tribute to the performers that they were able to carry on through these minor adversities and stun the audience with their musicality and poise. For example, on one song in the second half, there was a miscue with the instruments before the singers entered. Dr. Prizeman had to stop the music and begin again. It did not phase the boys at all. I didn't notice one of them even bat an eye at the problem. Discipline and practice led the way!

The little mistakes and miscues and technical issues are all par for the course and the choristers typically handle them with aplomb. It is great that you were able to see this professionalism first hand as it only adds to the respect we all have for the choir.

Thank you also for your review and commentary. It was interesting to read about their second concert on this tour.

[andmar]

There is a video on YouTube which includes a link to a private site that claims to have a video recording of Libera at St. Andrews. They claim that they could not post the video on YouTube due to copyright constraints. In order to view the video one has to register and leave credit card information, even though the viewing of the video is advertised as free. Personally I'm reluctant to complete the registration. What's the point of taking credit card data if it's free? Does anyone know if this is legit?

I'm pretty sure it is a fraud and an attempt to extort money. I've seen something like that before, when I was once looking for some recent videos (videos not related to Libera at all), which turned out not to be available publicly. I haven't found any of those videos, but plenty of links like that described above.

[Surpinto]

There is a video on YouTube which includes a link to a private site that claims to have a video recording of Libera at St. Andrews. They claim that they could not post the video on YouTube due to copyright constraints. In order to view the video one has to register and leave credit card information, even though the viewing of the video is advertised as free. Personally I'm reluctant to complete the registration. What's the point of taking credit card data if it's free? Does anyone know if this is legit?

I'm pretty sure it is a fraud and an attempt to extort money. I've seen something like that before, when I was once looking for some recent videos (videos not related to Libera at all), which turned out not to be available publicly. I haven't found any of those videos, but plenty of links like that described above.

I agree!! Do not go to these websites under any circumstances or give them money!!

I have seen these sorts of things for full length movies, but never for concerts - certainly not of Libera. Someone is clearly trying to play some kind of sick and twisted game. Avoid!

[Egorbea2018]

My review of the Concert:

Greeting by Peter Kielty (12 years old) and Alex Gula (13 years old).

Mysterium – Leo Barron in descants with harmonies by Dominik Clarke

Joyful, Joyful – the usual fun performance

The Prayer – newbie Daniel White did the solo. Wow. We can expect great things from him. He was better than Isaac London who is my favorite. Daniel’s performance was flawless and full of emotion. All boys were kneeling behind him at the beginning of the song. The song had the same staging as when Isaac did it in Washington D.C. In the programme this song came after In Paradisum.

In Paradisum – Rocco Tesei did the solo with his rich, mature voice. He was wonderful. He needs a longer song to showcase his fantastic voice.

Stay with me – Oliver Mycka soloist, Samuel Francis Collins on the descant. Oliver has a sweet, shy voice. That is a very high part. He follows two great singers Joe Platt and Ed Day. Samuel did great, clear descants.

Ave Maria – the short Caccini version – Merlin Brouwer soloist. He was a little nervous and missed a few notes but it was still beautiful. His voice is perfect for this song.

How great thou art – Alex Gula did the solo with his usual silky voice. His voice is much lower but it has a rich, velvety sound that is both moving and pleasing.

Smile – Victor Wiggin soloist and Alex Montoro on the low harmonies – I liked their voices better than the original with Gabriel and Alessandro. Victor was very serious, obviously concentrating. Romeo was very good with his recorder. You could see him waiting for his part to come, looking intently at Mr. Prizeman. Alex was smooth and perfect for this song. He has a very pleasing voice. He is very sure of himself.

Speech – Koji Shinokubo and Daniel White introduced a new version of Voca Me before “we sail away”, which introduced Orinoco Flow.

Voca Me – Leo Barron did the incredibly high descants perfectly. Leo was wonderful in this song. His voice is different from Tom Delgado-Little, but also great. This version does not have the Lacrymosa part I like so much. I prefer the original version. Victor Wiggin and Peter Kielty were in the front facing each other and Ben Bywater a little behind in the middle of them.

Orinoco Flow – same as usual

Interval

Speech – Alex Gula and Tadgh Fitzgerald talked about Moose. They said someone from the audience took him and Libera would not start singing until he was returned. They said Moose had travelled the world with them and had a Twitter account.

From a distance – Merlin Brouwer soloist – as usual a flawless performance. Merlin is incredibly talented and has a sweet, gentle voice.

Wayfaring Stranger – Alex Gula soloist – Wow. He just gets better every time he sings it. It started with a flute solo and Alex Gula in the back but there was not V formation in the front. There were too many boys to do the v, it was almost a double v but at the dramatic end instead of sharpening the v around Alex they were all behind him in a big cluster.

Amazing Grace – Peter Kielty soloist – he has a nice voice – I hope he gets other solos. In a kneeling circle were Mathias Montoro, Alex Gula, Ben Bywater, Merlin Brouwer, Rocco Tesei, Peter Kielty, Oliver Mycka, Tadgh Fitzgerald, Victor Wiggin, Oliver Watt (maybe), and Leo Barron

Sanctus – new version. I liked it better than the one they did in Washington D.C. I did not notice who did the descant.

Salva Me – Oliver Watt-Rodriguez descant – He did great salvas and he was loud enough for everyone to enjoy.

Eternal Light – Benedict Bywater soloist, Oliver Watt-Rodriguez doing harmonies. They sounded wonderful – this is a beautiful song last done by Stefan Leadbeater and Ralph Skan.

Near my God to thee – a capella song not in the programme – incredibly moving and gorgeous voices. In front of Mr. Prizeman with the rest of the boys in semi darkness, six boys did this beautiful song by themselves. Merlin Brouwer, Benedict Bywater, Alex Gula, Alex Montoro, Rocco Tesei, and Leo Barron. Merlin started it and then was joined by Ben in harmonies. Later Alex Gula joined them and then the rest of the six. At the end Rocco sings by himself. His voice is so pure and perfect. I hope this song is in the new album with these singers.

Libera – duet Alex Gula and Rocco Tesei – wonderful as usual. Rocco did the high notes. This was supposed to be the last song.

All boys bowed and got a very long standing ovation.

Encore: America the Beautiful – brilliant as usual with bright red lights at the end and powerful instrumental accompaniment.

Another standing ovation as soon as the song ended. This time Victor Wiggin came to the front and with his radiant smile, pointed to the musicians, with both hands, so we would clap for them. Then, Mr. Prizeman climbed the stage to thunderous applause after Victor pointed at him. Then Victor waved good bye and all boys waved and left the stage.

I don’t remember when these speeches happened.

Speech – Victor Wiggin and Alexander Menuet about their robes. Victor put the hood on and made funny gestures. Alex explained about the robes.

Speech in different languages: Alex Gula – Poland, Victor Wiggin and Alexandre Menuet – France, Oliver Watt-Rodriguez – Spain, Theo Wood – Mexico, Tadgh Fitzgerald – Ireland, Mathias Montoro – Italy, Koji Shinukobo – Japan. Peter Kielty who presented them and explained the countries for each, mentioned he was half American and everyone clapped.

Speech – Johnny Gardner talked about Libera with someone else

At the programme signing all the boys were polite and grateful, some shy like Romeo and Marc, some very friendly like Johnny, Daniel, and Leo. They all looked tired.

It was an amazing concert. I can't wait to see them again at Crystal Cathedral!

[john45]

It was an amazing concert. I can't wait to see them again at Crystal Cathedral!

Very nice review, but you forgot what, for me, was one of the highlights of the evening - "I am the day" with Alex G Peter and Oliver M.

[Egorbea2018]

Thanks for pointing it out.

I can't believe I missed the greatest song of the night.

Here is my review of it:

I am the day – Alexander Gula soloist with Oliver Mycka and Peter Kielty on harmonies and the whispered parts. Alex was outstanding on this song. Alex has a velvety smooth flawless voice full of emotion. His voice has matured and he sounds even better than he did last year. Another fan mentioned this was his favorite of the night, and it was mine too. I even told Alex how great he was when I saw him at the meet & greet. He was better, in my opinion, than Libera greats Ben Crawley and Josh Madine. This was the best performance of the night.

[swalker2001]

I have to chime in to echo Egorbea2018's review. It was an awesome time and the boys were really on last night. I also thought Alex was pretty amazing, but then they all were.

This was only my second time to see the boys in person. I have made it my mission to see at least one performance every time they come to the US.

They had some great merchandise. There was a bandana, a Libera bag, hoodie, water bottle and a few other items. The program was well worth the $5. Lots of great photos and all the lyrics of course.



My favorite item was the photo book. It's 128 pages of just photos of the boys performing and having fun all over the world. Not sure when it was published but it has a lot of photos that appear to be fairly current of some of the more recognizable boys like Isaac London and Alex Gula. So it can't be very old. It was $25 but well worth it, and that's what I had the boys sign after the show.



Both of those items are available on the Libera website at https://libera.org.uk/shop/us/.

Here's the one photo I shot at the very end after the encore:



I can't wait for the next US tour.

[filiarheni]

Thank you for your enthusiastic review, henrylonghorn! It mirrors my own kind of feelings during and after the Ely concert of this year and it's incredible to have experienced myself that your description is not exaggerated.

The fact that so many boys are having a chance at a solo or two, and executing them well, is telling of the superb quality of this group.

I do love that many boys get to soloing. That variety is a great delight for the ears!
And then they all find together to a choir with its everlasting typical Libera sound, but soloing you see that everyone has something personal to offer with his singing.

On one song in the second half, there was a miscue with the instruments before the singers entered. Dr. Prizeman had to stop the music and begin again. It did not phase the boys at all. I didn't notice one of them even bat an eye at the problem. Discipline and practice led the way!

They are very professional. I'm sure that Robert prepares them for all kind of glitches, technically - as that can constantly happen with so much technical stuff used - and personally, e. g. when during a speech memory leaves them in the lurch, to find the way out of it. I have witnessed one of them getting out of a blackout simply by being given all time he needed to re-collect himself. No-one got nervous throughout it. Great!

Ave Maria – the short Caccini version – Merlin Brouwer soloist.

Caccini (Vavilov)? A confusion, I guess? This one is supposed to be on "Beyond" too. But it's Robert's Ave Maria which is currently in the concert set list. If it was the other one, that would be such a big sensation that it would have been mentioned here before and loudly.

I very much enjoyed reading each of your reviews, thank you to everyone!

[Surpinto]

Welcome to Libera Dreams, Egorbea2018 and swalker2001! It seems that quite a few newer participants here are long time Libera fans and know the group very well. Excellent!

Egorbea2018 your detailed review and knowledge of the group and memory of the concert are fantastic. I have no idea how others manage such detailed reviews from memory. But that is what adds to our little fan community here; with everyone contributing what they can and in so doing putting smiles on everyone's faces.

Thank you so much. It was a pleasure to read. If you do not mind me asking, about how many of their concerts have you seen at this point? Even though these were your first posts here, I can't imagine that this was a first concert for you. I would be very interested in reading your review of Crystal Cathedral, Egorbea2018.

swalker2001, I am so glad to know that you enjoyed your second show. Thank you so much for the photos. Did you perhaps have a favorite song or moment in the concert?

As always with new participants here I enthusiastically put forward my suggestion to make a post at the new member sub-forum and make an introduction if you are so inclined. But regardless of whether you take me up on that offer, please continue to participate here.

[dani]

Thanks for pointing it out.

I can't believe I missed the greatest song of the night.

Here is my review of it:

I am the day – Alexander Gula soloist with Oliver Mycka and Peter Kielty on harmonies and the whispered parts. Alex was outstanding on this song. Alex has a velvety smooth flawless voice full of emotion. His voice has matured and he sounds even better than he did last year. Another fan mentioned this was his favorite of the night, and it was mine too. I even told Alex how great he was when I saw him at the meet & greet. He was better, in my opinion, than Libera greats Ben Crawley and Josh Madine. This was the best performance of the night.

What a lovely review and I am the day was a highlight for me in Ely.

[Lucas]

Speech – Alex Gula and Tadgh Fitzgerald talked about Moose. They said someone from the audience took him and Libera would not start singing until he was returned. They said Moose had travelled the world with them and had a Twitter account.

WHAT.

[Egorbea2018]

Response to Surpinto’s comment:

It was my second concert. I am actually a pretty recent fan but a very enthusiastic one. I found Libera on the winter of 2016 when I was looking for the song Gaudete in YouTube sang by Angel Voices’s soloist Adam Harris. I tried to find more songs because I liked it so much. I found Salva Me with Liam O’Kane on that big rock, next. I found the excellent blog by Amie Hill which has the history of Libera since the 80’s. Since then I have watched possibly a hundred of Libera/Angel Voices videos. I bought all three DVD’s and many CD’s (Libera, Luminosa, Song of Life Collection, Eternal, Peace, and Hope). I play them all the time and I play on YouTube the older LP albums. I know all their names because of some websites like Libera Passion, and I am able to call each boy by name at the meet and greet which the boys appreciate very much. My first concert was August 3, 2017 – Tallowood Baptist Church. I wrote a review for that one for myself (so I can remember the concert better) but it is not in any forums. I learned about this forum two days ago when I met Patrick at the Plano, TX concert and he told me how to post conversations in it. I will be at Christ Cathedral on August 7, 2018. I will try to take notes to do a review on it. Maybe I will see you there.

[Egorbea2018]

Speech – Alex Gula and Tadgh Fitzgerald talked about Moose. They said someone from the audience took him and Libera would not start singing until he was returned. They said Moose had travelled the world with them and had a Twitter account.

WHAT.

It was a joke Alex Gula made so people would laugh before the second part of the concert. It was funny. Nobody stole moose.

[Surpinto]

Response to Surpinto’s comment:

It was my second concert. I am actually a pretty recent fan but a very enthusiastic one. I found Libera on the winter of 2016 when I was looking for the song Gaudete in YouTube sang by Angel Voices’s soloist Adam Harris. I tried to find more songs because I liked it so much. I found Salva Me with Liam O’Kane on that big rock, next. I found the excellent blog by Amie Hill which has the history of Libera since the 80’s. Since then I have watched possibly a hundred of Libera/Angel Voices videos. I bought all three DVD’s and many CD’s (Libera, Luminosa, Song of Life Collection, Eternal, Peace, and Hope). I play them all the time and I play on YouTube the older LP albums. I know all their names because of some websites like Libera Passion, and I am able to call each boy by name at the meet and greet which the boys appreciate very much. My first concert was August 3, 2017 – Tallowood Baptist Church. I wrote a review for that one for myself (so I can remember the concert better) but it is not in any forums. I learned about this forum two days ago when I met Patrick at the Plano, TX concert and he told me how to post conversations in it. I will be at Christ Cathedral on August 7, 2018. I will try to take notes to do a review on it. Maybe I will see you there.

Thank you for the reply. It is incredible how people discover the group and get hooked on their music; so much easier nowadays with Youtube. I would love to meet you in LA, but I am unable to attend any more concerts on this tour; so please enjoy Christ Cathedral for both of us . I look forward to reading your review of that as well.

Speech – Alex Gula and Tadgh Fitzgerald talked about Moose. They said someone from the audience took him and Libera would not start singing until he was returned. They said Moose had travelled the world with them and had a Twitter account.

WHAT.

Yeah, they make that joke now and again. I think they like to change up some of the speaking parts sometimes from one concert to the next because we did not hear that joke in San Antonio. However a joke about fans stealing Moose on a past tour was made by them in Ely.

[kinda_k00l]

Thank you everyone, pages 9-13 of this thread is literally a satisfying treat, especially for those who cannot make it to the concerts (like me - your reviews and impressions and side notes really bring the concerts across the ocean to my place). So please keep updating!
I'm really happy to hear that all have been going well so far. The songs, the soloists, the delivery and even the miscues surely add to one's concert experience and also one's review-reading experience. It amuses me when I find out that there have been numerous things being discussed in this topic since the first concert in San Antonio!!

I want to be able to listen to that Nearer My God To Thee live so badly (Same case with new Sanctus, In Paradisum, full-length Mysterium, and Ave Maria)! And I also hope that it will be on the upcoming album. I think the main reason why it is not included in the setlist, as Surpinto and filiarheni have mentioned, is because it requires six prominent soloists - it is smarter not to put it on the setlist in case one of them does not feel well or encounters some problem. Libera can either give the audience a pleasant surprise or avoid being blamed if it cannot be sung for some reason.

I agree with you who said something like Merlin is superb, Leo is wonderful and Peter can be given more solos (and other praises for other soloists). But I am extra glad to hear that Alex G's voice has gotten even silkier - some people say that the boy soprano voice is most beautiful right before the breaking takes place, as far as I know (based on reading reviews on this forum) it is somewhat true for Alex's case. Hope he gets to keep his voice like that just for a bit longer so that we fans can get to listen to his top-notch performance at least once more.

And also Daniel White! I have no idea he is THAT good. Upon reading numerous reviews from the Ely concert, I've already known he's quite good, but the live stream in Plano was just extraordinary! His sense of pitch is just perfect, his voice is really clear, and his delivery is moving.

He was better than Isaac London who is my favorite.

I do agree about him being better than Isaac in some aspects in his delivery of this particular song (and Isaac is also one of my favorites), like the way he changes from his falsetto to his 'real' voice is smoother than that of Isaac.

P/S: Can anybody tell if Taichi has already joined the lower (Tenor) part?


P/P/S:

Ave Maria – the short Caccini version – Merlin Brouwer soloist.

Caccini (Vavilov)? A confusion, I guess? This one is supposed to be on "Beyond" too. But it's Robert's Ave Maria which is currently in the concert set list. If it was the other one, that would be such a big sensation that it would have been mentioned here before and loudly.

Finally! I can admit it now, that I too once thought Robert's version is the Caccini/Vavilov's (or at least based on that) until I saw there was a separate Caccini/Vavilov version. Except for the 'ora ora' in RP's version, the chord progression in both songs are really similar and that deceived me at first...