Finally, my review of the St Louis Concert. This is the first review I have ever written about anything so please be kind
For me, it was a more than 2 year 'Pilgrimage' to finally see Libera live. I had tickets to concerts in Washington DC and Pittsburgh, Pa that were both cancelled. When this tour was announced, and I saw that the St Louis concert would be the closest one to me (about 900 miles), I was determined to go and see that concert! I still had concerns about whether the tour or the St Louis concert would really take place and didn't make travel arrangements until I had seen a post about the boys getting their travel visas.
I joined this forum shortly after that. I received a lot of support and encouragement from the members here and that made my level of excitement grow and grow! Everybody who has attended a Libera concert remembers their first one. I sure will not forget mine!
A special note of thanks to Surpinto who agreed to meet me before the concert. This made my entire experience so much better. I'm sure that I would not have had such an amazing time if not for his help and friendship. Through him I was able to meet and interact with several other fans and members of this forum which was really great because I don't make friends with strangers that easily.
The Cathedral Basilica of St Louis is a beautiful place of worship. It's mainly Byzantine styled interior is adorned with approximately 83,000 square feet of Mosaics which are comprised of 41.5 million individual pieces of glass and ceramic. It is truly an amazing interior.
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- StL CB.jpg (501.05 KiB) Viewed 1711 times
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- interior.jpg (644.72 KiB) Viewed 1711 times
The day of the concert I was able to meet many more fans and was given the opportunity to upgrade my ticket to a premium seat! What a stroke of luck! My seat was in the 3rd row right on the center aisle. What a view! Thank you John!
As the 8 o'clock hour approached and the lights began to dim in the Cathedral I was practically shaking with excitement! There was a buzz in the crowd behind me and the musicians were playing some soft notes as the boys with their hoods covering their heads came onto the stage from the right and left bathed in a mysterious blue light. When they were in place Mr Prizeman held up his baton and the first vocals of San Damiano rang out strong and clear as white spotlights shone upon the Choir. Wow! I had goosebumps and I couldn't stop smiling for the entire song. The sound was better than I imagined it could be. I had hoped for it to be good but I was blown away at how clear and well mixed the sound was!
Sanctus was next and it sounded as good as I have ever heard it. I was happy to experience this song in person as it was the first Libera song that I had ever heard.
The next three songs were from the new CD and were nice to hear one after the other. The unfortunate technical issues aside, the songs were really enjoyable. Camden's silky smooth voice on Dreaming of Home was really a pleasure to hear. Merlin did a fantastic job on From a Distance in spite of his microphone failure which prompted Robert Prizeman to come up on stage and direct him to stand near a floor microphone. I felt a little bad for Merlin who was stooped over to be close enough for the microphone to pick up his voice. He was a good sport and Matthias came over at the end of the song and gave him a nice pat on the back in recognition of his efforts. So good to see the support the boys have for each other
Rocco's strong solo on Angele Dei was wonderfully sung!
The song I was most looking forward to was Sacris Solemnis. Something about that song really gets to me. I hadn't seen any videos of this song so I wasn't sure of what to expect. The lighting (mostly reds and yellows) really added drama to the performance. I just loved it!
Wonderful World with nice lead vocals by Gabe, and 'Libera' ended the first half of the concert.
It went by so fast!! Some people told me that this would happen. I was so pumped up and excited about being there that I know I missed a lot of details and nuances of what had just transpired. No doubt at my Next Libera concert I'll be calmer and able to take in more of the music and lights and not be in such awe as I was this first time.
The second half of the concert started out with some nice drum beats as Dies Irea got the adrenaline flowing again. Joyful Joyful continued with the upbeat theme. Camden did a good job on Angel. It's not one of my favorite songs but it was really well performed by the Choir.
Taichi did the descants on Salve Me. He was back behind and to the right of the Choir up on a higher level. Blue light shone on him from the left and his hood was up covering his face giving a nice mysterious appearance. I had a clear view of him and I could see him tapping his foot in time with the music as he sang his descants. He did a fine job!
Amazing Grace followed. Rocco's voice was well suited for this song. I think we will hear him doing more solos in the future.
Alex Gula did solos on How Great thou Art and Wayfaring Stranger. He has this nice soft but husky voice that I really like. Both songs were beautifully performed.
Smile was next in this group of mellow songs. Gabe and Alessandro doing very nice work.
The last song was Exultate. It hasn't been a favorite of mine but wow did the choir and the instrumentalists nail this one! The boys really seemed to be enjoying themselves! The crowd stood in applause in appreciation. America The Beautiful was the encore and received a similar but longer standing ovation.
It was just an awe inspiring performance! I really think I smiled the entire concert!
Much credit must be given to the lighting engineers. I felt so many different moods and emotions just from the lighting. There must be a creative mind behind that light display. Is it Luke Avery or Robert Prizeman? That is one thing that unfortunately I was unable to memorize from the concert. How the lights were during certain songs. A concert video would be so nice so we could be able to re-experience the lighting show again.
I wasn't sure what to expect at the meet and greet. I admit I was a little nervous. The boys quickly put me at ease however. Isaac and Alessandro were first in line and both asked me how I liked the concert. I told them it was my first and they both said that was great. I mentioned to Isaac that I really enjoyed Stabat Mater on the Hope Cd and he told me it was one of his favorite songs. I told Alex M that I like his songs on Hope and he thanked me. I asked him if he still hit some of the high notes as I saw he was singing the last notes of 'Libera' while Ale and Isaac didn't sing. He shrugged his shoulders and Alessandro nudged him and said: 'you hit that b flat' They both laughed. I thought it was a nice moment to share with them.
I bought one of the Libera hoodies and asked the boys to sign it as large as they wanted. Some of them really took me literally. Oliver's initials were the largest of all! He was pretty quiet. He said thank you when I told him I was happy that they had come to sing for us. The line in front of the tables stalled at that point so I asked him if he had a favorite football team. He didn't seem to know what to say. He told me he really didn't follow football. I just kind of left it there. A few seconds later while I was trying to think of something else to say, he said " if I had a favorite team, it would be Manchester". I said thank you and moved on. I know nothing about soccer! lol
Most of the younger boys didn't have much to say except for polite thank you's. Camden and Gregor both asked if I liked the concert. Camden was impressed that I had come so far to see them. Taichi was pretty quiet and concentrated on his artwork on my hoodie which included his name in Japanese!
Tadgh has quite the personality. He was the most elaborate with his signature. He was trying to make sure I knew that his was 'the best'. What a hoot!
Leo and Peter seem to be good friends and they enjoyed being together. This was also evident when they were next to each other on stage. Such great fun it must be to be in Libera!
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- Signed Hoodie.jpg (3.13 MiB) Viewed 1711 times
! think this might have been one of the most pleasurable things I have ever done. Everything about the entire experience was better than I expected it would be. Thanks again for the help and support of those both here on the forum and in St Louis. You know who you are!
I definitely will be seeing Libera live in concert again!
(or... maybe Alex M would turn that into a Melon Opera 
