Saturday saw the Chime For Change concert take place at the home of Rugby Union, Twickenham stadium. There was something fittingly symbolic about a venue usually so crammed full of alpha males that just breathing the surrounding air on match day could make you sprout chest hairs, being used to highlight the plight of women everywhere.
Some of you may know that I was lucky enough to attend the concert- and had an amazing time, thanks for asking. But this post isn't really going to offer a play by play of the concert, instead I thought I'd post MY top three best and worst things about the night. Doing that should hopefully stop me from rambling and let you get to the performances quicker. (Or you could just ignore all of this and just scroll straight down, you scoundrels!)
Best Things:
(1) The Cause: Like you didn't see that coming. Between each act we were given speeches on the subject from speakers as diverse as Gloria Steinem to Aishwarya Rai. We were also treated to videos that highlighted the struggle for female equality in different parts of the world.
(2)Florence and The Machine: I know I love Florence but it seems so does everyone else- the crowd went seriously nuts when she came on. Her voice was the clearest of anyone who graced the stage that day and it cut through the audience like a resonate bell. Shame she was only on for three songs.
(3) MJB!: Seriously, Jennifer Lopez introducing Mary J Blige for her Michael Jackson tribute would have physically brought the roof down- if Twickenham had one.That might just have been the most memorable moment of the entire concert.
Worst Things:
(1) The crowd: The atmosphere was amazing and the crowd were in fine spirits throughout the five hour event, but they didn't seem to give two hoots about the cause. Speakers who weren't big names or hot didn't gain much traction with the crowd, who either chose those moments to hit the bar or use the "facilitates" before the next musical act came on.(I was embarrassed for feminists everywhere when James Franco got the biggest and longest applause of the day- bar Madonna- and that was before he'd opened his mouth)! I initially thought that those on stage hadn't noticed the lack of interest but Madonna imploring the crowd to listen- partway through her own speech- showed the apathy for the cause (but love for celebrity) was reaching the stage.
(2)The Publicity: Seriously, where was the hype for this event? I was speaking to friends a day before the show and they had no idea what I was talking about. Even more embarrassing is that one of those friends lives ten minutes from the stadium!! Somebody really dropped the ball when it came to promoting the concert and thus the great cause!
Just check out the YouTube videos I've had to use! God bless those people for uploading them but an event like this should have spawned hundreds of quality uploads. Chime For Change could learn from The Eurovision Song Contest, which had all their videos uploaded to their YouTube page the night after the event!
(3)Beyonce: Now hold up. Don't crucify me yet. It was awesome that Bey was there, and it was her name that probably attracted most of the publicity and ticket sales (it's why I had mine). She was also as flawless as ever on stage and her genuine emotional reaction to the crowd and the cause was beautiful to see. Now here's my problem: the song choices. They were perfect for the majority female crowd, but since I really don't like If I Were A Boy and Irreplaceable it meant I didn't enjoy a quarter of the set. And when I say "don't like", that's polite speak for I hate those songs. I was also confused by the inclusion of At Last. However, opening with A Change Is Gonna Come was such an apt choice and at least now I can say I've seen Beyonce live!!
Anyway, now on to the performances! ENJOY!
Beyonce:
Jennifer Lopez:
Florence + The Machine:
Iggy Azalea:
Rita Ora:
Jessie J:
Ellie Goulding :
Thoughts?
Glad you had a fantastic time! I only caught three performances. Beyonce is so damn good! All the single ladies - Wow! Love Jessie J. Bald head and all... Ohh, Ellie Goulding... I get to see her open for Bruno Mars in July. Lets just say she's a "studio voice".
ReplyDeletethe Ellie comment...so true. I was on my merry way by that point of the concert but as soon as I heard her my DD brain kicked in and I thought, "nope, stick to the studio". I love her but she was really struggling.
ReplyDeleteJessie J did stellar for the most part...she needs to work on her arangement...And good lawd, the volume capacity on that broad ceases to amaze me....
ReplyDeleteBeyonce's whole voice sounded like it was placed lower.
ReplyDeleteShe has tonsillitis according to rumours so...I had some mean thoughts that I rather not stste Lol...but you are right. I keep hoping for her to just go a full third lower but I know that is not really possible. I'm a mess. Lol
ReplyDeleteBeyonce said on a video posted on her tumblr she had tonsillitis, I think it was quite a while ago though, near the start of her tour. She seems to have been singing differently ever since giving birth I think, whether its age, the break from singing or having a baby, but I'm not sure she can deliver upper 5th octave belts quite as easily now a days, or at least she doesn't seem to throw them in as much as she used to, and when she does they are usually growled, which still sounds amazing but it's interesting to note. She has about a month break before her next Mrs Carter Tour date, so it'll be interesting (for me any way :P ) to see how her voice is after a bit of a break from this leg of her tour.
ReplyDeleteI feel in love with Beyonce, her soul and growls were amazing
ReplyDeleteI was so nervous for Flo's Over The Love performance after her Cannes after party performance was so off, was so chuffed when she pulled it off
ReplyDeleteKind of wish Florence hit the high note on the "AND MY LOOOOOOVER ON MY MIIIIIIIIIINNNNNNDDD"
ReplyDeleteCan't really hold it against her though. Still a great performance.
Florence has a beautifully piercing voice
ReplyDeletei honestly cant get into florence's music but i cannot deny her beautiful voice
ReplyDeleteits so heavenly and ethereal
and another person who i so desperately want to love is iggy azalea but i just cant seem to truly enjoy her music
beyonce was good as always but she is kind of boring me now with everything being the same and i have always been a bey stan - but the new music shes been slowly debuting kind of well...... sucks
As someone who was lucky enough to be at the Chime for Change concert too, you must've been the only person who disliked Beyonce's part considering the majority of the 50.000 people were chanting her name before and after her performance, a treatment the other artists weren't given. That said, for me the most amazing parts aside from Beyonce, would probably be Florence and the Machine (and her hippy-like stage presence!), and J.LO seemingly giving the performance of her life although she did not hold up vocally once Mary J came out.
ReplyDeleteWhat baffles me is how one of your negatives is Beyonce, but not Timbaland. Timbaland, who literally did not do anything except string one sentence together over ten minutes and then concluded "this is how a performance should be given". As for the audience giving Franco the loudest cheers, I don't agree with that either but we might have been in very different sections so that's fine :)
Did Timbaland have a sexchange?
ReplyDeleteBecause this blog is basically devoted to females/divas.
Of course he was not reviewed
And maybe you should read more than just the " headlines" ?
Just for fun..try actually reading the review of Beyonce DD wrote.
I read her review, thank you. I know you enjoy arguing with anyone that comes here, but your opinion is not the only one on this board. The two songs that are "hated" on (IIWAB and Irreplaceable) both matched the event's goal and I just didn't see the need to criticise it. I did agree with DD's opinion on the inclusion of At Last however, and I would have preferred if she had sung the song used for World Humanitarian Day, I Was Here.
ReplyDeleteAlso there have been inclusions of male artists on this very website, something I'm certain of you wouldn't have missed.
Yep, Timbaland was awful! But I don't tend to comment on men. As for Bey, she was awesome and like I said above everyone else was loving the songs and that they were totally appropriate for the gig. I just really don't like those tracks- never have- and as such those were the only moments- during the entire event- I was standing around waiting for the next song. Not Beys fault, but it was my feelings on the night.
ReplyDeleteBut when it comes to events I tend to leave them out- like the Grammys and Brits. Sure, we do profiles, but most aren't written by me. Also, I'm a he....lol. Thanks for commenting! :)
ReplyDeleteI noticed she was subing a lot of the higher belts for head-tones. Still, she was AWESOME!
ReplyDeleteNow that I was surprised at. I think that was an F#6.
ReplyDeleteI'm sorry! I meant no harm :) I just wanted to chime in with my opinion on the matter. I am glad we have the same opinion on Timbaland's performance. Thank you for all that you do with this website!
ReplyDeleteNo offence taken! People are always going to have different opinions and as long as we all communicate like adults (as you did) it's all good! :)
ReplyDeleteThere's no argument here. I simply pointed out facts you seemed to have overlooked. Such as the ones DD now already pointed out.
ReplyDeleteWhat I responded to had nothing to do with my opinion.
And indeed, I did not overlook facts. :-)
Should that be counted in her range? Pretty please DD?
ReplyDeleteEllie is without a doubt one of my favourite British singers but at the same time I am no idiot. I know she sounded off here and quite often does, I do indeed agree with DD's and Joel's comments about her being a studio singer. I have seen more videos of her fluffing it than smashing it...that said I think she has one of the most original and distinctive voices in the game.
ReplyDeleteOther than that I think these performaces were ok, but just ok! Florence ripped the ass outta that stage though, truly excellent!!! She never fails to amaze me!
Anyway, here is a vid of Ellie smashing the ass outta it! (As with the rest of her Troubadour performances)
ReplyDeletehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iWtXY4NplkY
Her voice type (airy soubrette type) is difficult to pull off over a loud system and large venues. Almost impossible really. I imagine she can hit those high notes easily in quiet settings but not when she's trying to song loudly.
ReplyDeleteI still appreciate the performance though. Like I said in another thread, lots of so called artists lip instead of trying. Hopefully she'll be better in Seattle and I'm looking forward to seeing her.
Oh also what was that note Ellie hit at 3:47 during I Need Your Love?
ReplyDeleteNah, I'm pretty sure you hadn't read the effing article before commenting. Don't wiggle your way out of this. Opie's right to comment at your points with the wordings you've used. Quit the shade.
ReplyDelete:-)
ReplyDeleteWhile I'm glad Opie gets some backup, you can see that I touched upon two other things DD mentioned in the article in my original response. I understand some people feel the need to argue all day on this website in order to state their worth as a person, but I am not one of those people.
ReplyDeleteThat must be why you keep wriggling...feeling a bit too " worthy".
ReplyDeleteBut what then explains the need you seem to feel in throwing all that shade at my person one wonders.
If you don't agree with any position I take, you are free to disagree with argument.
Or feel free to simply not respond or even better, if they bother you that much...feel free to not read my posts. :-)
Strikes me that anybody who objects to people having a lot and diverging opinions and takes that as personal as to start throwing shade is the one with the self worth issues.
It is funny you should say that, considering I have read this blog for about three months and what stands out is that you feel the need to have the last word in every (there are quite many of them) argument you participate in. I am glad that you're guessing as to what I did, however, I think I would personally know better than you which actions I took before commenting on this article.
ReplyDeleteBut to each their own, if this is what makes you happy I am not going to try and take that away from you. I simply commented with my opinion, an opinion the blog creator responded to in a civilized manner, something you failed to do.
F#6.
ReplyDeleteIt should be. Although it sounded slightly pushed.
ReplyDeleteI'm sure you would know best what you did. That is why I said IF I would hazard a GUESS.
ReplyDeleteWhether you'd honestly share the actual course of events...that would be another manner.
Throwing shade at a person in such a sly manner as you have been doing might be considered civil in your mind. In my opinion it is still throwing shade.
"taking that away from you" that's a smooth one yet again. No denying you are real good at that kind of " civil" response.
But that's okay dude. If you indeed have been an avid reader of my comments ( and you are not the first account declaring to do so. Guess that's good business for DD LOL), I understand you realized your brand of " civil" is the only way you can try to get at me. No doubt argument wise you will fail as badly as the " quite many" who willingly participated in arguing a matter with me. :)
Evidently as again, wriggling your way out of the fact that I again were right and you were wrong regarding facts, you came up with another inaccuracy. I didn't respond in any manner to your opinions in my first response. All I did was respond to incorrections on your part. Such as failing to realize why Timbalake wasn't mentioned and that actually, contrary to your clear;ly unread assumption, it was a very positive review of Beyonce's performance.
I wasn't under the impression that this was a competition, where you need to get out on top. I would like to remind you that you opened up throwing around a passive aggressive remark, not I. You seem to feel the need to reassure yourself in every post you make which, whilst entertaining, is very revealing as to what you really crave from this site.
ReplyDeleteI wasn't trying to be civil in my post. I will state clearly that I do not like you, and I usually gladly skip over your posts, however, you felt the need to go on the attack which is why I had to clear up my first entry. "Failing to realise", followed by passive aggressive statements which are contrary to the blog article (DD is devoted to female artists, but does mention male artists and even has vocal profiles on them, the entry also describes the audience and the media, something the site is not devoted to).
All of this aside, I'm sure this site is meant to be a discussing board about vocalists, mostly female, not a shit fest of people arguing. ":-)"
Why is this ongoing, and is now a personal remark against Opie? Brief study of linguistics. Blogs include a discussion/commentary section for the readers to type their opinions regarding the article, not do personal jabs on how that person always likes to argue.
ReplyDeleteAnd there is nothing wrong with Opie arguing; I mean, it IS commentaries section, and everyone has a right to say/write what they want.
Aside that, I just watched the Madonna speech, and Christ this crowd seems to be an unthankful bunch of shitheads I feel ashamed to be human.
Thanks for your support. :-)
ReplyDeleteDon't worry. Since I stopped reading and replying to that person, that should stop matters.
So...moving swiftly on from that nonsense...what speech of Madonna were you talking about?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ibNOySyGaU
ReplyDeleteThe BBC weren't any better. They heavily edited the video. The annoying thing about the crowd is that they just thoughtlessly hoot and howl at times, and while I did appreciate that they screamed louder at the right cues, it seems as if the cameras had to heavily mute them. I mean, listen to the noise during the speech.
Can you clarify your opinion on the crowd? Perhaps in the video you saw you couldn't hear the crowd well enough, as Madonna and her speech were very well received. I do think people thought it dragged on though, as she repeated "revolution" about thirty times within ten minutes.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the link.
ReplyDeleteThough the crowd did seem to respond enthusiastically, one does get a feel they responded more to the moments it was obvious they were supposed to respond. But as I wasn't there that is a tough call to make, were the responding to the words or to the speech pattern? Probably would be easier to gauge if I had seen other speeches as well.
But " crowds" on a whole are usually pretty brainless and make one ,well me anyway, hate the human race.
That's why I would never go hear my favorite artists at pop festivals and this kind of occasions. I get pissed off too much at people talking, howling and hooting through music as much as through speeches. So, I hear you on that. :-)
Good test would be to find out how much was actually donated. lol
And on that note...look how much is donated by the British public, every year again, on Red Nose day! THAT should make you feel better and a little prouder to be human? Because frankly, I am so used to red nose day, it seems to come quicker each year. ;-)
But on a whole the British continue to pay attention AND money, to the cause.
I personally liked Madonna's speech very much btw. And was not bored at hearing revolution ten times. it seemed logical as it was the theme of the speech. And it was a well written speech. It flowed well.
Jessie J, great as always and vocals, dang those vocals AMAZING.
ReplyDelete