LIFE IN PRESTON AND SEEING COLLABRO
Over the past 2 months I’ve been
busy settling into Preston and the North in general, joining the Preston
Concert Band, Preston Flute Group and performing with them in concerts around
Lancashire. It has been quite exciting – as I’ve also got myself a new flat for
the next 6 months which is somewhere I can properly call home (unlike a hotel
room which you move in and out of every week).
The first concert I did with the
PCB was at Clitheroe Castle on the 5th July, it was a really
successful concert (if only for the first half), unfortunately it poured down
in the second half, but there were still a few members of the audience the
stayed as they were getting soaked. The set included things like Aladdin,
Pirates of the Caribbean and the Symphonic Highlights from Frozen. It was a
really good first concert with the band, as I’d only been in the group for a
month at this point.
Our big concert was on the 11th
July in the Charter Theatre in Preston – we performed alongside singers like
Jai McDowall, Collabro and Charlotte Jaconelli. The occasion was to support the
Royal Armed Forces Day that was happening in and around Preston that afternoon –
the main square was filled with people watching wrestling and someone singing
the National Anthem. Surrounding the 1,500 people were stands for all areas of
the Army, Royal Air Force and the Navy – it was bizarre to see so many people
in the middle of Preston but it was a really good afternoon (and it didn’t
rain!). The concert went really well, we were first on and although there were
a few shaky moments, overall it went well and we all had a good laugh. I stayed
to watch Jai and Charlotte, they were both in the second half before Collabro
were on, and they were brilliant – you could tell that they were down to earth
and they had a lot of interesting things going on.
It was when Collabro came on that
I suddenly felt a little bit disappointed, that evening the band were all
discussing Collabro’s performance in Scarborough earlier that evening, and that
they all had to be flown in by helicopter. They came on stage and their
presence felt too much, it was almost over-produced in comparison to the other
acts that we had seen previously that night. They were dressed in sparkling
suits and had obviously had money spent on their appearance since their
performance on Britain’s Got Talent. Their vocals were faultless, and there is
no way I could write this and criticise their harmonies and how they were able
to fill the room with the music. However, it seemed over-rehearsed, wooden and
just generally unfriendly – whereas they tried a little bit of small talk it
still seemed rehearsed and a little bit too formal for the occasion. Not only
that, but they weren’t really able to do anything spontaneous because it wasn’t
in their script, they moved positons a few times, but it was obvious that is
what they had been told to do, rather than what felt natural. I don’t think I’m
the only one that was sat in the audience that felt that way, as I spoke to a
few of the band members and they weren’t 100% convinced on the boys. I’m not
sure I’d go and see them again, but that doesn’t mean I wouldn’t go and buy
their next album.
Aside from that, I have been to
the exciting scenes of Liverpool, I went to the FACT which is the independent cinema
as part of the Picturehouse Cinemas. The range of cinemas all over the country
play films that aren’t out in the general cinemas and are often showing foreign
films, which I’ve not been to see yet. It was incorporated into an art gallery
and it was really interesting. The screen was small, cosy and the seats were so
comfortable. I went to see True Story, a film about Mike Finkel of the New York
Times discovering the truth behind a man called Chris Longo that murdered his
family and took Mike’s identity to go on the run. The plot explored the meaning
of truth and the journey the journalist went on in order to find himself and
trust Chris to find the truth behind what happened in the murders. I did get a
little lost in the middle, however it had a brilliant cast of Jonah Hill, James
Franco and Felicity Jones, which I thought was fantastic.
Overall, I’m really enjoying my
start to Preston and although they have both mushy peas and gravy on their
chips, they’re a pretty good bunch.
