Finally l visited last Sunday the concert in Stuttgart. This concert was part of the Jazz Open Festival 2009 in Stuttgart and finished with Katie's concert. Therefore not only her own band accompanied her this time but also the Stuttgart Symphony Orchestra conducted by her own manager/ producer Mike Batt. So this concert was very special this time. The concert was completely sold out. About 8500 fans visited this concert. The concert was also recorded and will be broadcasted on TV later this month.
The concert was delayed for 20 minutes because a lot of people didn't arrived in time due to the traffic jams in and around Stuttgart. By starting the concert a little bit later they gave those people the opportunity to arrive in time. We did had perfect seats on the second row in front of the stage. 4 seats on the first row in front of us were unoccupied so we did had a clear view. Maybe those people were still stuck in a traffic jam I don't know.
Photo katiemeluafansite.nl
As I said before the concert started with a little delay. First the members of the Symphony Orchestra came on stage. Followed by the conductor of the evening, Mike Batt himself. He talked to the audience and also made a little joke by telling that the only German sentence he could speak was "Können Sie den Rotwein bitte in ein Weißwein-Glas fullen" :) After, the Orchestra played 2 of Mike's songs which he wrote for a movie called "Watership Down". One of these songs was a song called "Bright Eyes". Most of you will remember this song from Art Garfunkel. He first sang this song for the soundtrack of this movie. an Year later in 1979 he even did had a number 1 hit with this song in the UK. It was also the best selling single that year in the UK.
Then Mike introduced Florence Rawlings and Katie's band. Florence has been contracted recently to Dramatico. Mike already met her 7 years ago but that time she was only 13 years old and too young. He contacted her again when she did finished her School. Her debut album will be released soon and it's called "a Fool in Love". Her voice can be compared to Joss Stone's voice and her music style is a mix of Soul, Blues and Rock 'n Roll. I enjoyed her performance and I'm curious about the other album songs. In total she sang 3 songs: - Hard to get - Take me in your arms - Love can be a battlefield The song"Hard to Get" will be her new single btw. Do you want more info about Florence then take a look on her Official website or watch this this video compilation.
Photos katiemeluafansite.nl
After Florence the Symphony Orchestra played again one of Mike's own songs "Caravans".
Then Mike introduced Katie. She started the concert with the song "Call off the Search". Together with the Orchestra this was just super. Katie was accompanied the whole evening by or the Orchestra or her own band. And some songs they both accompanied her which made this concertvery special. Some members of her band did also do a super great solo play during "Perfect Circle". Beside Kozmic Blues, which is one of my favorite covers she also played another nice cover which she called herself "Folk Waltz" but the real title we think should be "The One I Love Has Gone".
Also the public was very enthusiast, especially during the song On The Road Again. Everyone was standing and clapping and Katie also seems to enjoyed it a lot. She even ran down the stage herself. (See first pic below) Last week she did had to cancel one of her concerts due problems with her voice but during this performance I couldnt notice any strange things her voice was just great.
This concert was my first Katie concert with an Symphony Orchestra and with Mike Batt and hopefully it will not be the last one.
This was the setlist of the evening:
01. Call Off The Search 02. Piece By Piece 03. Crawling Up The Hill 04. Blues In The Night 05. Folk Waltz 06. Thank You Stars 07 Mary Pickford 08. Toy Collection 09. If The Lights Go Out 10. I Do Believe In Love 11. If You Were A Sailboat 12. Mockingbird Song 13. Spider´s Web 14. Lilac Wine 15. Kozmic Blues 16. My Aphrodisiac Is You 17. Perfect Circle 18. The Closest Thing To Crazy 19. Nine Million Bicycles ----------------------- 20. On The Road Again 21. I Cried For You
This concert will be broadcasted on the On Friday, August 21th 00:55-02:25(CET) on 3sat. If you are not living in Germany or do not have a Sat then you can find some videos on youtube.
