THE PROGRAM OF THE CONCERT

Art of War (Vanessa-Me on electric violin)
Picante (Vanessa-Mae on acoustic violin)
Deep South (Vanessa-Me on acoustic violin)
Night Flight (Vanessa-Me on acoustic violin)
Clear like ice (Vanessa-Me on acoustic violin)
I am a Doun (Vanessa-Me on acoustic violin and singing)
Toccata & Fugue (Vanessa-Mae on electric violin)
Storm (Vanessa-Mae on electric violin)
------program break-----
Love is just a game (Vanessa-Mae on electric violin)
Embrasse Moi (Vanessa-Mae on electric violin, and singing)
White Bird (Vanessa-Mae on electric violin and singing)
Laughing Buddha (Vanessa-Mae on electric violin and a special bass violin)
Destiny (Vanessa-Mae on electric violin)
-----encores---
Storm (Vanessa-Mae on electric violin)
Destiny (Vanessa-Mae on electric violin)
White Bird Dance Version (Vanessa-Mae only singing)

See for the festival website: Live@sunset.

INTRODUCTION

In the spring of 2001, I read an announcement that Vanessa-Mae would give a concert at the annual live@sunset festival in Zurich that summer. I felt the need to go there to see Vanessa-Mae live in an open-air concert, and moreover, it was already two years ago since I had seen her for the last time live in concert for ‘The Original Four Season’ tour in Hamburg. Immediately, I ordered a ticket online and that appeared to be very sound because Vanessa-Mae's concert sold out rather quickly in just about 2 weeks. In this, Vanessa-Mae came second only after Sting, whose concert at the festival sold out in just a few days, see the photo below of the festival line-up at the main entrance of the venue (click the thumbnails of all the photos to view larger images).

The live@sunset festival in Zurich is an annual event and is always scheduled in second half of July. The festival lasts several days with one artist or band performing each day in the evening. The festival was first organised in 1996 when 5 acts were in the line up. Over the years live@sunset grew to a reputable event with 12-13 acts of worldwide fame. In the 2001 event, Vanessa-Mae was in the line-up together with highly respected artists like Sting, Herbie Hancock, Al Jareau and George Benson. The venue for the festival is the picturesque Landes-museum in the centre of Zurich nearby the railway station. The stage is situated in the court-yard of the castle that is normally used as a museum.

I travelled to Zurich from my hometown by the night train and arrived early in the morning on the day of the concert. I did some sight seeing during the day and attended the concert that evening. I booked a hotel for the night and I returned home the next day.

THE CONCERT: THE AFTERNOON BEFORE

The concert of Vanessa-Mae in Zurich was very good. However, it was clear that it was not an event of her own world tour, which was scheduled to start in September as Vanessa-Mae announced during the show. This concert in Zurich was an invited performance in an open-air music festival, and was therefore possible subjected to special rules like length of time of the show. Moreover according to my impression, the entourage was too small for a normal world tour concert of Vanessa-Mae and the show lasted to short. Vanessa-Mae was accompanied by a band that consisted only of a guitarist, a bass-guitar player, a drummer, a keyboard player and two female backing singers. There were no dancers and no string section. As a consequence Vanessa-Mae only played tracks from her new album and some pieces of Storm and The Violin player. There was no classical intermezzo in the show. I think the concerts of her forthcoming world tour will have all the mentioned missing ingredients. There was also no official program or concert brochure or any other merchandise available.

The location of the concert was ‘Das Landesmuseum’ that is located directly adjacent to the main railway station in the centre of the city. The museum is a kind of castle and monastery. It has a courtyard, which can be accessed via the main port or via the park behind. In this back yard opening the stage was built. The seats for the audience were on the courtyard, there were also some seats where regular visitors of the museum could rest and have a drink. These seats were separate from the concert seats and were still accessible during the stage build up that morning. After all, the museum was open as on a normal regular day. I went to the museum immediately after my arrival in Zurich, just to see the location. I observed that members of the crew were building up of the equipment for the concert of Vanessa-Mae. Next I went to my hotel and did some sightseeing in Zurich.

At 13:30, I returned to the museum and saw that the band was starting to do a try-out for sound check and optimisation. Vanessa-Mae herself was nowhere to see. But I anticipated that she needed to do a sound check for her violins and her voice, and I decided to take a drink and wait for the things to happen. I was so lucky to be there!! Shortly before 15:00, a man came on stage with three handbags carrying her violins. Immediately after that, Vanessa-Mae appeared on stage. She started to unpack the violins and laid them down on a table out side the direct exposure to sunlight. It was a very warm an sunny day in Zurich. Entering the area around the stage and the seats was prohibited and a Swiss security guy was taken care of that. I only saw Vanessa-Mae and the whole game on stage from an estimated 30-40 meters.

Vanessa-Mae did look great. She wore a greyish blue red spotted knee length summer pants. She wore also a pink/rose sleeveless T-shits with white stripes around the neck and shoulders. She had no visible make-up, and she had her hair hanging freely on her shoulders. Vanessa-Mae was on bare feet wearing slippers. See the photo below.

During her try-out, I started to take a few pictures. After about 30 minutes, a huge British security guy came over to me and asked politely to stop during the try-out. I told him that I was not a professional photographer, but only an interested and dedicated fan. ‘I know’ he said, ‘but we still ask you to stop.’ Of course I stopped, but asked him whether photography was allowed during the concert. He told me that he didn’t know exactly the official policy, but that he was sure Vanessa-Mae herself wouldn’t mind as long as no flashlights were used.

The band had finished their sound-check and now Vanessa-Mae was alone on stage for her sound check together with only two or three persons, technicians and assistants. Vanessa-Mae received a belt with transmitters to have her violins plugged into. Now she started to do some singing. She sang parts of I’m a Doun, White Bird, and Love is only a Game. Next, she picked up the acoustic violin and started to do some finger practicing. Now, this sounded really awful and it reminded me exactly why neighbours with musical instruments are hated so much. But hearing it from Vanessa-Mae is an experience that I will not forget for the rest of my life. She played short parts from several pieces, but suddenly started to do a whole part of the Four Seasons!!!! Vanessa-Mae also changed her acoustic violin for the electric one, and back to acoustic again several times. It was absolutely amazing how easily she changed from doing finger practicing to real music, alternating between classical and modern music. Later Vanessa-Mae started to practice with the whole band, doing vocals as well as violin playing.

It was obvious that there were some technical problems. As an example, Vanessa-Mae wanted to do a special effect on her electric violin that she needed for Toccata & Fugue. To activate the effect Vanessa-Mae had to touch a switch located on a panel with her foot. This obviously didn’t work immediately. Also, Vanessa-Mae wanted to do an effect during ‘Art of War’, which wasn’t successfully either during the try-out, at least it wasn’t according to Vanessa-Mae. I strongly had the impression that she became irritated with this second technical failure and because a sound manager didn’t agree with her. Vanessa-Mae and the technicians were communicating mostly through microphones, so I could hear parts of their conversations. One moment she said: ‘I have it on cd, I can play it for you!!! Vanessa-Mae definitely wanted to persuade the technician with her views on the matter. There was another funny incident that somehow shows that she was a little annoyed. Vanessa-Mae kicked out her slippers: one slipper felt of the stage and the other was also lying around somewhere. A lady (her personal assistant?) immediately walked from behind the stage to pick up the slipper; she climbed on to the stage again where she collected the second one, and put them somewhere where Vanessa-Mae could step into them, the moment she wanted to. Now, I don’t think Vanessa-Mae did this all on purpose, it just happened because of her tempered mood.

At 17:00, the museum closed and all spectators were asked to leave the courtyard. Next, I walked into the park at the backside of the museum. There was a closed parking area where a big black Mercedes with chauffeur was standing. I supposed he was there to serve Vanessa-Mae. I also planned to go there after the concert in the hope to see her when she would leave the venue.

THE CONCERT

Now, I was back at the venue at about 18:30. The beginning of the concert was scheduled at 20:30. In the meantime, I bought flowers and a card for Vanessa-Mae. On the card, I also mentioned the Vanessa-Mae fans forum. I asked a crewmember, how to get the flowers delivered to her. He nicely replied: ‘let me ask around for you.’ After a few minutes he returned with another guy who promised me that he would take care of it.

During the concert Vanessa-Mae played her acoustic violin, her Zeta electric one and a kind of bass violin for a special effects. She didn’t use her Ted Brewer violin. The program of the concert is listed on top of this page.

Of course, Vanessa-Mae was dressed and styled especially for the concert. During the first part of the show, Vanessa-Mae was wearing black long trousers with black shoes (no high heels) and a black sleeveless shirt with coloured stripes (see also mid page of STC booklet) with her mid riff exposed. Clearly, Vanessa-Mae had make-up now, as was obvious to see, on her face but it was certainly not overdone, in fact very nice with a perfectly smooth complexion, little dark eye shadow and pink lipstick. Her black hair was hanging free on her shoulder. Vanessa-Mae looked absolutely gorgeous, very nice and decent. For the second part, Vanessa-Mae had changed clothes into another black trousers, and a blue-white striped sleeveless and shirt that was tight in a bow on her back. Vanessa-Mae’s make-up was the same as before the break.

The orchestral intro of Art of War was on tape, and it started when Vanessa-Mae was not on stage. She appeared immediately after the intro playing the violin part. What can I say about the concert? The band played very good. Vanessa-Mae played very impressively and motivated, as was to be expected. The special effects that were troublesome during the rehearsals all went well, except for the Art of War effect. After the Art of War, Vanessa-Mae admitted this to the audience and told that some technical difficulties were encountered during the try-out that afternoon. Vanessa-Mae’s singing is quite good. Her soft voice adds something to the words of the songs that are well selected for her vocal qualities. At no moment, Vanessa-Mae overestimated her limited qualities, reach and possibilities as vocalist.

The way Vanessa-Mae plays her violin really shows that she is the master of her instrument. Vanessa-Mae plays so relaxed as is obvious from her body language each time I see her; the moment she starts to play, Vanessa-Mae spiritually becomes one with her instrument showing a perfect and fluent technique without mistakes. Only the best instrumentalists can play their instrument with so much ease and perfection. In my opinion, Vanessa-Mae is the best violinist of our modern times today. Vanessa-Mae is also one of the world best and outstanding live performers. This girl is so at her best on stage. You have to witness it yourself to understand what I mean. Seeing her on TV or on tape (Berlin concert, Storm movie or Red Hot tour) gives you an impression, but comes nowhere to reality. Part of her charm is also the way she communicates with her audience. She is so nice and sweet person and her voice is a pleasure to hear. She speaks to the audience with her soft voice and tells stories and anecdotes related to the music, or narrates of her own feelings and emotions when she plays the music.

Being at one of her concerts really moves me each time again. She is so nice as a person and such an outstanding musician; she has so much stage personality. The moment Vanessa-Mae appears on stage, the world turns around her. Nothing else exists anymore. I am thrilled being there at her concert.

During, Storm, Toccata & Fugue, Destiny and White Bird, especially the dance version, the audience becomes thrilled and excited with clapping and shouting for more. ‘Love is just a game’ is a real funny piece played live in concert: the singing is so joyful. With the light effects, Laughing Buddha brings you in another world. “Night Flight’ and ‘Clear like ice’ bring both emotions during the more slow part of the concert. Vanessa-Mae is at her best playing on acoustic violin. One of my all time favourites is ‘I Am A Doun’ played by Vanessa-Mae on acoustic violin and she nicely sang the intro.

But to everything comes an end. As I explained, I missed the more classical oriented part of her concerts. During the try-out in the afternoon pieces like Solace, Pasha and some more tracks from Storm (Hocus Pocus, Leyanda) were played. I too missed Yantra. Hopefully these tracks are included in her world tour concerts.

Vanessa-Mae gave no indication at the end of the concert that she had indeed received my flowers. I imagine that Vanessa-Mae is not to be disturbed in her dressing room shortly before a concert and that the flowers were only put there during the first part of the concert. It is possible that Vanessa-Mae only noticed them after the concert.

At the end of the concert it became soon clear to me, that there would be no official signing session. So I planned to go to the backyard in the park where the Mercedes for Vanessa-Mae was waiting. Unfortunately, the park was closed. The park belongs to the museum and is probably closed for normal security reasons and to keep drug users and bad people away from the museum. So I was not in the position to approach Vanessa-Mae after the concert.

To end this review, I will definitely visit one of her concerts during the forthcoming world tour. Be aware, going to a concert of Vanessa-Mae makes you addicted, making you to want more and more.

It was all worth the money and time to travel to Zurich!!

I made photos at her concert for the first time, these are shown below. Click the thumbnails to view larger images.