Vanessa-Mae Red Hot at the Royal Albert Hall 1995

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VANESSA-MAE

LIVE AT THE ROYAL ALBERT HALL, JUNE 30TH 1995

- A review of a memorable concert from video tape -

General impression
In May and June of 1995, Vanessa-Mae embarked on a tour throughout the UK doing 34 concerts in different cities. The mammoth tour was an huge and incredible success. Vanessa-Mae received overwhelming reviews from fans and media. Vanessa-Mae's concert in the London Royal Albert Hall was filmed and put on general release by EMI on video tape. Over the years, the concert has been televised in many countries all over the world numerous times. EMI Malaysia released a DVD version of the concert in 1998. The live registration as it is on the tape and DVD gives a good impression for all of the fans who have not seen Vanessa-Mae live at the 'Red Hot Tour.' A glossy brochure was available as merchandise at the 'Red Hot Tour' concerts, see the following link to view scans of the brochure: 'Red Hot Tour brochure.'

The concert itself was a spectacular show during which Vanessa-Mae showed her effortless and fluent technique, and during this performance she proved to be a real 'explosive live artist' capable of crossing over instantaneously to playing different styles of music with an ease and authority that only 'the real masters of their instruments' can do. Critics detest the setting in which 'their sacred classical music' is presented. During the concert when she going into her classical break, Vanessa-Mae makes a funny joke to respond to this criticism. Most importantly, during her Red Hot Tour of concerts and during all her concerts in tours thereafter, Vanessa-Mae receives standing ovation over and over again form her fans for her unique stage performance and brilliant play. This live registration gives a very good impression to all viewers what concerts of Vanessa-Mae are about. This live registration is a must for all devoted fans of Vanessa-Mae.

The art work
The art work of the video tape and DVD are similar. Scans of the booklet and the discs are shown below. Click the thumbnails to view larger images.

Track listing
Vanessa-Mae played the following music at her concert:

- Contradanza (Mike Batt) - Cotton Eye Joe (Ericsson, Oban, Reiniz) - Fantasy on a theme of 'Caravans' Mike Batt) -
- Aurora (Ian Wherry, Vanessa-Mae) - Widescreen (Mike Batt) -
- Piano trio in E minor: Allegretto (4th movement - Shostakovitch) - Liebeslied (Kreisler) - Schon Rosmarin (Kreisler) -
- Moses Fantasy on one string (Paganini, arr. Vanessa-Mae) - Caprice no 24 (Paganini, arr. Vanessa-Mae) -
- I will always love you (Dolly Parton) - Classical Gas (Williams) -
- Toccata & Fugue (J.S. Bach, arr. Mike Batt) - Red Hot (Vanessa-Mae, Ian Wherry)
- Encores with Toccata & Fugue and Red Hot -

Description of the concert

Vanessa-Mae at this concert:
For this concert, Vanessa-Mae was dressed in a silver glittering short dress with a black belt over it that hold the equipment to plug in the electric violin ad her earphone. She also had bright white short boots with normal heels. This particular dress is certainly not one of my favourite outfits to see Vanessa-Mae in; she had this dress during 1995 and early 1996 a few times during the tour and also at her famous open air performance on Time Square, New York. Vanessa-Mae had her hair tied in a pony tail on her back. The many close-ups show that, despite her very young age of not only 17 yet at that moment, Vanessa-Mae's face was made up with complete covering light coloured foundation, soft red lipstick and discrete small dark lines of shadow on her upper eye lids. The captures below show a series of these close-ups from one scene when Vanessa-Mae addressed the audience, and from the closing scene of Vanessa-Mae gratefully accepting the ovations from her fans. In these captures also some of the closing credit lines are shown.

Vanessa-Mae's play:
Vanessa-Mae plays very motivated and she is full of passion in her total performance, as are all her musicians of the band, her mother on the piano, and the members of the string section. Vanessa-Mae plays perfectly without any obvious mistake, and with this she adequately translates the dynamics of the album 'The Violin Player' into a spectacular show for an enthusiastic audience that rewards her with standing ovations. The combination of all the styles of music fit very naturally in the concert based on Vanessa-Mae's charming behaviour and strong stage personality and authoritative masterly handling of her violins. Classical purists and critics do detest the setting in which 'their' classical music is played and fit in, but people and music lovers, who are susceptible and willing to open up towards new things and adventure, will recognise the technical and musical quality and unique character of Vanessa-Mae as live performer and musician: they have witnessed and unforgettable event and evening on which a new rising star definitely established herself as unique musician with a very personal style as live performer.

I will discuss all individual tracks that have been played. Just a few remarks for a number of songs. The first 3 pieces are all on 'The Violin Player' and Vanessa-Mae set the mood for the evening with excellent and lively performance of these. Next, Vanessa-Mae hold an introductory speech for 'Aurora' in which she explained the meaning of this particular composition of herself with Ian Wherry. She told the audience that 'Aurora' embodies the rebirth of life after a world wide devastating disaster with silence and whispering sounds as signs of the start of new life on earth. After the next song 'Widescreen.' Vanessa-Mae held her classical break of the evening.

The classical break started with a speech of Vanessa-Mae when she said: "Now is the time for my rock band to have a bit of a break, and also my electric violin. It seems that things are getting serious over there with music sheets and stands appearing so I better get dressed for part 2. I mean we do not want any comments like: Vanessa-Mae is not dressing right when she plays classical music, one needs to be tight correctly, such a dress just wouldn't do!

This short speech of Vanessa-Mae is certainly an answer to her critics who had negatively commented on the so-called wet T-shirt video for 'Toccata & Fugue.' During this speech, a collaborator put on a long black elegant dress around Vanessa-Mae's waist.

The classical break was absolutely great. Vanessa-Mae started with the 3rd movement of Shostakovich piano trio in E minor that lasts about 8 minutes. This piece is one of my favourite classics and I love to see Vanessa-Mae's rendition of it as she played it that evening. Of the classical break, the 2 Paganini compositions are also highlights of the evening. 'Moses Fantasy' in Vanessa-Mae's arrangement is simply wonderful. I definitely hope that Vanessa-Mae will one record an album only based in music of Paganini and 'Moses Fantasy' must be included in such an album, as should the 2nd Paganini piece: 'Caprice #24.' Vanessa-Mae played it in her own special tour arrangement for electric violin and rock band.

The evening ended in sheer spectacle and glory with 'Toccata & Fugue' and 'Red Hot.' Both numbers were played without a break and went toccata & Fugue went smoothly into 'Red Hot.' At the end, two of the dances lifted Vanessa-Mae and held her above their heads from where she gratefully accepted the standing ovations of the audience, see the series captures below:

The memorable concert ended with 'Toccata & Fugue' and 'Red Hot' as encores.

I still consider it a miss that I had to skip Vanessa-Mae's 'Red Hot Tour' concert in The Hague on February 16th 1996. As a result, I had to wait until June 1998 to have a first 'Vanessa-Mae live in concert' experience!!