STORM ON WORLD TOUR
A REVIEW OF A MOVIE SHOT ON 5 CONTINENTS
1 The music in the movie
2 General impression
3 Description of the contents of the movie
4 Full version - extra material
The documentary show Vanessa-Mae performing the following following pieces of music. In parentheses the place and or venue where a particular piece of music in this movie was performed, are shown.
- Storm (Dubai) - I Feel Love (Dubai) - Poet's quest
(Dubai) - Part of Vivaldi's 'The Four Season (Buckingham Palace, London) - - Part of 'Butterfly Lovers Violin Concerto
(Buckingham Palace, London) - Aurora
(Beijing) - (I) Can, Can (You) (Shanghai) -
- Bach Street Prelude (Dubai) - Hocus Pocus (Moscow, Kremlin Palace) - Retro
(Moscow, Kremlin Palace) -
- Leyanda (Moscow, Kremlin Palace) - I
Am A Doun (Shanghai Stadium) -
- Happy Valley (Dubai, London Leicester Square, Hong Kong horse race stadium,
Moscow Kremlin Palace) -
The documentary shows Vanessa-Mae during her travels and concerts on 3 different continents during the first leg of her 'Storm On World Tour' in 1998. In the documentary, Vanessa-Mae tells about her music, her experiences on the tour and about a few special performances, and she is shown live in various of the spectacular concerts playing music from her albums 'Storm' and 'China Girl' that form the basis for the tour. The documentary adequately shows the complexity of Vanessa-Mae's concerts on this tour and it inherently makes it clear the enormous stature Vanessa-Mae has to raise money and support to make an organisation possible to realise this tour. 'The Storm On World Tour' documentary is an exceptional movie and a real must for every fan of Vanessa-Mae who is interested in her music and personality. The live registrations are spectacular and beautifully filmed; the interviews with Vanessa-Mae are very interesting and prove that she had enormous fun at the tour. Up till now, however, EMI has not put the documentary up for commercial release, despite numerous requests from the fans.
Description of the contents of the movie
Title and end credits
Below are captures from the intro and end of the movie (click the
thumbnails to view larger images). Vanessa-Mae is introduced and the title of
the documentary is shown. At the end of the movie, credits are paid to all
involved in the tour: Vanessa-Mae, her mother as pianist, as co-manager and
producer, Mel Bush as manager; all other musicians, orchestras and choirs; EMI
for their support; The UK government, The Royal Family and the Buckingham
Palace; Debbie Cronin, Vanessa-Mae's steady visagist, for doing her hair and
make-up; and many more others are credited for all their contributions.
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The intro
The intro shows a compilation a short nice scenes with Vanessa-Mae during
various occasions at her travels for the tour. Shown below are captures of
Vanessa-Mae being made up at having her lips painted red, wearing a red cap and
scarf, and during mediating dressed in a green silk Chinese suit. Later in the
movie, the scene with Vanessa-Mae wearing the red cap and scarf is shown more
extensively.
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'Storm' and 'I Feel Love' in the desserts
of Dubai
Vanessa-Mae's concert in Dubai took place in the open air in the dessert.
The concert was a spectacular show with pyrotechnical effects and fireworks.
During the show, Vanessa-Mae was supported by her band, an orchestra and
dancers. The documentary extensively shows the wonderful and spectacular
fireworks. Among the audience were members of the Dubai Royal Family. At one
moment during singing 'I Feel Love,' Vanessa-Mae speaks: thank you Your Royal
Highness, isn't it nice? The performance of 'Storm' is spectacular. Vanessa-Mae
stands on a grid with a blower that moves lightweight ribbons in various colours
around her. During 'I Feel Love,' Vanessa-Mae subsequently sings, dances
energetically, plays the violin and sings again after getting a microphone
handed over while simultaneously giving her electric violin to the same person.
The captures below show: the spectacular fireworks; Vanessa-Mae standing between flimsy ribbons moving in a stream of air while playing 'Storm;' Vanessa-Mae smiling when she receives an ovation from the audience after ending 'Storm;' Vanessa-Mae dancing, singing and playing the violin during 'I Feel Love.' During this concert, Vanessa-Mae was dressed in a satin trousers and a small glittering satin top covering her breasts. close-ups clearly show that Vanessa-Mae is heavily made up with lot of lipstick and glittering effects in the black liner and mascara of her smouldering eye make-up.
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Intermezzo: Vanessa-Mae talks in front of
'The Royal Albert Hall'
The next scene shows Vanessa-Mae in front of 'The Royal Albert Hall' when
she talks about bridging the cap between 'pop' and 'classical.' Vanessa-Mae say:
it is not always easy bridging the dynamics between pop and classical, but I
think it works well in 'A Poets Quest.' Vanessa-Mae also tells that she is
fortunate to have a dual career and that it shows as she says: 'the violin
really works as a pop contemporary instrument as well an old instrument playing
the classics that I love.' During this short intermezzo, Vanessa-Mae wears a
sport jeans, blue denim jacket and a white netting shirt and sun glasses.
Vanessa-Mae really has a pleasant and clear voice when she speaks in a rather
soft tone with a typical British London accent.
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'A Poet's Quest' in the desserts of Dubai
Next 'A Poets' Quest' is shown played during the concert in Dubai. there are
a few fragments of the concert in Dubai, but most of this piece is larded with
scenes of Vanessa-Mae during other activities. Some captures are below. Shown
from left to right are: Vanessa-Mae performing 'Poet's Quest;' Vanessa-Mae
signing after a concert in China; Vanessa-Mae giving autographs to children in
Beijing after sight seeing as a tourist; Vanessa-Mae meeting with children in
Soweto and giving autographs; local musicians in Soweto performing in the
presence of Vanessa-Mae; Vanessa-Mae showing her respect for the performance of
the local musicians in Soweto. At that time, Vanessa-Mae was the first
internationally acclaimed star to visit and play in Soweto. Vanessa-Mae's visit
to Soweto actually took place before the start of 'The Storm On World Tour.'
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Vanessa-Mae at Buckingham Palace for a
special concert at the ASEM (II) conference playing a part of Vivaldi's 'Four
Seasons' and 'A Lovers Butterfly violin concerto.'
During the first part of 'The Storm On World Tour,' Vanessa-Mae was called
to Buckingham Palace for doing a special concert at the closing diner at the
ASEM (II) conference in the presence of 26 heads of state, Her Majesty Queen
Elisabeth (II) and other members of the Royal Family. Of course, Vanessa-Mae
accepted this exceptional request and she explained to feel very privileged with
the invitation and that she gratefully interrupted her tour for such an
occasion. EMI issued a special 2 cd box containing Vanessa-Mae's recent albums
'Storm' and 'China Girl' in a luxurious golden box, see
'Special 2cd golden box with 'Storm' and 'China Girl.' The special box
has not been on general release and forms a very rare collectable. The
documentary shows Vanessa-Mae when she plays a part of 'The Four Seasons,'
(Autumn La Caccia) see
the captures below. Especially the two captures to the right are funny when
Vanessa-Mae briefly signals to her mother who plays the piano at the concert.
For the concert, Vanessa-Mae wears a special golden coloured glamorous long
dress. The background of this page also stems from the Buckingham Palace
concert. The fact that Vanessa-Mae was invited to do this concert shows the
enormous esteem Vanessa-Mae possesses in the UK and by the Royal Family as well.
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During this concert, Vanessa-Mae also performed the 'Butterfly Lovers violin concerto' that is larded in the documentary with funny scenes of Vanessa-Mae walking in a park with bodyguards. Vanessa-Mae. During this intermezzo, Vanessa-Mae is dressed in a red pair of trousers, a black half long coat with a red scarf and red cap. The close-ups show Vanessa-Mae's perfectly made up visage with soft pink powder blushed cheeks and pink lipstick that both combine elegantly with the red in her scarf and cap.
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Intermezzo in front of Buckingham Palace
During this intermezzo, Vanessa-Mae sits in front of Buckingham Palace and
she talks about her experience about the concert there. In this scene,
Vanessa-Mae wears a grey sport jeans and a white netting sleeveless top. She
says that in was great and a privilege to perform for 26 heads of state and the
Royal Family including the Queen. She then says: 'I virtually lived all my
life in England which I consider home, but inside deep into my family past, my
mothers side of the family, are my Chinese roots that I also wants to know more
about.' The documentary then shifts to China to show Vanessa-Mae there
during concerts and other activities.
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Vanessa-Mae in Beijing and on the great
wall of China
These scenes show Vanessa-Mae during sight seeing in China in Beijing and at
the great wall of China. For this, Vanessa-Mae was dressed according the
occasion in a blue coloured all silk Chinese style suit and a light blue silk
blouse underneath the jacket. All garments have embroiders of Chinese figures as
design. Vanessa-Mae has a similar outfit in a red suit with yellow blouse, see
for a pictures 'Vanessa-Mae wearing red
Chinese suit with yellow blouse.' Noticeable on all the captures below
is Vanessa-Mae's perfectly applied make-up as her face wear that adequately
serves as counterbalance for the overwhelming nature of her beautiful designed
Chinese silk clothes. On the captures below, Vanessa-Mae is shown flying a
Chinese kite, standing next to large ancient well, meeting the press at her
visit to the great wall of China. During the scene on the great wall of China,
Vanessa-Mae speaks: 'it is great to back in China after studying here when I
was about 8.'
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Vanessa-Mae playing Aurora at the concert
in Beijing
The documentary shows Vanessa-Mae playing 'Aurora' at her concert in
Beijing. These scenes show already the complexity of the stage. Vanessa-Mae will
tell about hat later on in the movie. At playing 'Aurora,' Vanessa-Mae is backed
by a full orchestra. She wears a wonderful long dress in panther print design.
Striking is again the obvious care that has been taken with Vanessa-Mae's face
that is always perfectly made up even during demanding concerts The combined
play of Vanessa-Mae on violin with the orchestra is beautiful as is shown here
very nicely in the performance of 'Aurora.'
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'To play for Chinese people, being half
Chinese as you can see form this camera'
This is a very funny scene in the documentary. Vanessa-Mae sits along side a
small lake with a bridge in the background. She wears black pants, a black
T-shirt and a Chinese army cap on her head. She tell: 'to play here for
Chinese people being half Chinese as I am, as you can see from this camera, is
amazing. I had a stage in Beijing that was a violin size. Not not violin size,
but violin shape; that would be very small, violin shape, like a human body,
stage in Beijing. that had two sort of round platforms like a violin shape with
a sort of long scroll to walk up and down like the neck of a violin.'
This scene is so funny as Vanessa-Mae corrects herself when she mistakes and says: 'violin size.' Funny are also the gestures that Vanessa-Mae makes with her arms to describe the shape of her stage. She obviously is proud to be in China to play in such a surrounding.
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Vanessa-Mae playing '(I) Can, Can (You)' in
Beijing on her violin shape stage
Here, Vanessa-Mae is shown playing 'Can, Can' live in Beijing. She wears the
same panther dress as during 'Aurora.' The scenes show adequately the complexity
of the stage and the two platforms. One platform holds the orchestra and the
other the band and dancers. Vanessa-Mae walks in between and around these two
platforms that are surrounded by the audience. Also, she can walk up and down
the scroll where she can come close to her fans and answer their ovations and
enthusiasm. The captures below show this all.
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'Bach Street Prelude' in Dubai: a
performance of sheer energetic joy
'Bach Street Prelude' as played at the concert in Dubai marks an exceptional
energetic performance of not only Vanessa-Mae, but also of the percussionist.
The duet dialogue between Vanessa-Mae on her acoustic violin and the
percussionist on 'pots and pans' works out very effectively in conveying the
energy of their playing into sheer enthusiasm and power to the audience. I have
witnessed this during all the 6 concerts of Vanessa-Mae that I attended myself.
The documentary shows very well the joy the musicians have in playing this piece
of music, especially the many close-ups of Vanessa-Mae in the documentary show a
big smile on her heavily made up visage. During this piece, dancers, acrobats
and clowns give act de presence on stage too. The final capture shows
Vanessa-Mae in close-up receiving the appreciation and ovations of the audience
with a big smile and raising her hand.
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The world becomes on huge place when you're
on tour
Vanessa-Mae speaks in this scene: 'the world become a huge place when
you're on tour.' Standing in front of a 'Storm On world Tour' poster, she
shares her wisdom and experience of being on world tour with the viewers in a
charming naive and innocent manner. And then, in front of 'The Royal Albert
Hall' again: 'we already visited South Africa, China, the desserts of Dubai,
and we did a quick stop over to Buckingham Place, and we did our first concert
in Russia at the Kremlin.' How charming and likable she really is!
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Vanessa-Mae in Moscow
The documentary shows Vanessa-Mae in Moscow when she meets up with the press
and photographers in the open and when she arrives at the Kremlin shortly to
prepare for her concert, and with 3 songs form the concert. The captures below
are from Vanessa-Mae with the press and at her arrival at the Kremlin. There she
speaks: 'we are here at the Kremlin and there is our concert.'
Vanessa-Mae was toured around in Moscow in a big car with driver. On all
occasions when she came out of the car, a n aide was present to open the door
for her to come out with wonderful bouquet of flowers in her hands. When
Vanessa-Mae arrives at the Kremlin, she wears sunglasses, hand shoes to keep her
fingers and hands warm - she obviously did a warm up at the hotel already!
The documentary is full of scenes like these that obviously serve to show the
significance of Vanessa-Mae as internationally acclaimed artist.
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'Hocus Pocus,' 'Retro' and 'Leyanda' in Moscow,
Kremlin Palace
the documentary show 3 songs from the Kremlin concert,
these are: 'Hocus Pocus,' 'Retro,' and 'Leyanda.' The captures below show
Vanessa-Mae playing 'Leyanda.' The duet between the acoustic violin and the
acoustic guitar form the heart of this brilliant and lively song. The close-ups
of Vanessa-Mae during this piece show her formidable and fluent technique.
Vanessa-Mae's face show the intense concentration with which she is performing
to the best of her abilities to satisfy the audience. During the Kremlin
concert, Vanessa-Mae was dressed in a blue satin pants and black T-shirt. She
had a tiny necklace with a crucifix hanging over her T-shirt. Vanessa-Mae was
only very soberly made up. Notice how nice the duet between Vanessa-Mae and the
guitarist is brought to life for the viewer.
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Intermezzo between 'Hocus Pocus,' Retro'
and 'Leyanda
In between 'Hocus Pocus,' Retro' and 'Leyanda' are scenes of Vanessa-Mae
arriving at an airport where she posed with soldiers, during an rehearsal in a
stadium and receiving an award at a television show. during these scenes, we
hear Vanessa-Mae's voice saying: 'I've always considered touring a very
rewarding experience that brought me in to contact with so many people and
cultures all around the world.'
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'I Am A Doun' in Shanghai
The concert in Shanghai took place the open air in a sport stadium. From
this concert, Vanessa-Mae is shown when she performs 'I Am A Doun.' She wears a
long multi coloured Chinese coat, black pants and top and she wears shoes with
high heels. Vanessa-Mae has her long hair free in a wavy coiffure. Vanessa-Mae
wears excessive blue eye shadow as part of her heavy make-up. The captures below
show Vanessa-Mae signing the intro and playing her violin for this piece of
music. At the end of the concert, she is toured around in the stadium in front
of the audience who all give her standing ovations.
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'So this has become a song of hope and a dance of joy
During this final intermezzo scene, Vanessa-Mae speaks the following: 'I
am very grateful that my music speaks to people of all ages, all races and
different ways. Happy Valley was originally commissioned for the re-unification
of Hong Kong to China. Being British and half Chinese by race, I tried to write
something that was not limited to reflects the music of both cultures. wanted it
to be more, but said something more. I wanted it to convey optimism, a sincere
pray for peace and happiness.' During these words, Vanessa-Mae is shown
walking at an airport, laughing and having fun in a tour bus, and being
styled and made up for a concert. And when she is shown sitting on a terrace in
London wearing sunglasses, she speak: 'this piece has become a song of hope
and a dance of joy. I perform it all over the world, in all my 'Storm' concerts
for everyone in every country.'
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The final: 'Happy Valley' shown from
concerts in Dubai, London, Beijing, Moscow and Hong Kong
The documentary ends with Vanessa-Mae performing 'Happy Valley' with a
compilation of performances of this song at various concerts during this first
leg of 'The Storm On World Tour.' There are scenes from the concerts in Dubai,
London at Leicester Square - a free concert early February 1998 which is
technically not part of the tour, Beijing and Moscow. Captures of these scenes
are on the top row below. Important are the scenes of Vanessa-Mae performing
'Happy Valley' at the re-unification of Hong Kong to ceremony in June 1997. At
this show, Vanessa-Mae wears a wonderful spectacular long red dress of a very
light weight material like silk or some polyester satin type garment. Also,
Vanessa-Mae has very heavy face wear on with lots of blue eye make-up and smooth
foundation crème. Vanessa-Mae really looked fabulous all in line with her
spectacular performance supported by orchestra, dancers and Chinese choir.
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Full version - extra material
The Storm O World Tour movie has been televised in many countries,
usually in the version described above. Several years after seeing the
documentary on television, we learnt that this version is abridged with respect
to the original. The full original version was televised in Australia and the
additional material that is described below stems from a DVD that we received
via a fan down under. The full version of the Storm On World Tour movie has
several extra songs and other unique and very interesting material filmed at
Vanessa-Mae's activities during the Storm On World Tour, many on which we had
never seen before.
The part with the Four Seasons played at Buckingham palace has two extra movements coming from Winter (Largo) and Spring (Allegro). These two extra movements follow a part of Autumn (La Caccia) and are preceded by scenes of Vanessa-Mae posing in a park for photographers and media. The first 3 captures on left shown below come from this session in the park and show Vanessa-Mae scenes and the extra movements of the Four Season as performed at Buckingham Palace. The first 3 captures show Vanessa-Mae in the park wearing a short black jacket with red scarf and a wig, first allowing some work done on her make-up, hair and clothes, then posing with an umbrella. The two captures to the right show her playing during the extra movements from the Four Season.
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The extra movements of the Four Seasons are interrupted by unique material that show Vanessa-Mae when she prepared for the hang gliding entrance to the famous concert on the frozen lake of St. Moritz in the winter of 1995. The scenes start with showing Vanessa-Mae in close-up allowing to notice the heavy eye make-up with dark shadow, black liner and mascara that she had for the concert. She was wearing a yellow winter sport outfit and had a helmet when she positioned behind the pilot to the hang glider. The 2 captures to the right show Vanessa-Mae speeding up from the hill and flying above the white mountains that surround the lake of St. Moritz. It is great to see these scenes as Vanessa-Mae spectacular entrance to this special concert is often mentioned in biographies and reports.
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After the St Moritz hang gliders stunt, the movie returns to the extra 2 movements of the Four Season, see the 2 captures tot the left shown below.
The movie then continues with some scenes of Vanessa-Mae playing a part of Butterfly Lovers Violin Concerto in Buckingham Palace. This is also in the short version as described above. Then again follows unique material. First Vanessa-Mae is shown sitting in front of Buckingham Place when she introduces that she also sang a special vocal version of Reflection at Buckingham Palace. Next this vocal version of Reflection is shown in the movie when Vanessa-Mae sings standing standing in between illuminated balloons, see capture on the right below..
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After Reflection is finished, follows again unique material never seen before, see the two row 14 captures below. The first 3 captures (top row to the left) show Vanessa-Mae arriving in China walking down the stairs from the airplane, casually dressed in white jeans and a black jacket after a long flight. Then, after having changed into a fine sleeveless long dress with panther print design over a black sweater with high collar and now wearing make-up for her face wear, Vanessa-Mae, with sunglasses, is shown leaving the airport by car to meet her first appointments. The 2 scenes that follow are very nice and show Vanessa-Mae as never before. The 4th capture from the left of the top row below shows a shy young girl with her mother nervously awaiting her turn to approach the table where her idol Vanessa-Mae is sitting for a signing session for fans. Then 2 captures show this girl again when she was allowed to stand next to Vanessa-Mae to be photographed together. Please notice the happiness on the young girls face in her finest hour to find out that her idol is nice to her. Vanessa-Mae is dressed in a magnificent dark blue chine style dress. there are two captures of a cd and an acoustic violin with Vanessa-Mae's hand signing them as well. Then Vanessa-Mae is shown visiting a market place, being rather casually dressed in black pants and a dark T-shirt, see captures 2-7 on the bottom line. Vanessa-Mae is shown inspecting fruits and vegetables at a market stand, tasting and subsequently pulling a face form aversion of a bad taste, she talks tot the camera and meets other visitors.
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After this, the track '(I) Can, Can (You)' in Shanghai is shown in the short version. In this full version, the track is introduced by Vanessa-Mae addressing the audience in Chinese language. It is really funny to see her talk Chinese and showing obvious satisfaction that she managed to pronounce the difficult words well and receive applause form the people for her efforts, see captures 1 and 2 from the left on top line below. Then follows a 'The Blessed Spirits' as extra track, see captures 3-10 below shot During the concerts in Dubai, Shanghai and Moscow.
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Two other extra tracks are in this full version of the Storm On World Tour movie, not surprisingly, being Toccata & Fugue and Red Hot. T&F starts during images of Vanessa-Mae telephoning in the tour bus, encouraging the audience during her performance in front of the Eiffel Tower in Paris, captures 1-3 below. Vanessa-Mae is then shown playing T&F in New York (open air show for the launch of shanghai Tang store on 5th avenue), and Shanghai, see captures 4-8 below. A collage of performances of Red Hot on Times Square New York, at an unknown occasion during the Red Hot Tour, and in Shanghai comes next, see captures 9-14 below.
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In summary, the full version of the Storm On World Tour movie contains unique filmed material of Vanessa-Mae, and it is a joy to watch it, and it is a pity that in so many countries media choose to air the shortened documentary. Once again, we call upon EMI to do fans of Vanessa-Mae the biggest favour possible in order to release this full version on DVD.
copyrights of the text © http://www.vanessa-mae.nu, Groningen, The Netherlands, 2005-2008
