#341 - Go to the Proms

Timeout says:
Grab some tickets for the hilariously over-the-top Last Night, when normally well-behaved grown-ups act like schoolchildren, throwing paper darts and parping klaxons at inappropriate moments!

Dave did:
Not quite the proper Proms scene, but I did grab a last minute ticket for the Proms in the Park in Hyde Park, where as it happens a good friend of mine was singing in the choir for the grand finale!

I'm not much of an opera person, but I'm always up for something different and I have a thing for any operatic music by John Williams and the sort!

Well I was not disappointed on this occasion as we bore witness to Bjorn Again, Terry Wogan, a Z-list celeb conductor, Sharleen Spriteri (from Texas...the band, not the state!), and the BBC Sympharmoic Orchestra (or something as fancy sounding as that).

We kicked off with some golden oldies from Bjorn Again, who did not disappoint the females in the audience with all the big hits. I was caught on several occasions mouthing the words and so I took to gulping down my plastic-bottled Rose wine every few minutes! While the music was good, I was trying to get over the fact that I found 'Frida' pretty hot! As a reliable friend later told me, this was very wrong indeed! But just look at them...wouldn't you be fascinated by those robes and super extended legs?



Best bit of the show though, was when we confirmed that there was no miming in this act as the music suddenly cut out and the two fine ladies were left to sing the remainder of their song without any prompts...hats off to them as I'm sure the Spice Girls couldn't do that 10 years on!

Anyway, I digress! To calm my raging hormones...or to better put it - kill them dead...I had the lovely view of some oldies dancing in front of my line of vision with the main stage...



Before coming to this evening, I was well aware of the fact that the Proms in the Park is absolutely pro-Great Britain, and so I joked that I would bring along a Scottish saltire to rebel against this patriotism! Well thank goodness I didn't as right in front of me was the crazed women swatting British flags all over the place and 'dancing' like a maniac throughout the night.



As the night drew on, the real heros of opera started to make an appearance. And the man himself (supported with full-on military bugle horns) Terry Wogan came on stage to guide the night's main events.



I'm a big fan of Terry from his Eurovision antics, but I'm afraid the old man is starting to show is age and visibly struggled to stall for time as the BBC techies got their act together! Nevermind Terry...Eurovision will always be there to top up the pension!

First of the main acts was Sue Perkins, who came on stage to lead the orchestra as part of her duties for winning the Z-list celebrity reality show 'Maestro'. Her performance was good at best, but the majority of the crowd were not impressed given that most felt the show trivalised the duty of a conductor - its really a hard sell to make a reality programme about an individual who waves a stick around in the air at a 100+ band...!



Terry was left with the best line of the night as the main conductor for the evening returned to the stage, only for Wogan to comment "not to worry John...you've got nothing to follow on from!"....nice!


As the night came to a close, my friend Suzie headed up on stage to sing as part of the choir who would lead the national anthem, amongst other 'popular classical hits'.



She's the one in green by the way!

Unfortunately her part was cut short as the show overran with its link up with the Royal Albert Hall...this is where things got really interesting as we saw all the posh folk in proper opera attire bopping up and down to the cockles and lockles (or whatever it is) song! Hilarious to watch!



All in all it was a very pleasant evening out, although I had hoped for some big operatic pieces which never really came. The closest we got to it was the BBC orchestra playing the Star Trek main anthem and a collage of Bond theme tunes. Not a John Williams piece in earshot!

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