Wilderness Festival, Oxfordshire, August 5th, 2022

[bamboo]

I'll go with 8 songs; In no particular order

Sanctus
Stay with Me
Sacris Solemnis
Always with You
Let me make songs for the People
Sing for our World
Smile
Libera

Outsiders; Wonderful World and How Shall I sing that Majesty

p.s. thanks for the twitter updates Patrick... the stage looks good for manoeuvring with lots of space...just a shame it's a daylight performance which will subdue the lighting effects.

So what were the songs chosen in the end and were the soloists the same as the Brighton and Chichester concerts?

[Celtic]

There is a great review of the concert on libera-passion which includes information about all the songs they sang. I don't know if fan_de_lok intends to post it here in English, but if not, it is well worth using Google Translate to read it here:

https://libera-passion.exprimetoi.net/t ... 2022#29269

Sounds like a really interesting event and rare experience.

[fan_de_LoK]

Here the google translated summary of my experience for the Libera performance at Wilderness Festival 2022.

First, the pre-concert.

In the festival schedule, Libera was announced for Friday August 5, from 1:00 p.m. to 1:45 p.m. on the stage named 'Atrium'.
A large rectangular stage, not very high, under a canvas roof. In front, a sloping field, probably usually a meadow but this year instead of grass, the ground was straw due to the drought. So much so that the festival organizers have banned barbecues and bonfires.

Before Libera, the 'Atrium' stage was occupied by a choreography troupe, from 11:00 to 11:30.

Before 11:00 I saw Steven and Matthew J talking with the festival technicians.
I imagine they came by car ahead of the rest of the Libera group, to start preparing things.

After the dancers who finished at 11:30, the stage began to be prepared for the next performance, that of libera.
Matthew J was marking the floor with tape for the boys, and a festival tech was setting up big monitor speakers on stage for the boys to hear themselves singing.

And then suddenly everything stopped.
A second troupe of dancers landed and took over the stage for their rehearsal.
Weird oganization, because their performance was not scheduled before mid-afternoon.
The festival technician had to removed the loudspeakers he had just installed on the stage, in order to make room for the dancers.

Subsequently the boys arrived in turn, with among the chaperones Andy Winter and Anna Jansen.
They arrived on the side of the stage, on the public side, because it was impossible for them to access the stage, which was still occupied by the troupe of dancers.



They did a quick briefing around Steven,



Then the libera split into two groups.
One moved back to the backstage, and another stayed put, sitting on the wide bases around the support poles of the roof.
Deduction: I assume that those who left are the boys to be equipped with an individual microphone.



Those who remained killed time as they could, notably by playing with the massive hoods of their white robes, while waiting for the stage to be released. They stayed like that for about 30 minutes. Luckily they could sit down and be in the shade.



Backstage were other staff members, Nathaniel, Isaac, and Josh.

Finally, at 12:30 the dancers stopped their rehearsal (they allowed themselves almost an hour) and the boys libera were able to access the stage at 12:35, just 25 minutes before the start of their performance.
They were 28 on stage.
Compared to the 33 from Brighton and Chichester, 5 of them were missing and probably have already joined their families for the holidays.
Read further for the list of names.



The rehearsal was short and under complicated conditions.
While the boys warmed up their voices, the techs resumed the installation of the loudspeakers on the front of the stage as well as the positioning of the musicians behind the boys. There were various sound issues to fix, levels to adjust, etc.
The wind was also a concern, causing the scores to fly off the musicians' desks.
To save some time, Steven had the boys rehearse when the musicians weren't yet installed.
Interesting repetition I must say. Being able to hear 'Sanctus' or 'Sing for Our Word' sung entirely a cappella doesn't happen often



During this time the public arrived little by little and settled down while sitting down on the ground.
Mainly families with children, but there were all types, young people, retirees, etc.
The musicians settled in and tuned in and the rehearsal with music started at 12:55, 5 minutes before the scheduled concert time.
They rehearsed a single song with the musicians, Orinoco Flow.

The boys left the stage at 1:00 p.m., in principle to do a real entrance again right after it, but it was not so immediate.
Josh did a rehearsal only with the musicians and luckily it highlighted that there were still sound issues to fix.


All in all, the start of the concert was a bit delayed and started around 1:15 p.m.

[fan_de_LoK]

The concert itself.


A presenter came on stage, having an unlikely outfit, tiger-print pants and what looked like to me to a C.S. officer-style jacket.
He filled the time jokingly with the audience, then he announced Libera.
To be noted: there was no message prohibiting taking photos or the like, and many people recorded or photographed with their mobile.
This allows me to illustrate here my summary with pictures


The boys entered from the back of the stage, including Steven, to the applause and encouragement whistles from the already numerous audience.
No chair, everyone sits on the ground, or like me on the raised bases at the foot of the posts.


1) Orinoco Flow.
Good surprise, the problems of sound and of balance between the voices which were notable during the rehearsal have been resolved for the real performance.

During the rehearsal the 6 'bigs' were placed center stage at the back, but this obviously created too much of an obstacle between Steven and the musicians, and for the concert they were placed grouped on the right side. Steven himself was standing on a box to be better visible to the musicians.
Note that on some songs Jack does not stay in the group of bigs and joins the others in the center of the stage. I hadn't noticed this in Brighton or Chichester.


Funny little detail: I had already noticed it in Chichester because I was sitting in front of him, Joseph really lives the musics, he marks the rhythms with small movements of the shoulders. He would be ready to dance if given the opportunity

Lots of applause and shouts and whistles of congratulations at the end.
During the applause, Victor advanced on the front of the stage where he made an introductory speech and introduced the next song, Sanctus.


2) Sanctus
Beginning a Cappella, still in the small groups ending position of Orinoco Flow, then to the first 'Benedictus', moving to form the large arc typical for this song. The high notes were sung by Luca.


First names, from left to right:
Ethan B
Ludwik
Cory
Ethan H
Thomas H-S
Frederick M (masked by Steven)
Pietro
Jack
John
Victor
Cameron
Luke
Lewis
Nathan
Oscar
Mitchell
Orlando
Joseph
Thomas M.
Leon
Samuel
Morgan
Laurence D

And on the bottom right row:
Mathias
Alexandre
Laurence T
Dominik
Koji

Compared to the two concerts in Brighton and Chichester, 5 are absent:
- Daniel
- Frederick H.
- Hal
- Luke
- Julian


3) Lightouse
Solo by Luca, who enchanted the audience throughout the song.
He is placed in the center in front of the others.
The others are first grouped in 4 columns in order of size, and move repeatedly, in lines, scattered or in a fan with Luca in the center
Final at 4 with Victor, Nathan, and Morgan who join Luca on the front of the stage.
There was no announcement that the song was composed by Josh, who is present on stage at the piano.



4) Beati
The transition is done during the applause. Victor and Morgan went in front of the stage for a short solo introduction.
Lots of movement on stage during this song. In small groups, in lines, facing each other or opposite, as for Orinoco flow, etc.

Personal comments: this third opportunity for me to see the song live confirmed my first impressions: I don't like this song
I find it confusing both musically and vocally, and the many movements on stage don't help.
I hope the recording that will be on the next album will do for me better than what I had on stage during the last concerts or on the rehearsal video shared by Libera a few days ago.


We can note on the photo the purple lights.
It's not easy to shed beautiful light on a concert performed in the open air at 1:30 p.m. on a sunny day.
There was, however, a smoke machine which diffused throughout the concert, in order to make the light beams more visible.


5) Libera
During the applause Frederick M and Dominik came to the front of the stage for a speech.
Frederick M introduced himself as 'Freddie' and Dominik introduced him as 'Dom'.
Freddie indicated that the last two songs were recent. Dom presented himself as an elder by being 15, and introduced the youngest on stage, Cory, being 8.
Dom introduced the song 'Libera' stating that it was made up of 7 voices, and he demonstrated to the audience by leading the different groups of voices.


For the song, Mitchel came to replace Dom on the front of the stage, and did solo with Freddie for the lyrics sung in English.


On the finale they all formed on the large arc typical of this song
The final high notes were sung by Luca.



6) Voca Me
All the high notes were sung by Luca, who placed himself on the right side of the stage.

Very pleasant song, but the open air and windy environment did not make the song as deep as when it is sung against the stones of a large cathedral. The performance in Chichester with its exceptional lighting was much more meaningful.



During the applause Laurence D came to the front of the stage to announce the next song, Smile.
He started by mentioning Luca for the Voca Me high notes, and he was interrupted by the audience who clapped and congratulated Luca
Perhaps confused by this interruption, Laurence made a mistake, he announced that Smile was going to be started by Victor and... Daniel (instead of Mitchel). This made several boys smile, including Mitchel himself


7) Smile
As in Brighton and Chichester, the song begins with Victor, who sings the opening lines solo, then the solo is continued by Mitchel while Victor does bass harmonies. Final a cappella by Mitchel and Victor.
Mitchel sings really well, I can't wait to hear him on other titles.



8 ) Sing For Our Word
There was a 'blank' before moving on to this song. Steven making signs to the musicians at the back of the stage and I saw some of them turn several pages of their scores. I think one or two songs were skipped due to the late start. It was already 1:45 p.m. by then, when they should normally have finished. It was going to be the last song.
It is logical that Sing For Our World was chosen to finish, it is a joyful and bouncy song, perfect to end the performance and mark the many festival-goers present.

The song was started on the same positions as Smile, then the boys rearranged themselves on stage during the intro, and arranged themselves in a large arc for the finale.
The song was obviously much appreciated by the public because several people took out again their mobile to record it.
The lighting was also very dynamic on this song.






Then there were bowings on a gesture from Steven. Steven then pointed his index finger towards the back of the stage, ie the exit.
The boys were surprised for a few seconds, not knowing exactly what to do and looking at each other, and then after a few seconds of hesitation they headed for the exit. Obviously the start had not been planned for that time but Steven had to adapt because it was already 1:50 p.m., they should have finished 5 minutes ago already.


Lots of applause throughout their departure, whistles and shouts of congratulations.
Even the musicians at the back of the stage applauded them as they left.


In summary, a very unusual performance achieved in a bit difficult conditions and they came out very well.
Too bad there weren't more songs performed, but it's already a great chance to have been able to be there and to attend this more than rare performance.

It may be some time before Libera can take part in another of these summer festivals, because usually on these dates they are on tour abroad. If another opportunity should nevertheless arise again, I will be delighted to be able to go there, it was a very good experience

[Luckdragon]

The concert itself.

WOW!!! Thank you VERY much!

[LordG]

Thank you for this detailed description of Libera's performance.
Now only the sound is missing.

[JimmyRiddle]

Thanks FDL you've covered it well...it would have been frustrating to know exactly what was sung and how they were received had you not been there to report on it.

Always fascinated to see Libera perform in not their usual environment and watched by random people who might not know much about them. Despite the complex challenges you referenced it sounds like they achieved their usual high standard.

'Sanctus' again remaining the one song they just can't drop, long may it reign supreme

[Surpinto]

Thanks for keeping us informed, FDL! Excellent synopsis.

[Egorbea2018]

The concert itself.

1) Orinoco Flow.

During the rehearsal the 6 'bigs' were placed center stage at the back, but this obviously created too much of an obstacle between Steven and the musicians, and for the concert they were placed grouped on the right side. Steven himself was standing on a box to be better visible to the musicians.
Note that on some songs Jack does not stay in the group of bigs and joins the others in the center of the stage. I hadn't noticed this in Brighton or Chichester.

Great review! Loved the pictures too.
If you are talking about the tall red headed boy, that is John Gardner, as per Furby's website, not Jack.

[fan_de_LoK]

I am not talking about the tall red headed boy as you say, which is John and can not be confused.
I mentioned Jack.

Jack.png (313.02 KiB) Viewed 4602 times

Jack.png (313.02 KiB) Viewed 4602 times

[Mercurial909]

Thank you so much for this.

Just had a couple of questions, hope you don’t mind.

You said that Victor did the bass part of Smile. Does his voice sound as though it’s broken now (or “changed” for non Brits)?

And when Dom was speaking does he ‘sound’ like he’d sing tenor, baritone or bass?

[fan_de_LoK]

"Does his voice sound as though it’s broken now (or “changed” for non Brits)?"
Not really broken, but the song 'Once An Angel' was not performed in Brighton and Chichester, meaning Victor was no more at ease to sing it.

"when Dom was speaking does he ‘sound’ like he’d sing tenor, baritone or bass?"
Sorry, my ears don't have the skill to respond to that.

[Mercurial909]

"Does his voice sound as though it’s broken now (or “changed” for non Brits)?"
Not really broken, but the song 'Once An Angel' was not performed in Brighton and Chichester, meaning Victor was no more at ease to sing it.

"when Dom was speaking does he ‘sound’ like he’d sing tenor, baritone or bass?"
Sorry, my ears don't have the skill to respond to that.

My apologies.

I guess I was asking how deep Dom’s voice now sounds.