Tuesday, September 22, 2009

I’ve been trying to look at as many different boy choirs as I can without focusing too much on any particular one, but I have my favorites and lately I noticed that I haven’t said anything about Libera in a while.

On April 9th, 2008 they came to Pittsburgh and did a concert at the Byham Theater. It was by far the closest venue to me so I made up my mind to get up there. I invited a friend who had a more dependable car and can navigate perfectly, even in cities where he’s never been, and we set off on a road trip.

It is 500 miles to Pittsburgh and we didn’t rush so we arrived at our hotel 10 hours after we left home. I only mention that to show how dedicated (insane) a fan I am.
The concert was the next night and I was hopping up and down with excitement. My friend kept laughing at my impatience, but he wasn’t a fan, he was just along for the ride.

Libera was promoting their newest album, New Dawn, which is still one of their best. It has several new songs like Love and Mercy, Oronoco Flow (okay, that was on Angel Voices 1), Jerusalem and others.
New Dawn has a good solo by Josh, Secret, and Ben’s version of The Lamb is still the prettiest I’ve heard. Tom is still in top form on this album and does a great job, with Josh, on Love and Mercy. It sounds a lot better than it did on television at the Kennedy Center awards.
Liam and Ed are excellent on their solos, as well.

This CD was the first for a lot of the new boys, Henry Barrington, Daniel Fontannaz, Kavana Crossley, Flynn Marks, Ralph Skan, James Starkey and James Threadgill.

I'm happy I have the CD because the show went by way too fast. However, my smile lasted for a couple of weeks. Fortunately the boys signed autographs after the show and my program is framed nicely and hanging on the wall beside my computer.

4 comments:

  1. ...my program is framed nicely and hanging on the wall beside my computer.

    Aww... :) They've toured a great deal this year--I wonder if that means some delay before the next CD...

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  2. I can't wait to hear what changes come with the new voices. Hopefully it will be early next year. I wonder how many CD's they sell each year?

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  3. I've never seen any round numbers on CD sales, but judging from the attention and care they get from EMI, it must be some substantial number. Oddly, they have much more clout and exposure OUTSIDE Britain than inside...being the only Anglican group invited to sing before the Pope during his trip to the United States was also probably a BIG CD seller, too...

    They put out CDs a little haphazardly--New Dawn was the first in awhile to consist of mostly new material--waiting for another like that!

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  4. hello! nice review. i love their new dawn album too specially never be alone and secret. anyway, i just want to ask who is james starkey? :)

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