Again, inquiring minds want to know.  She was to perform in Charlotte, NC, my hometown, in 2006, but it got called off due to... something.  Probably lagging ticket sales, as if it's not NASCAR or Randy Travis, Charlotte doesn't give a hoot.  Anyway, the place she was to perform is a dump, an 11,000-seat concrete dome with acoustics worthy of a padded room and in a neighborhood that would do inner-city Chicago proud... but I digress... :p

It's great that she basically owns the UK, NZ, probably Ireland, and other far-flung venues, but what about us arrogant snobs in the USA?  We can be nice if we really try and take lessons on etiquette, so I think we deserve another shot at hearing Hayley's nightingale voice.  I would be glad to be the founding member of the Hayleyheads, Deadhead types who are dressed well and drug-free who follow her around from city to city.  Country to country, even, if she throws in Canada on her list of stops...

cesium_133:

Again, inquiring minds want to know.  She was to perform in Charlotte, NC, my hometown, in 2006, but it got called off due to... something.  Probably lagging ticket sales, as if it's not NASCAR or Randy Travis, Charlotte doesn't give a hoot.  Anyway, the place she was to perform is a dump, an 11,000-seat concrete dome with acoustics worthy of a padded room and in a neighborhood that would do inner-city Chicago proud... but I digress... :p

It's great that she basically owns the UK, NZ, probably Ireland, and other far-flung venues, but what about us arrogant snobs in the USA?  We can be nice if we really try and take lessons on etiquette, so I think we deserve another shot at hearing Hayley's nightingale voice.  I would be glad to be the founding member of the Hayleyheads, Deadhead types who are dressed well and drug-free who follow her around from city to city.  Country to country, even, if she throws in Canada on her list of stops...

 

(John .......I took the liberty of renaming this topic to "US Tour".)

Forum members ........there has been a lot written here about Hayley touring the US. I can tell you from a bit of personal experience that making something like this happen is no small deal. Many of you, who live in the US, have expressed a strong interest in having her come here, and I would expect that. But it'll take more than glowing words about how much we all adore Hayley ..........its going to take a solid, coordinated effort with the right people, including Hayley's management team, folks from Universal Music and I don't know who all else to bring something like this to fruition.  

To that end, I will launch an exploratory effort to see what it would take, based on my experience and discussions with some of our other moderators and Jenni (our Admin), who is part of the Umusic team.

I would imagine that I would need some volunteers to assist me with this effort ......maybe 3 or 4 people .............BUT let's hold on that .......for now just think about it, but if you do decide to volunteer, just make sure you have a couple of hours a day to devote to this.

OK .....so let me stop here .....at this point, please hold your comments .......I'll get back to you later ....when I have some specifics.

So let me just lock this thread .....and when I have more, I'll unlock it and post again .......and we can start the dialog.

Bob 

 

 

     

 

I have not forgotten this ......getting responses from the various sources I'm chasing has been sluggish ..........I'm still working on it.

Bob

Well ......I have done some investigation as to the prospects of Hayley doing a US tour in the foreseeable future, and have concluded that until Hayley's management company (Bedlam) has firm plans, we're not likely to hear much about it.

I believe its safe to say that a tour plan would be announced well in advance of the tour. The February tour was announced on the official web-site about 3 months before the first date.     

I wish I could give you something more definitive ......buy I can't right now, and thought it was best to give you this status, and unlock this thread so that you may all comment as to your interest in a US Tour. There is always the chance that Hayley will get out to the forum sometime and read your posts. She did attend the old forum during her Japanese tour .........and actually gave us three reviews which I have posted elsewhere on the new forum. 

Of course this is mainly of interest to those of you from the US. I know you guys in the UK "got it made"!!

Bob

 

Hi Hayley,

Hope you feel better very soon. I and all you Fans would love for you to come back to the states soon and often. I would love for you to come back to Nashville with the CW tour this coming June. Perhaps I can give you a tour of Nashville. I would love to hear and see you again. Ever thought about a Hayley Westenra US Tour?

 

I would like to hear from other Hayley fans and friend who might be around or in Nashville,Tn. USA

Sure would be nice if we could get her to do a concert in town. Or possible recording in town.

 

 Hi Dennis .....welcome to the forum ...!!.....I moved your two posts to a thread that we already have going about Hayley touring the US.

As you can see from other posts, there is no indication of an imminent tour ........but its good to get input from Americans who would like to see this happen.

Thanx for joining .....let me know if you have any questions.

Bob

 

if a tour happens anytime soon it will be with the next CD release, i heard around spring 2009, for the new CD.

enthusiastic2005:

if a tour happens anytime soon it will be with the next CD release, i heard around spring 2009, for the new CD.

Now, it's sounding like she won't even start working on the album till mid-2009! It could be another year before it's out!

cesium_133:

Again, inquiring minds want to know.  She was to perform in Charlotte, NC, my hometown, in 2006, but it got called off due to... something.  Probably lagging ticket sales, as if it's not NASCAR or Randy Travis, Charlotte doesn't give a hoot.  Anyway, the place she was to perform is a dump, an 11,000-seat concrete dome with acoustics worthy of a padded room and in a neighborhood that would do inner-city Chicago proud... but I digress... :p

It's great that she basically owns the UK, NZ, probably Ireland, and other far-flung venues, but what about us arrogant snobs in the USA?  We can be nice if we really try and take lessons on etiquette, so I think we deserve another shot at hearing Hayley's nightingale voice.  I would be glad to be the founding member of the Hayleyheads, Deadhead types who are dressed well and drug-free who follow her around from city to city.  Country to country, even, if she throws in Canada on her list of stops...

I don't think it's any secret -- it's been published on YouTube and elsewhere, I believe, and Hayley has been candid about it on New Zealand TV -- that her record company grossly over-budgeted for the US release of "Pure" and lost a lot of money. And apart from New York where she is better known she was dreadfully promoted, in my opinion, on her first US tour. So, a big problem is that many outlets in the US have copies of "Pure" that they haven't been able to sell, and they don't forgive that sort of thing easily. This is why her latest record is not being promoted in the US. "Pure" didn't sell, so unless there is something spectacular happen, the record stores are not going to try to sell other records by her.

My advice to those Americans who what to see Hayley in the US and have her tour there (and I think she is gradually becoming better known there) is to go to as many record stores as you can and ask for her albums. Better still, buy or order any that are available. I say this in a half-jocular way, but I still think it is true. The distributors and record stores who lost money on "Pure" have to be convinced that they won't lose money on subseqent albums, and the history of UK singers becoming big in the US is not auspicious. Hayley seems to be doing as well in the US -- according to Amazon sales -- as are Russell Watson and Katherine Jenkins, who are outselling her in the UK. Whether they are able to make the huge star of Katherine Jenkins that they seem to think they can in the US is something I'm dubious about. They seem to think that she just has to go over there to become another Striesand! Hang on, fellows, I lke Kathy, but let's not underate Barbra. I think Hayley has as much or more chance of becoming another Striesand as has Kathy, but portraying Hayley as too conservative could be risky too. Not that she has to go wild or anything. Here's an example of what I mean from YouTube. One of the first promotional events Hayley did in the UK was to appear on the raunchy "Frank Skinner Show", where she came across very well -- lively and pretty much able to hold her own in a difficult situation without compromising any priciples. The second clip is from her tour of the US.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hnZGLsGMaXA

The singing in this second clip may be ok, but the venues and the promotion of the events was poor, I think. The tenor James Doig is a competent opera singer too, but I'm not sure he was the right person to sing with Hayley. So, ok, Josh Groban wasn't going to do duets with a relative nobody, but, with all respect to James Doig, is a middle-aged opera singer the right person to help a teenaged crossover singer hit the big time? Wouldn't some promising young buck also trying to make a break-through have been better? It may not be right or fair, I know, but a Lee Mead is going to pull the crowds and sell the tickets more readily than a James Doig will. Not that this should bother James, he's in a different area, but that is why I wonder if the was appropriate.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZV6h8sH7ZzU&feature=related

JJohn:

So, ok, Josh Groban wasn't going to do duets with a relative nobody, but, with all respect to James Doig, is a middle-aged opera singer the right person to help a teenaged crossover singer hit the big time? Wouldn't some promising young buck also trying to make a break-through have been better? It may not be right or fair, I know, but a Lee Mead is going to pull the crowds and sell the tickets more readily than a James Doig will. Not that this should bother James, he's in a different area, but that is why I wonder if the was appropriate.

Lee Mead did sing with Hayley at the Andrew Lloyd Webber concert recently; they sang "All I Ask of You" together, and it was great. Lee has a nice low tone to his voice, although he didn't hold a candle to Josh when they sang "You Raise Me Up" together on the show Lee was on.

Since Josh is so popular in the U.S., I still think it would benefit Hayley if she sang with him sometime. And, even though I'm not a big fan of his, Michael Buble would be another excellent choice. Hayley voiced interest in collaborating with him in a recent radio interview. Judging from "There's a Sparkle in your Eyes", her voice is perfect for that type of music. Buble's voice is similar to Helmut Lotti's, too, so I think their voices would blend well, too. He's at least as popular as Josh (maybe more well-known), so there's another good reason.

Libby23:

JJohn:

So, ok, Josh Groban wasn't going to do duets with a relative nobody, but, with all respect to James Doig, is a middle-aged opera singer the right person to help a teenaged crossover singer hit the big time? Wouldn't some promising young buck also trying to make a break-through have been better? It may not be right or fair, I know, but a Lee Mead is going to pull the crowds and sell the tickets more readily than a James Doig will. Not that this should bother James, he's in a different area, but that is why I wonder if the was appropriate.

Lee Mead did sing with Hayley at the Andrew Lloyd Webber concert recently; they sang "All I Ask of You" together, and it was great. Lee has a nice low tone to his voice, although he didn't hold a candle to Josh when they sang "You Raise Me Up" together on the show Lee was on.

Since Josh is so popular in the U.S., I still think it would benefit Hayley if she sang with him sometime. And, even though I'm not a big fan of his, Michael Buble would be another excellent choice. Hayley voiced interest in collaborating with him in a recent radio interview. Judging from "There's a Sparkle in your Eyes", her voice is perfect for that type of music. Buble's voice is similar to Helmut Lotti's, too, so I think their voices would blend well, too. He's at least as popular as Josh (maybe more well-known), so there's another good reason.

Yes, I have seen the duet with Lee Mead. I liked it too. I thought I saw someone somewhere say it wasn't so successful - it may have even been on HWI - but it got good reviews, on the whole (that I've seen) - and I thought Hayley did a much better job of Christine than Sarah Brightman did at first. Sarah has improved since then but the critics tore her to shreds. Of course they always will be pretty tough, but I think Sarah was bad to begin with. Hayley's image is right for Christine too. Although perhaps not so much for the sequel, if it is set 15 years later. I agree that a duet with Josh Groban would be a help. I think I have written a thread about that elsewhere, although another thread I wrote seems to have not turned up. I hope I didn't blow them away somehow.

Just some thoughts about Hayley and a US tour.

After reading a recent post by Libby, it occurred to me that we may be able to do some "grass roots" promoting. What Libby did was start a Hayley thread on Josh Groban's fan site. She continues to be a proponent of a collaboration between Josh and Hayley (who can disagree with that idea). I'm not sure about the activity on that site, but I'm guessing its quite active.

Also, and I've made this point before I know, there is an excellent fan site for Celtic Woman ........here  .....this site is very active, and has a policy of maintaining Boards for performers past and present .....so there is a Hayley Board on that forum ......and it still gets a lot of attention despite the fact that she is no longer performing with the group. Of course the question continue to arise (as it does here)as to whether or not Hayley will be performing with them again, which is not in any plans of which I am aware. But this site will be getting more attention as CW begins its US tour soon. So there is plenty of opportunity to get Hayley some exposure to a large audience of US fans.

Also, Matt, on this forum has set up his own website at ........here ........what is also a vehicle for promoting a US tour .....

Bob

 

 

JJohn:

I thought Hayley did a much better job of Christine than Sarah Brightman did at first. Sarah has improved since then but the critics tore her to shreds. Of course they always will be pretty tough, but I think Sarah was bad to begin with. Hayley's image is right for Christine too. Although perhaps not so much for the sequel, if it is set 15 years later. I agree that a duet with Josh Groban would be a help. I think I have written a thread about that elsewhere, although another thread I wrote seems to have not turned up. I hope I didn't blow them away somehow.

Well, I made a reply to this yesterday, and it seems to have "blown away" somehow, too. I thought maybe Bob might've moved it to the Josh thread, since we're getting a bit off-topic. Nope, not there, either! 

 Let's try it again.

I've heard Sarah's recordings for Phantom of the Opera, and she sounded okay to me. I prefer Hayley's voice, though.

Libby23:

Well, I made a reply to this yesterday, and it seems to have "blown away" somehow, too. I thought maybe Bob might've moved it to the Josh thread, since we're getting a bit off-topic. Nope, not there, either! 

 Let's try it again.

I've heard Sarah's recordings for Phantom of the Opera, and she sounded okay to me. I prefer Hayley's voice, though.

It was Sarah's very first perfomances that copped the flak. I think she did improve a lot later. It is so long since I heard the early one that I really need to hear them again. I may have let the critics influence me too much. I am not knocking Sarah generally, she is one of my favourites and was one of the innovators who helped start the whole "crossover" genre, in the way it is now anyway. (The three tenors and others had donce crossover from the other way, as it were, but Sarah, followed by Hayley etc have created almost a new genre, that caters for a neglected market, in my opinion.