Click the link below to watch a sneak preview of Lewis Capaldi’s August concert at Croxteth Park featuring yours truly on the harp! The full performance will be on BBC1 tomorrow night at 11.25pm.
The Lewis Capaldi Symphony - Behind the Scenes
“Here’s a glimpse of my experience working with anti hero Lewis Capaldi last weekend. It’s quite a long read with lots of photos, so make yourself a cuppa or pour yourself a pint of IrnBru”
Number 1
Lewis Capaldi’s chart position for 7 weeks with Someone You Loved
Some of my most memorable performances have been those around which I have no preconceived ideas or expectations. I’d heard of Lewis Capaldi and seen a hilarious interview with him on iplayer (I think he drew comparisons between Shrek and himself) but I was unfamiliar with his music. I was also under the impression Peter Capaldi was his Dad.
When I was invited to work with Manchester Camerata for BBC Radio 1 presents: the Lewis Capaldi Symphony at Croxteth Park in Liverpool, I really didn’t know what to expect. I was away a couple of days before the rehearsal at the BBC studios in Media City, Salford, so I had 24 hours to prepare the music and immerse myself in as much Lewisness as possible.
My harp in rehearsal
Set up and ready for action.
I watched some videos on Youtube (I was particularly taken by the video for Grace, which featured him as an excellent substitute pole dancer) so that I could get an idea of his music and what he’s about. What had I been missing? I’m a bit of an ostrich as far as popular culture is concerned. I’m not really down with the kids. I enjoy silence. I don’t listen to much music and I don’t have a TV so I’m not attuned to current trends. Friends had mentioned his recent appearance disguised as Chewbacca (Chewis Capaldi), which went over my head until this week. I discovered he’s quite a sensation. Aged just 22, his voice goosebumped me immediately. Reminiscent of Antony from Antony and the Johnsons, it’s soulful, unique and unmistakeable and as with all great artists, is even better experienced live.
An unlikely hero, the Scottish guy next door who’s made it big time, he swears like a trooper too so he can’t be bad. Type his name into your favourite search engine and he’s all over the place, in every possible way. Imagine getting paid vast amounts of money to do what you love. Good on him. He was refreshingly nervous in the rehearsal, maybe at the prospect of working with classical musicians, and maybe the feeling was mutual. I don’t often get to play to such a massive crowd.
Skyscraping lines
Media City, Salford
Sunday: I drive to Salford nice and early for a 2pm rehearsal, unload, park my car, set up, and warm up. It’s clear straight away this isn’t my usual kind of gig. There’s a complex spaghetti of cables with headphones attached, and stacks of technical equipment in flight cases. There are also lots of people, way more than the usual orchestra staff. I feel a bit nervous. Will I be good enough? Will I cope? With an orchestral section all to myself, I have to make sure I let them know if I have any performance issues. That’s not the easiest thing for an introverted freelancer. We all want the best result with as little hassle as possible. I see familiar faces which reassures me and everyone’s friendly and helpful. Phew.
Meditation helps
Headspace is also the title of one of LC’s songs
Today is a 6 hour day. I didn’t need to worry about stamina and focus, but I don’t play with orchestras as much as I used to, so I was concerned that I’d stand out for the wrong reasons. I don’t have that much experience working with a click track on headphones and I soon worked out that I actually did need them, especially in more exposed sections where I got slightly out of sync with smashing arranger/conductor and general cool dude, Sam Swallow. Check him out here:
It’s great working closely with an arranger because they can explain exactly what they want, and Sam was explicit. His sound world was lush, rich and imaginative and even though I wasn’t familiar with Capaldi’s music, reactions from band members indicated he’d done a pretty damn fine job. He’d certainly done some great work with his harp writing. In rehearsal, he had just the right balance of intensity and seriousness with a dose of wry humour, and he provided clear communication between band and orchestra.
!
Outside Media City, Salford
At the end of the rehearsal we were told there was food provided. For us musicians? I said with some disbelief. How refreshing to be catered for even though I’d brought my own food and resisted the urge to jump on top of the hot meal and pizza provided. I took a can of pop and sipped some of it on my drive home on Monday night to keep me awake, but more about that later.
So if you want to make musicians happy, it’s dead easy. Offer them free food.
Pop music is where it’s at and I giggled at the image that came to my mind of me guesting with the band if they ever needed a backing vocalist or even a harpist if their keyboard player was indisposed. I’ve got a red denim mini skirt. The band’s onstage uniform consists of a red jacket and trousers. I could fit in. I could make it work.
Aiden and I
Lewis’ piano and keyboard player. His arms significantly longer than mine, he graciously accepted to take a selfie with me. Well I was playing some of his piano parts in the orchestrations and I bet LC gets a bit bored with all the attention. Aiden then went to play a pre performance game of football. Rock and roll.
The headphones took some negotiating. If I covered my left ear with a phone, I couldn’t hear myself or the others. I tried half covered which was an improvement but they slipped a bit. I turned the right phone so I could hear with that ear but it meant it got caught on my harp. I mused to myself - would the techies mind if I took the right one off the headset? I didn’t. Add my specs to this mix and it kept me occupied for the rest of the day. (I dropped them during the Liverpool rehearsal and the lens fell out along with the screw from the frame, so I had to use my reading specs for the show. Even more excitement!)
We finished just before 9pm. Time to pack up again and head for the hotel I’d booked a stone’s throw from Croxteth Park. I fell into a deep sleep just before 1am.
Early morning coffee run
Sunday: I had a lie in, springing into action at 7am. I was spoilt for choice for coffee which fuelled me for an exploratory morning run to get my bearings. How near was I to Croxteth Country Park? How would I access backstage with my harp?
Spotted
On the dual carriageway on my coffee run
It was a fantastic area, very green and planted with wild flowers.
Wild flowers and insects
near Croxteth Park
Back at the hotel, I saw a man at reception and, pumped full of emboldening endorphins, I asked if he was Mr Swallow. Now, let me explain. When the receptionist saw me arrive with my harp the night before, we got talking (travelling with a large musical instrument can be an excellent conversation starter) and she said the arranger’s father was staying at the hotel that night too. I’m sure Mr Swallow thought I was either psychic or a stalker, or perhaps both but after his initial surprise, he warmed up as we spoke about his son.
I told a couple of other people why I was in Croxteth. As soon as I mentioned Capaldi, eyes widened and faces creased into smiles. Everyone loves Lewis. A woman on her way to work at a fast food shop offered to help me get my harp into the car. We compared notes on our jobs, hers full time, mine my part time bread and butter work away from the harp. We concurred that shift work can be really challenging but the pay and perks are very good. It was reassuring to share our commonality.
Chilled Festival Vibe
at dusk before the concert
I rarely attend festivals these days. In my teenage years I frequented a lot of Eisteddfodau all around Wales, mainly to go to indie gigs. I have fond memories of camping with my schoolmates and drinking a bit too much before passing out and waking up in a hot sticky sweat inside the pale terracotta tarpaulin. My aspirations to travel the world started at a young age - I had a blue sleeping bag with a map of the world on it. I remember getting cleaned up in the local facilities with a bar of baby soap and a flannel before doing it all again that night. Once, we were allowed to use a trusting parent’s caravan which had an actual loo and a sink. Those were the days. My rock and roll days.
Teepees
in the festival village
The rehearsal went well apart from the occasional gust of wind wreaking havoc with our sheet music. The evening weather was pretty much perfect and I didn’t need the multiple layers, thermals and wellies I’d packed just in case. Finishing at 6, there were 3 hours to kill before showtime just after 9. Time for a quick snooze in my car.
Artistic parking
I soaked my sandals trying to get to a picnic bench for a sit down to conscientiously read through my music before the rehearsal
Walking around the backstage area, I bumped into my hairdresser’s sister Jade who was working at the event. It was good to see non musical familiar faces too. I passed a musician colleague who’d just been for a shower after her run. This wasn’t just any old backstage area. Again, we were catered for and the hospitality was excellent. Being offered hot food and fresh salads and not having to do the dishes was akin to getting an encouraging hearty pre concert hug.
I ventured to the front of field area and didn’t last long. There were hordes of excited audience members, giddy at the prospect of the Lewis Capaldi experience. I went to get changed and started fretting about tuning my harp. I’d been told I only had a tiny window of opportunity to tune and that I should be on standby at 8.40. The DJs were still going strong at that point. The atmosphere was electric. It was amazing to see thousands of people bouncing around to banging tunes without a care in the world. Loud, did you say? The sound roared from humungous speakers and vibrated from the wooden stage up through my body. I’m sure my harp loved it!
I spy
my harp, just about. Do you?
I didn’t really get to tune my harp properly let alone warm up. I went for it anyway. Nobody was there to listen to me specifically, but I was acutely aware that the show was being filmed for later broadcast on radio and TV. The overture opened with exposed harp quavers. No pressure then.
Liverpool mileage
It reads like a poor soundcheck. Lovely temperature. Don’t tell Mam about the dust
Somewhat appropriately, we started with the overture which didn’t have a click track so there was no need for headphones. We segued straight into the first number, Grace, so I reached over for my phones and clamped them on. Words can’t describe the feeling that comes from that collective exclamation of elation when a crowd recognise a band, then a song. Goosebumped again, I let it wash over me like a wave, beaming like a lunatic. I muttered “must remember to keep playing” under my breath, but this is why I do it. It’s times like these that remind me why I genuinely love my job.
Behind the scenes
There’s a lot of people behind those barriers. There’s some DJ’s centre stage getting the crowd going before Lewis revs ‘em up even more
75 minutes flew past in seconds and we came to the last number in our 11 song set, and probably Capaldi’s most familiar song, Someone You Loved. He’s an entertaining captiving performer and not just on a musical level. He had the crowd in the palm of his hand with his witty repartee. They were fully engaged and enjoyed some occasionally sweary banter. He donned some fetching flip up sunglasses. Turns out he’s got quite a collection of extravagant shades that make him look like a Banana Split. Watching the audience, I mused at how radically times have changed. Dotted within the sea of people, I could see small bright lights from mobile phones used to record the concert. In my day, we held lighters up or possibly even candles. I can’t remember.
We had to wait quite a while to leave Croxteth Park as there had been an incident on site. Just for fun, a section of the motorway was closed too. I missed the diversion sign and ended up going back towards Liverpool. I like Lewis Capaldi, but not that much! The free can of pop came in handy here and the bubbles dancing round my mouth gave me the headspace to keep going. Home at last and totally wired, I got to bed after 3am.
This, dear readers, is rock and roll, and I like it.
Croxteth Hall
Looked interesting
Festival flags
all aflutter