Guelph Concert

Since this was Easter Sunday, I guess I should start from the beginning of the day. When you drive to the church, this is the stunning view.

The church seats 1,200 and was so packed for the 11:00 am Easter morning service that 100-200 people were standing in the back! The church choir was above and behind us in the organ loft. And there were some extras singing with the church choir. The "really big people" (as Kavana calls the ex-members) got to sing as well! I saw them all being herded up there before the service started. :)

Inside the church obviously AFTER Easter morning service

View of organ loft. Left of organ had timpani, strings, trumpet &

trombone. The Libera boys & choir were all to the right of the organ!

The service was really nice, with the boys singing three numbers during the service on the platform, and then walking from the front to the back during communion (right past us!) to get to the choir loft in the back. I was watching Ben and Stefan before they started singing and they were totally cracking up the lady next to them. :) They joined the choir in singing the Hallelujah Chorus from Handel's Messiah. It was great! The entire church stood and turned around to look up at them. After they had finished the whole room burst into applause! It was magical! It was a really great service and a lot of the church people seemed very excited for the concert that night!

View from organ loft

You can see how small the organ loft is!

This is a CTV News report on Libera at the Easter morning service. Thank you to karrak57 for uploading it!



Ralph describing the church - "It was amazing, cause we've never been in, well we have, but not in such a colorful, lovely, just amazing church."

Kavana - "And the size of it is actually mind-blowing."

Joe Carere, church music director and organist - "To know that they were coming to be with us today was a big honor." Of Libera's talent - "It's out of this world really. Pure English boy-choir sound. There's nothing like it."

Ralph on traveling to Canada - "It was the most amazing experience of my life. We went to the top of the CN Tower and wow!"

Arriving early at the church for the concert - parking area in back

Front door of church. Premium tickets entered

early through right door. General admission

after that through left door.

That night the concert was awesome! There were 900-1000 people there! My mom and I got to sit in the front row, and my dad sat in the row right behind us. This was his 2nd Libera concert. He says he's a good fan. lol. I asked him what his favorite song was later and he said it was "How Shall I Sing That Majesty." It IS an amazing way to end a concert.

Stage with Steven & Simon back left, strings back right

The church doesn't have a piano, so Mr. Prizeman used 2 keyboards.

Love the old man waving to me! Photo bomb! lol

People sat all the way over to the sides!

All of the boys seemed to be really "on" for their last concert. The solos and harmonies were so great. I didn't want it to end. The only really different thing that happened was that Liam tripped over his tongue a little during his speech. He said "sometimes our voices change quidramatic..blebleblebleble." But what great stage presence! He just kept going and said his next line, "It's exciting to discover your new voice, and to learn the lower parts...and to get all your words right..." he added. That got a really big laugh. :D Way to keep your head, Liam! :)

At the end when all the boys were waving I gave them all a thumbs up, and Daniel gave it right back to me! Then when they walked off, Daniel stopped at the side of the stage to wave to my mom and I who were still waving. Ralph bumped into him and then turned around to wave to us too! :) This has been a really great tour! Can't wait to see them again! USA! USA! USA! :)

Now you can see Carlos!

Bye Libera! Hope you had a good trip home! And hope to see you again soon!

Here is an article in the Guelph Mercury newspaper about the concert. It is short, but there is a picture of Ralph, Stefan & Daniel.

Hamilton Concert

West Highland Baptist Church in Hamilton

The concert in Hamilton was sold out! There were about 850 people in attendance. The church let the people with Premium seats enter 10 minutes ahead of time to get their seats in the front 4 rows on the main floor and front 3 rows in the balcony. It was nice to meet Rebekah from Texas and her aunt and uncle, Mariella from Brazil, Laurenz from Austria, and see Todd from California again with his mom from Arizona!

Front stage of church

Mr. Prizeman was on the left side

The string quartet, Steven and Simon were on the right

This was a great concert! And it had a GREAT audience! They laughed and applauded for everything that the boys said. Some of the boys had to pause in what they were saying to wait for the applause to die down! There was a really enthusiastic reaction to everything Libera did. They even sold out of the Eternal Light CD and the Leiden DVD! There are lots of new Libera fans! :)

Everyone sang so well tonight, but there were a few solos that really stood out to me. Freddie did the best job ever on "Always With You." Matthew R-A did the best ever on "Salva" as well. And I think Daniel also did the best yet on "Stay With Me." He's such a happy boy! He never fails to smile! :)

The more I hear "Lamentione," the more I love it. It is really neat because there are nine boys that sing the main melody while the other boys sing the “Ahhs” behind them, but the nine boys sound like one voice! If your eyes were closed you’d think it was a solo!

Liam’s speech was so funny! When he talked about being fifteen years old and being in the choir since he was eight, everyone started to applaude! The look on Liam’s face was priceless! He made a face as if to say “I know, it IS impressive!”

I just noticed tonight that on "Song of Life," it is Daniel singing the REALLY high part behind Ralph! It’s crazy high and spot on pitch! Amazing! This is why it’s great to go to more than one concert! You notice things that you may not have noticed before (like Kavana and Daniel singing so high on those songs!)

I noticed while Ralph was singing "The Fountain," how appropriate it was that there was a cross in the church right above him. The cross in this church is empty though, because Jesus isn't there anymore. Tomorrow is Easter when we celebrate God sending His Son, Jesus, to die on the cross for our sins and rise from the dead! Happy Resurrection Day everyone! :D

Daniel giving the thumbs-up!

The lights are going back down!

Miracle of Life CD

The CD unopened

After we opened it

One of our good friends from Japan named Yuki gave us the new "Miracle of Life" CD!!!!! It was so kind of her and made my mom cry. What a great surprise! "Song of Life" is so beautiful, too! I'm so glad that we got to hear Ralph sing it live!

EMI Japan is reporting that after the first episode of Madonna Verde aired, they were flooded with inquiries about the song and people buying the CD. This song, more than any other, seems to be giving the Japanese people a feeling of hope for the future. EMI Japan has posted some customer comments here.

They have also released an "introductory video" of "Song of Life." It has the words to the song, but most of the scenes are from "Time" and "Deep Peace." You can see it here. I wonder. If Ralph and some of the other boys had gotten to go to Japan before the Canada tour, would they have filmed a new video for "Song of Life" there? Hopefully Libera will still get to do a new video for it soon. Everyone should get to see Ralph sing it!  :D

Song List:

1. Song of Life - solo Ralph Skan
2. Far Away - solo Michael Horncastle
3. You Were There - solo Tom Cully
4. Salva Me - solo Tom Cully
5. Sanctus - solo Ed Day
6. Eternal Light - solo Stefan Leadbeater
7. I Am the Day - solo Ben Crawley
8. Deep Peace - solo Stefan Leadbeater & James Threadgill

Interviews with Robert Prizeman

Mr. Prizeman did an interview with Salt+Light Radio. You can listen to it here. Thank you to Inna for uploading it to YouTube! He explains that this is the first time Libera has come to Canada because of the cost of touring. But everyone has been so great promoting or sponsoring the concerts.

He and Kavana also did an interview with CBC Radio. You can listen to it here. Hopefully someone will upload it to YouTube also before it gets deleted. Mr. Prizeman says that he started Libera to share their kind of music with others. He says that the youngest ones on tour are age 9, not 8!

Kavana is an excellent speaker. He said he is 12 and has been in the choir for about 5 years. He thanked his school choir teacher for introducing him to Libera. His favorite part of Libera is the harmonies. "It's a hobby, really." His first major appearance was at the papal mass in NYC in 2008. He just missed getting to sing for the US president. Kavana likes Justin Bieber's music but is not a fan, but he loves Glee! lol Great interview! :)

Chatham Pictures

The video we took from Chatham is only 22 seconds long, so we took screen captures of the video first. These are nice and clear. Maybe we should do this all the time! I'm putting up 8 cause you can see different kids as Mr. Prizeman moves across the stage. It all went by so quickly. The end will be a surprise to see later. ;)