There And Back Again

...or how even a volcano can't thwart the Pink Singers!

It was the first concert of the season, and an overseas concert to boot. The Pinkies were invited to perform with the ever-amazing Mannenkoorts at their annual concert in Den Haag, the Netherlands, and naturally we were excited. Mannenkoorts is easily one of my favourite LGBT choirs. Actually, they transcend the LGBT choir label and are easily one of my favourite choirs full stop. They have a very slick sound and their peformance, including their choreography, is always flawless. The Pink Singers are really good too of course, but there was some trepidation as this concert was also seeing the trial of five of the new songs this season, two of which included choreography.

Over the last few weeks we've been polishing the dance moves, which in Pinkie parlance, means we've been simplifying the actions so that they were achievable in the time allowed. I am sure this frustrates our choreographers so end, but needs must, and the more complicated manoeuvres will undoubtedly be reintroduced later on for the summer concert itself. Anyway, thanks to the marvels of the internet, the Pink Insider, who has been in New York, missed most of the Den Haag rehearsals, but was quite thankful for the editing of the choreography for this concert.

It was with some excitement, therefore, that this Pinkie flew back from JFK to Heathrow, but an hour out from the airport, the captain of the plane made an announcement on the tannoy that, owing to a volcanic eruption, we would be diverting and landing in Paris instead. Now, don't get me wrong, I love Paris, but after ten days away I was really looking forward to returning to good ol' Blighty. Instead, I found myself with a few hundred bewildered passengers in Charles De Gaulle. Because it was so early on in the catastrophe, no-one really had any clue what was going on. I decided I'd take my chances, bite the bullet knowing that I'd have to pony up more cash, and buy a train ticket straight to the Hague.

I was grubby and smelly, not to mention somewhat hungry and dehydrated, and while I felt sorry for myself, on the balance of things, I was actually pretty lucky. By some quirk of fate the Pink Insider had decided to make the crossing by ferry, and so my transportation links, apart from this first leg, were not disrupted. Several of the other Pinkies, however, were still stuck in London, or already in the Netherlands, wondering how to get back. In true Pinkie spirit, and led by the indomitable Tanya, together with the driving skills of Mark W and Jenny Co, a little convoy crossed over to Dunkirk and made the 12 hour journey up to Holland. Through a variety of trains, boats and cars then, the majority of the Pinkies made it to our performance venue, and in fact we were only missing four people, due in part to illness.

So, how did the gig go? Well, we were all incredibly tired after the trip across, and our rehearsal was quite painful. We kept going out of tune, the blending was bad, we seemed to be racing through the songs and the choreography was messy. Part of it was due to the auditorium, which was a converted swimming pool and was therefore quite acoustically challenging. Still, we were running on a bit of a high, having already survived one challenge and looking forward to the next.

Mannenkoorts opened and closed the show, sandwiching the Pink Singers, and we had a chance to sit in the audience to watch them perform. As always, they were absolutely stunnning with a great blending of sound, some outstanding voices, and a great stage presence. I must confess to being a secret fan of Eric, the countertenor in Mannenkoorts, whose facial expressions were hilarious, and whose dulcet falsetto has a beautiful ring. In a way, that was probably good for us, because it made us all the more aware of just how good our own performance had to be.

And of course we pulled it out of the bag. The funny thing is that no matter how bad the rehearsal, we do seem to come together in the end. And, despite a rather tentative start, it was a really fun performance. It was telling that all the new songs were sung the best we have ever done them, which bodes well for our summer concert which is still quite a way away. Even the choreography, which tends to flummox us, came off pretty decently too. The audience, while seeming a little cool, eventually warmed up to us, and by the time we got to the end of the set, the stamping on the floor in appreciation threatened to sink us into the swimming pool below!

After that it was time for a much-deserved three or four glasses of beer and a chance to chat with our very friendly hosts and their friends. We are hoping to see Mannenkoorts as our gusts in the very near future, so do watch this space.

Yesterday was filled with the journey back: tram, train, ferry, bus and tube. I cannot tell you how glad I was to see my bed at long last!