The countdown to the summer concerts continues and we are now at number six. So far, so good but this week there’s a difference: two songs tied for sixth! The first is a song that has featured in all the previous Best Live Song polls and was first seen in 2012 on Alfie’s Bring Him Home tour:
The song was written by Albert Brumley, a musician and singer born in Oklahoma in 1905. After studying at the Hartford Musical Institute, Arkansas, Brumley toured with the Hartford Quartet and went on to write / copyright an astonishing 800 songs. The most famous of these is I’ll Fly Away from 1932. In 1970 he was inducted into the Country Song Writer’s Hall of Fame and his songs have been covered by amongst others, Bob Dylan.
The second song is a new entry and featured on Ball and Boe’s 2016 chart topper, Together (46 seconds in is the best bit of this video):
The song is of course A Thousand Years, one of my favourite songs from both the Together tours and album. Written for the soundtrack of The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn, Part 1, the song was written by Christina Perri and David Hodges and recorded by Perri. Released in 2011, the song has charted three times, eventually reaching number 13.
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Taken from the stage version of Disney’s The Lion King, and also opening the sequel, Simba’s Pride, He Lives In You was one of Alfie’s choices for Together Again. Since his first child was born, Alfie has tended to choose at least one song per album for his children, so I’m wondering if this was the case for He Lives In You – I really should have asked him when I interviewed him last year!
He Lives In You was written by South African composer and musician Lebo M in conjunction with Mark Mancina and Jay Rifkin, originally for the album Rhythm of the Pride Lands, music inspired by the original Lion King movie. The song then went on to appear in the stage version as They Live In You (first act), before returning as He Lives In You in the second act.
Together Again is available here:
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What a twelve months it’s been for Alfie Boe and Michael Ball – as if a second number one album wasn’t enough, they have now performed sell out concerts in four countries, with the three Japanese concerts taking place this last weekend at the Orb Theatre, Tokyo. Fans jetted in from multiple continents (Cecelia, Annie and Margie amongst them) to join Ayano, Mitsuho, Akiko and many other Japanese fans. Roberta was also there and this is her review.
On Saturday night, two amazing performers, Alfie Boe and Michael Ball, stepped out onto the stage at a sold out Orb Theatre and conquered another audience, in another city, in another country, on another continent. Alfie and Michael loved the audience and the audience loved them from the first song to the last note in the Wham medley. To many in the audience this was a dream come true – Alfie and Michael singing in their country – and to others it was a completely new experience. The camaraderie between the two was so infectious that it easily carried over to the audience. Not only did you leave the show humming or singing a song you had just heard you felt good doing so due in large part to the affection flowing back and forth between Michael and Alfie and between them and the audience. To be a part of this event was an amazing honour and one to be treasured. The audience itself was much more diverse than in the UK, tending towards a younger age range with quite a few single men. At the stage door it was interesting to see young men among others asking Alfie to sign their programs or pose for a picture. The UK, US, Germany, Korea, China and Australia were all represented by fans who flew in for the concerts proving that music transcends any language barriers there may be.
Alfie and Michael came onto the stage with an amazing exuberance going from Somewhere to Tonight as they bounded and spun across the stage. Right from the start they were encouraging the audience to clap along with the music and the audience was happy to comply throughout. To say that Alfie and Michael were pleased with the audience response is probably an understatement. Due to the fact that the two albums had just been released in Japan the set list was primarily a mixture of songs from both. However, Run and Keep Me In Your Heart seemed to be the highlights. Being a bit of a risk taker Alfie had no problem asking the audience with the aid of the translation skills of one of the backup singers (all three local singers were excellent) to sing along with him. While the first pass at the chorus was a bit timid by the time Alfie had a lucky gentleman on stage to repeat the chorus everyone was applauding and laughing and singing loudly.
Going into Run, Alfie made his now famous leap off the stage to the audience’s surprise and amazement. It did not take anyone very long to realise what a bonus they had received. People were reaching out to touch Alfie and stepping in the aisles to hug him as he completed his circuit. Since phones are not allowed there were very few phones lit but some had glow sticks which were waved throughout the song. Another popular song was New York, New York as Michael substituted Tokyo, Tokyo for New York. The reaction was as expected. A personal favourite was You’ll Be Back. Alfie and Michael took this up a notch, actually acting the lines out with forceful hand gestures and facial expressions. It was not a song well known to the audience but with all the acting it was well received. The audience even sang along on the da, da, da lines.
The Wham songs were as well received as in the UK; instead of the pudding hat Alfie wore a baseball cap with “I ♥️ Japan” on it. and wore it through the whole song. Alfie forgot to toss Michael his tee shirt and so while Alfie was bouncing across the front of the stage Michael was going through Alfie’s parka looking for the shirt. Once again we had audience participation in addition to the clapping and dancing and Japan’s Alfie’s Arrows sitting in the front row put on their Choose Life tee shirts. It was a wonderful addition to a great medley.
The orchestra was reduced in number but this had no apparent effect on the sound – the music was as full as ever. Among the five of us who had experienced a collective seventeen performances in the UK, all agreed that Tokyo surpassed those shows.
Wow – what a fab review and as there were some differences between the first and second shows, we have another review still to come! Thank you so much Roberta x
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At the beginning of the month, indeed in my very first 2018 post, I offered fans the chance to win one of four Alfie Boe and Michael Ball Together Again goodie bags, featuring a signed programme as well as other exciting things.
The question I asked was:
Which countries did Alfie and Michael perform in, in 2017?
The answer was UK, USA and Australia (or three countries total, although those who gave England, Scotland and Wales separately were included in the correct entries).
The first Six Sensational Songs post for 2018 is from Karen Blower. I first met Karen in a virtual sense on Twitter as we both had a love of Alfie Boe and also both blogged about music; Karen is also a huge Il Divo fan. Karen first became aware of Alfie via the Royal Variety performance that featured him as part of the Les Mis medley and of course, since then, Alfie has graced that stage twice more. Here are Karen’s choices:
Of course, Bring Him Home, from a few years ago and in Karen’s words, “enough said”. No further reasons needed!
Tell Me It’s Not True, from the Together Again tour. Karen chose this because “Blood Brothers is a favourite musical of mine and Alfie’s version of the iconic song is amazing, especially when sang with Michael Ball”.
It’s Over, from the Storyteller days. Karen says that “I grew up listening to Roy Orbison and Alfie is one of only a few singers who can do proper justice to his songs”. Yes indeed, and I still love have a chuckle that Alfie opened his set with a song called It’s Over!
Over The Hills and Far Away, at the Festival of Remembrance in 2011. This one gives Karen goosebumps – and I’m sure she’s not the only one!
Forever Young, again at the Festival of Remembrance, this time in 2013. Alfie has of course appeared twice more in recent years, being, in Huw Edwards’ words, “a great friend of the festival”. As with the previous choice, Forever Young is just beautiful and gives Karen goosebumps.
Finally, Love Reign O’er Me from Classic Quadrophenia, this time from the Together tour 2016. Karen acknowledges that this is a popular song by saying “again, yes I know but the emotion and power he puts into this, how can you not put it on the list?” Quite – it was on my list!
Thanks Karen for sharing your six songs with us – yet again, two new songs to add to the list!
If you would like to share your six favourite Alfie songs with us, please fill in the form below.
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It’s the beginning of another exciting new year for Alfie and here at thoughtofjustafan, we’re starting off in the best way possible – it’s competition time!
I have four Together Again tour goodie bags to give away which contain the following:
BB card holder / wallet
BB VIP bag
BB tour lanyard
BB programme signed by both Alfie and Michael
To win these goodie bags all you have to do is answer the following question*:
In which countries did Alfie and Michael perform in, in 2017?
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Merry Christmas everyone! It’s the time of year to look back at what’s happened and what’s been achieved and oh my goodness, if you thought 2016 was good for Alfie, then 2017 knocked it out of the park. What an awesome year he’s had!
Regular readers will know that I love to look back, so here are my 2017 highlights:
Publishing a best selling book on How to Create A Fan Blog
Alfie and Michael sing Wham!:
Seeing Alfie in Carousel – wasn’t he fabulous as Billy Bigelow?
A few stage door hugs with Alfie during the Carousel run:
The Trinity YouTubeathon in which we raised over £500 for one of Alfie’s charities
Alfie and Michael achieving a world record at HMV in October and meeting some fabulous fans too – click here to see the fan videos we made
Seeing so many fans in Australia and USA happy to see Alfie and Michael
Together Again reaching the number one chart position upon release – and now going Platinum!
Attending the ITV special, Ball and Boe: Back Together
Interviewing Alfie – if you haven’t yet seen part one, make sure you’re subscribed!
Thank you to each and everyone one of you who reads thoughtsofjustafan – your messages of support are very much appreciated. I’m thrilled to reveal that we recently sailed past the 250K hits…I’m looking forward to half a million!
There are some special people to thank who make this whole thing happen:
Debbie Bannigan for continuing to believe in me and more importantly, to show me how far I’ve come and how far I can still go. In the words of Michael Ball on this tour, “dream big and follow your dreams”; Debbie has shown me what can happen when you believe in yourself.
Carole Hunt for continuing to allow me the use of her photo for the site banner.
Linda Wellington for the use of her wonderful photos and videos.
Thank you to everyone who allows me to use their videos here.
Roberta Kappus, Cecelia Powell, Carole Hunt, Barbara Wren, Heather Crosskey, Heather Moore, Pauline Hyland, Claire Shorter, Kate Griffin for being such wonderful guest reviewers.
Linda Anstee, Linda Wellington, Carole Hunt, Karen Rogers, Pat Watterson, Cecelia Powell, Sue Redfern for being there – thanks for keeping me sane.
Linda Anstee, Ellen Rook and Rachael Hailey for being my top social media sharers.
Linda McCann, Sue Redfern and Cecelia Powell for being my top commenters.
Huge thanks to Emily and Andrea at Vector and to Ash and team at Decca – you’ve been amazing and a joy to work with.
Finally, it’s a massive thank you to Alfie for his unstinting support and generosity – without you, there would be no thoughtsofjustafan!
Long time fan Lisa Tootill has really found the best way to combine work with Alfie and Michael. Lisa, who has been following Michael since Aspects of Love and first saw Alfie perform on his 2012 Storyteller tour, works at the Guide Dog Breeding Centre near Birmingham and is responsible for bringing new dogs into the centre to enhance the gene pool for future breeding. Recently, Lisa found two Curly Coated Retrievers in Estonia (they’re a rare breed), and upon bringing them back to the UK, managed to christen them Alfie and Michael!
Alfie is on the left and Michael the right.
Although the traditional image of a guide dog is a Labrador, there are in fact, many breeds used, including Golden Retrievers, German Shepherds, Flat Coated Retrievers as well as the Curly Coated Retriever. There is even a Standard Poodle and Border Collie in the breeding programme. One of the most famous guide dog owners is David Blunkett who always uses Curly Coated / Labrador crosses, as they are good, solid, working dogs.
Each year, Guide Dogs UK breeds puppies to go on and eventually train and work with visually impaired people around the UK. The usual practice when naming litters is that all the names should start with the same letter, for tracing purposes but Lisa was adamant that with these two sweethearts, the rules should go out the window and Alfie and Michael were thus named. In fairness, Lisa says that the theme for name picking was ‘my favourite things’ and Alfie and Michael are two of her favourite people, as all the staff at the breeding centre are well aware! Here is Lisa with Alfie:
Thanks Lisa for sharing your story of marrying work with Alfie and Michael. To find out more about Guide Dogs UK click here.
If you would like to share your fan story, I’d be delighted to hear from you, just click here to send me a message.
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The Ball and Boe Together Again tour 2017 finished in style at London’s 02 arena this week and I was very lucky to have a front row seat (courtesy of Claire Shorter) and witnessed one of the best concerts I’ve ever been to. In fact, only Alfie’s solo shows have surpassed it. My review of the show and the tour in general follow but first we hear from Sarah Buttifant, for whom this was her first concert of the tour:
Just over a year ago I didn’t know who Alfie Boe was. I happened to watch Ball and Boe One Night Only on TV and the sound of his voice gave me goosebumps! Since then I’ve seen him and Michael at one of their summer concerts, I was extremely fortunate to be in the ITV studio for the recording of this years Ball and Boe Back Together and now I’ve seen them live at the 02.
I’ve got to admit I was expecting this concert to be amazing and it did not disappoint. Having deprived myself of spoilers for the two weeks leading up to the concert (no mean feat in itself!) I couldn’t wait to see what the boys had planned. The songs from the new album performed live were brilliant. Bring Me Sunshine, when they brought the children onto the stage was heart melting.
The evening just kept getting better and better. They rocked out with an epic Queen medley and the songs from Les Mis that we’d not heard them sing before were sublime. Their solo songs hit just the right note and the show stopping Wham finale had the whole of the 02 up on its feet. The friendship between these two shines out and their enthusiasm and love for music is completely infectious. I think it’s safe to say I’m addicted – roll on 16th June 2018, Kenwood House here I come.
Thank you so much Sarah for your thoughts – I agree, it was an amazing evening. Although I had seen the concert in Brighton at the beginning of the tour, I knew that the running order was not necessarily the same and that there were hints of extras for the end of tour, London finale. The main change for me was the addition of Alfie’s most popular live song of the last two years, Runwhich had been exchanged for Elton John’s Tiny Dancer after the first two shows. Another addition was the inclusion of the two choirs, Mountview School and Rays of Sunshine, seen above (that’s me, Linda W and Jayne you can hear oohing and aahing on the video!). The children were word perfect and totally rocked the stage, melting several thousand hearts along the way – if you want to raise money for them and help get Alfie and Michael to number one for Christmas, then click here. Mountview students featured in the ITV special in October and more returned to sing alongside Alfie and Michael on Thursday evening; the result was just stunning, as can be seen from You’re The Voice:
Those students are having just the best time with Alfie and Michael, and the feeling’s obviously mutual! These were my highlights from this concert although Alfie’s Bring Him Home (tears again from me and so emotional for him, singing that back at the 02) and the Wham medley were phenomenal.
My feelings about this tour are nothing but joy – it has been a privilege to witness such warmth, happiness and superb vocals from Alfie and Michael and in my opinion, everyone should see these two perform together at least once…although once would of course never be enough. Happiness and joy are sometimes in short supply and these two go a long way to getting us there so if you haven’t been lucky enough to see them live, or want to relive the experience, click here to see the a YouTube playlist from the wonderful Linda Wellington. My personal favourite from this tour is Alfie’s new song, Wagon Wheel:
This gives me the perfect opportunity to thank the wonderful musicians, in particular, Murray Gould, Sam Grimley, John Tonks, Callum McLeod, Neil Angilley, Don Richardson, Marsha Skinns, Ulrika Bergelind, Tor Hills and Emma Osei-Lah.
Thank you to Alfie and Michael for the fabulous music and to everyone I met in Brighton and London – all your messages are really appreciated. Special mentions to Linda Anstee, Linda Wellington, Jayne Templeton, Claire Shorter, Roberta Kappus, Cecelia Powell, Tienne Lockwood, Carole Hunt, Cheryl Stenason, Emma Brimacombe, Gail Slinn, Nicola Lange, Ellen Rook, Leanne Miller, Jo Cassidy, Heather and Jay, Mitsuko and Ayano, Sally Cook, Pat Watterson, Janet Baldwin and Annie Lloyd, not forgetting my guest reviewers Carole Hunt, Pauline Hyland, Heather Crosskey, Heather Moore, Sarah Buttifant, Claire Shorter, Barbara Wren and Kate Griffin. Hopefully I haven’t forgotten anyone but if I have, I’m sorry, it’s been a busy few weeks!
To donate to Rays of Sunshine and propel Ball and Boe to the tip of the singles charts, click here to download Bring Me Sunshine with all star cast.
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How would you like to help Alfie Boe and Michael Ball get the Christmas number one in both the singles and album chart and feel good about helping others at the same time?
If the answer to this is of course you would, then all you have to do is send some sunshine to your friends by sending them a download of Ball and Boe’s charity single, Bring Me Sunshine. Click here to download from iTunes and send as a gift. Click here to download via amazon. And when you’ve done that tweet it with the hashtag #SendSunshine!
Let’s face it, everyone’s Christmas would be made better by listening to Alfie, Michael and friends singing this Morecambe and Wise classic:
The charity benefiting from the proceeds is Rays of Sunshine, a charity that grants wishes for seriously ill children and teenagers across the UK. The charity was founded in 2003 and has since granted more than 6,000 wishes for brave and deserving children. Their work provides hope and creates lasting and precious memories for thousands of families across the UK. The charity receives no government funding, so proceeds will enable them to help more children who greatly need help. Some of the children in the choir appeared on stage at the 02 and raised the roof so please help them to raise as much money as possible.
Alfie and Michael are joined by other artists including Al Murray, Angela Rippon, Aston Merrygold, Bryn Terfel, Calum Scott, Collabro, Danny O’Donoghue (The Script), Gareth Malone, Gregory Porter, Imelda May, Imelda Staunton, Jason Manford, Kelsey Grammer, Lesley Joseph, Loose Women (Kaye Adams, Nadia Sawalha, Stacey Solomon, Linda Robson), Mark King, Mel Giedroyc, Miranda Hart, Ore Oduba, Pauline Quirke, Rick Wakeman, Seal, Shirley Ballas (Strictly Come Dancing), and the Rays of Sunshine Children’s Choir.
I earlier mentioned that Alfie and Michael are in the race for two number one slots this Christmas and of course they clinched the top album spot in 2016. Having debuted at number one upon it’s October release, wouldn’t it be best thing to end a fabulous year if Together Again returned to the top spot? The only thing to better it would be Bring Me Sunshine reigning supreme and raising lots of money for Rays of Sunshine.
Click here to download from iTunes and here from amazon, or you can text GET SUNSHINE to 84222 (£1 + standard message rate) and send some sunshine to all your friends – thank you! Please share with the hashtag #SendSunshine as well.
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