BILI SMO ENGLISH
MNE MAGAZIN IN BUDAPEST: Band ,,Blake” thrills the audience at ,,Papp Laszlo Sportarena”
British band ,,Blake”, whose members are Stephen Bowman, Humphrey Berney and Oliver Baines, captured the audience at ,,Papp Laszlo Budapest Sportarena”.
At concert, that lasted almost two and a half hours last night, members of the band showed emotions and perfect harmonization. On stage, equally exceptional were the members of Hungarian symphonic orchestra. In several songs on stage with them was one of the most popular Hungarian singers, artist of crystal clear, powerful voice Zseda.
The concert began with a song ,,Somewhere” and the end of it was followed by the applause, as it was the case of every song they performed after it.
Bowman addressed the audience in Hungarian and joked: ,,As far as I know, I might have insulted all mothers.”
Berney continued and said: ,,But, we are ,,Blake” and we are here for the first time. Thank you for your warm welcome.”
Baines greeted the audience with song ,,She” by saying: ,,I hope that this song is not as old to you as we are.” Let us remind the readers that members of the band ,,Blake” are 38 (Bowman, Berney) and 36 (Baines) years old and that the French chansonnier Charles Aznavour wrote the song and released it in 1974.
As ,,Blake” had an interesting story for every song that night, Berney remembered the day they all went to Ennio Morricone's concert in London.
– We were very excited because we saw many posters of us, but also those of the greatest composer Ennio Morricone who, too, will be performing at this stage. Come and hear him and we will now sing ,,Nella fantasia” that was composed by him, while Chiara Ferrau wrote the lyrics. It is the theme ,,Gabriel's Oboe” from the film ,,Mission” – said Berney.
Next song was beautifully sung by Stephen Bowman – ,,Chasing cars”, by the band ,,Snow patrol”.
– All the ladies who speak English language, raise your hands. All the ladies who came here with a partner, now raise your hands. I bet, when single ladies heard Stephen singing ,,If I lay here, if I just lay here, would you lie with me and just forget the world?” all nodded their heads to him – joked Berney.
But, the audience in Budapest was ready to make jokes as well, so one of the ladies that came with a partner said that she nodded, too, and ,,Blake” and all the audience started to laugh.
After this joke, Berney continued in a more serious tone, saying that they were very happy to play with talented musicians such are the ones from the Hungarian symphonic orchestra.
That serious tone did not last for long, so he continued.
– I do not know if Hungary has more musicians or thermal baths. As soon as we landed, Stephen went to such bath. And he was born in a place called Bath – said Berney.
Then came songs filled with emotions ,,Desperado”, ,,Hallelujah” by Leonard Cohen that was was the first ,,Blake” recorded, only to be joined on stage by Zseda in the ,,Up where we belong”: Afterwards Zseda sang one of her songs. The first part of the concert was closed with a song ,,The Impossible dream”.
In the second part, followed the songs ,,Moon river”, theme from the film ,,The Gladiator” ,,In Paradisum”, then ,,You raise me up”, ,,Fields of gold”, ,,Cavetina” and ,,Bring him home”. Zseda sang ,,You give me something”.
– Alright, this is our last song for tonight – said Bowman, while in the audience one could hear the sighs of disappointment.
Berney then said that they were a wonderful audience and Baines thanked the musicians.
With the song ,,Nessun dorma”, the three of them wished to come back to Budapest.
For the end they however left the song that they sang with Zseda – ,,Time to say goodbye”.
The audience did not wish it to end, so they applauded for a long time.
Members of the band ,,Blake” came out to the stage to thank the audience once again.
It was a night that will be remembered for a long time.
,,Blake” will be playing in Debrecen tonight.
Organizer of both concerts is Pannon Produkció.
Article and photos by: B. Radonjić
