Monday, May 9, 2011

Canada Tour-Part 3 (pictures)







My Personal Life

I have had cancer for almost 6 years and my many cancer doctors have run out of any chemicals to keep me from dieing. They told me 1 year or possible 2 years (2% chance) so I have been trying to make every day count. I will continue to post as long as I can.

Official Song of Life by Libera

Official Song of Life by Libera

Song of life-Cover

Song of life

Blog of Canadian Tour from Libera

Our tour in Canada

April 17th, 2011 by Libera Boys
On Tuesday we got on the coach at about 10.30 am in order to get to Heathrow. Some two hours later we arrived, deposited our luggage, waited round for a bit and then boarded our flight to Toronto, Ontario. It was a seven-hour flight, and it was easier to stay up for the whole thing because by the time we arrived at our destination it was quite late at night. We then had dinner at a sort of Swiss-themed buffet place. A lot of food was eaten that night. So we had quite a long Tuesday, but our hotel had lovely squishy beds that we just flopped onto and fell asleep within seconds.
The next day we got up and had a gigantic breakfast; most of us had things like omelettes, pancakes, waffles, eggs benedicts, and the like. Quite filling. We then went to an ice hockey museum, which was pretty interesting. Ice hockey isn’t as big in England as it is here in Canada, so it was interesting to see what the sport was like. There was even a sort of simulated game you could play, which was really cool. A few of us bought souvenir hockey sticks and pucks. We then had lunch at Tim Horton’s – fine Canadian cuisine indeed. Really nice doughnuts and sandwiches. As you can see, Libera is very food-oriented. Several of use had to go off to TV and radio stations to do interviews which we hoped would let people know about our concerts. On one morning live TV show, the host asked us to set a question for the viewers to answer and win tickets. There was a little hesitation when no-one could think of anything sensible – but then Kavana piped up with, ‘ what is the name of the place we all come from’ ! (Answer – London, England, UK, Earth, Near Moon, Universe etc etc)
Anyway, in the afternoon we went to see ‘Hop’, the film about the Easter bunny – it was pretty funny, actually. We then went back to that Swiss buffet place for dinner, and a lot more food was eaten that night. We then went to bed at quite a reasonable time, as the next day was concert day.
Thursday morning started quite late, and with another huge breakfast. So far we seem to have eaten a lot! We then had a relaxing period in the rooms, so we were well rested for the concert. We arrived at St. Michael’s Cathedral in the afternoon to have our sound check. As we came across from the rehearsal, we walked though the enormous queue of people waiting to get in. There were hundreds and hundreds - and the queue snaked its way round the block. St Michael’s is a really nice big building, and it had a good acoustic. That helped add to the atmosphere of our songs in the concert – which went very well, by the way. The next concert had a lot to live up to.
The next morning was pretty much the same as the one before. Except we had to drive from Toronto to London. Not London, England, that would have been the shortest tour, and also the longest (and wettest) coach journey. That being said, the drive to the Canadian London was still quite long, about 3 hours.



On the way we stopped in a car park and looked out at the sunny weather and several of use decided we didn’t need our coats. And then we went outside …..and came running back. It was bitterly cold with a strong icy wind. We went to eat at a restaurant, which had a moose theme.That is particularly relevant to us, as we are in the homeland of the moose, and also, Moose is the name of our mascot – who, coincidentally, is a moose. So we posed with an enormous wooden moose which was standing outside the restaurant. But we did not have any chocolate mousse (pun intended) for dessert. That would mess around with our vocal cords. No, we had ice cream for our sweet, and then we were on our way. The concert in the evening at St. Andrew’s Church yielded good musical fruit.Unfortunately though, after the concert finished, we had to get back to the hotel, which was three hours away. We got back at around half past midnight, which was pretty late. But thankfully we did not have a concert the next day, so we had a nice lie-in.

Blog Canadian Tour-Part 2

Canada Tour Blog part 2

April 23rd, 2011 by Libera Boys
Previously, you heard of our arrival, and of our various trips and concerts. Well, here’s some more info for you on the Libera Canada tour.
The day after the St. Andrew’s concert was pretty calm. We got up late after a well-deserved sleep, and had our regular over-intake of food. We later discovered something you don’t see in England often. Underground cities. The Necropolis is probably the closest you could get to one of those in Europe. Anyway, there was this passageway under the hotel, which led to this fantastic complex of underground shops and restaurants. It was strange and amazing at the same time! But there was nobody around, so for about three quarters of the way it was spookily empty. When we finally found life, we discovered that we were slowly creeping back up to the Earth’s surface from the mantle. And also that Big Ben’s scarf could swallow Barney completely whole. And also that it was raining outside. A lot. Oh dear. So we sped across the street to the cinema to watch a film called Rio. It was better than we thought it would be actually – quite worth seeing if you haven’t done so already. Anyway after the film we just stayed in the hotel, because it was raining so heavily. So that was the rather damp end of Saturday.

The weather continued to be overcast on Sunday, however instead of raining, snoww and sleet was falling from the sky. It was quite spectacular; it actually looked like a snowstorm from the hotel! Anyway, we went to a bowling alley for a bit. It was pretty fun, actually. Many people scored strikes, and there was a lot of slipping and sliding on the overly polished floors! Meanwhile, our tech crew had to gear up the van for the concert that night – in that weather!

It was a huge struggle, but because they are so fantastic they managed it, and the concert at ’Islington United Church went very well indeed. It may have been a small area for our different formations, but we thought we pulled it off very well. We even managed to fit everyone on the stage, whilst also finding room for Steven and his keyboard, the string quartet, Simon his percussion stuff, the speakers, mixing desk, microphones and the grand piano!
Monday was equally eventful. In the morning, sadly, we left the amazing Fairmont hotel and boarded the coach. We had quite a long journey up from Toronto to Kitchener, where we performed a little demonstration to school kids aged from about 8 to 16 in St. Mary’s Church at half past one. The place was pretty much packed! We received a great reception from them, which was especially important to us because these people really appreciated what we did, and they were our age so we could think of them as our peers. Anyhow, after that we went to the hotel, dumped our bags, and then left to go to Music Plus, which is a huge music shop in Kitchener. Bill, the man who owns it, helped lots with the tour, and also organized a delicious Mexican-style lunch, with wraps, tortillas, and spicy salsa! It was very tasty, and filling. We then had a look around the shop. Some people bought manuscripts and novelty music things, while others decided to get the loudest percussion instruments they possibly could.

The noise in the coach afterwards was deafening. Anyway, after that musical interlude, we drove to the Centre in the Square theatre to perform our only theatre concert.


This place was enormous, and so was the stage. We now had the opposite problem to the previous night’s concert; we had too much space! But any road up, the concert there went really well, and we filled up quite a lot of the theatre.
That puts another great concert in the bag.
The next day we packed our bags again, said goodbye to Kitchener and travelled to Chatham Congregational Church. It had a really shiny black floor, and that really made the lighting look extra effective! It also had balconies, so the string quartet was on one side of the room, whilst Steven (on the various wind instruments and the keyboard) and Simon (on percussion) were on the other side.

This gave the music a cool panned effect that really added to the Libera sound. That concert also went really well, and the pastor even told us afterwards how good he thought it was. Luckily for us, our new hotel was just up the road so we got home pretty early and went straight to bed; we had to drive back to Toronto the next day.
I think now is a good point to say that some of the older ones like myself and JB have been revising for exams throughout the entire trip. I know, it is very very dull. However, it has to be done – the exams are quite important. But coach journeys are great opportunities for us to do work, and so the five-hour trip back to Toronto on Wednesday didn’t pass too slowly. When we got back to the beloved Fairmount hotel, however, we dumped all our stuff in the rooms and went for a swim in the pool. That was pretty fun, and also very refreshing after such a long journey. It was quite late when we finished, so we went to a buffet-type place for dinner and went to bed. A week run of concerts is fun, but really tiring!


Yesterday we got up at a reasonable time, for we were going to Niagara Falls! Yes, it is spelt with an extra “a” after the “g”. I didn’t know that either until we went there to see the Falls! They were beautiful. Seeing them from the Canadian side is much better as you’re on an elevated viewpoint away from the Falls. We went up the Skylon tower (which looks like a miniature CN Tower) and from the top you could see the Falls and the entire area around them.


It’s all really confusing in that region – the land curves a lot and you’re not quite sure what’s Canada and what’s America. Anyhow, after going up to the sky deck, we went down a level to the revolving restaurant. This was even more confusing. The middle was stationary, the next part moved, and then the outside – i.e. the windows – were stationary. I had a seat by the window, so it was really cool seeing everything as we turned and dined. One funny little thing was that there was a ledge by the window, so if you put anything on it like a camera or something, one minute it would be there and the next minute it would be some table on the other side of the room, because you have moved! That was really cool, having revolving lunch. After that we went down into the Falls. There was this place where you could go behind the falls and look at it crashing down from the other side. That was quite worthwhile. What was odd, however, was that the spray of water coming off the Falls and onto our faces was so cold that it was ice! It was also really wet behind the Falls, so we didn’t spend too much time there and we came back to he gift shop where we found Murray the Moose. So our moose got to meet a real Canadian moose. And James met a seagull.




Before we left to get back to Toronto, we went to the IMAX near the Falls and watched a video on all the crazy stunts people have done by the falls, or in the falls. It was really interesting, and the screen was so big! And the sound system was all around, so you really felt like you were there. That was a really pleasant day out.

Blogs posting from Libera-Part 3

Canada Tour Blog - Finale

April 27th, 2011 by Libera Boys
Hello! Here I am again, for the last time until the next tour! So sad, so sad.
Anyway, after the Niagara Falls visit on Thursday, we had a concert quite a way away from Toronto in Hamilton. We were performing in a nice church called West Highland Baptist Church.
It was quite big, and so was the audience! It was a great concert, and it went really well.
The next day was a rather interesting one. We got up late, had breakfast etc., and then we relaxed in rooms for a while. The next day we had to sing at a service in Our Lady Immaculate Church in Guelph. So we had to have a practice for that as well. But, later on in the day, we went to the CN Tower!
It was so high, even Big Ben could not tower above it! Anywho, we bought the tickets, and once we got inside we saw… A MOOSE! Not a real one, but a plastic moose near the lifts. My word, those lifts were terrifying! You got inside, and then you whizzed up to the top in no time at all. It was like reverse skydiving! But at the top it was beautiful. You could see for miles around; it was really great. And there was also a glass floor, which was probably the most frightening thing I’ve ever witnessed. Ok, there is one in the Tokyo tower too – but that’s not 1, 400 ft high, with a curve! Oh wow it was scary. Although saying that it was a great experience, and on our way back down from the lithosphere we saw signs for record-breaking attempts from the tower – for example, one person yodelled for 7 hours 29 mins from the top of the tower! How useful that informations going to be to you I don’t know… We also went on a boat trip to Central Island. Sadly most of the attractions were still closed for the winter but we did some serious tree climbing and the view of Toronto was impressive indeed.


The next day was packed with lots of things to do; it was Easter Sunday. In the morning we sang Mass in the Church of our Lady Immaculate in Guelph – at the end we sung the Hallelujah chorus with the cathedral choir - plus a full band of strings, brass and organ - up in the loft. It was great fun – and the congregation clapped for a long time at the end! After that, we were treated to a delicious lunch by the church helpers, followed by a few hours of relaxation before having a sound check for our concert – which was in the same church. It’s a lovely building; it had a fantastic acoustic – and it was a near full house, which is amazing considering the size of the place.


At the end of the concert, equipment was packed away for the last time and we said our farewells to the crew – our Canadian roadies called Sean and Anthony who brought all the gear we had to rent, and our own crew who were going back to England on a different flight to us boys and chaperones.
We got back to Toronto at about half-midnight-ish, only to get up again at four to go to the airport. That was great – for once, the coach was silent! Anyhow, when we got to the airport we had a short break (with a Tim Hortons breakfast) and we were on our way. At the time of writing, we are currently over Ireland, and soon it will time for us to be going home – well yes, really! Thank you so much for supporting us in our first run of concerts in Canada; we hope to come back soon!

Canada Tour part 2





More to come!

Canada Tour Part 1

The following pictures came from the official website for all to enjoy.