JOHN WILLIAMS

I was about to say "Why has no one commented on Raiders?", but now you mention it, I can't imagine it being such a great way to end a concert any more. It's been played to death!

I think the Indiana Jones theme needs to be played once during the concert though...

I agree, it was a wonderful concert evening.

Minor quibbles were the 'ok' sound, because the concert hall isn't really a concert hall, but a velodrome in dissguise. Also it was kinda repetitive how a lot of tracks seemed to end with a bang - so the audience would know when to clap, then there where some small technical problems, like how the spotlights lighted up the filmscreen, and the high level of working class in the crowd. I also preferred the Aunt Marges Walz from Prisoner of Azkaban, of which footage was shown, instead of the night bus. And where the hell was Jurassic Park???????????? Insanely missed on such a night! Probably my all time favourite John Williams theme.

All those things are nothing compared to the really good stuff ofcourse: the solo's, starting with the moving violin theme from Schindler’s List, the music from The Patriot and the choir falling in for Hymn of the Fallen and Battle of the Heroes. And the wonderful love-theme 'Across the Stars' (although it might have been doubled in lenght) were all absolute highlights for me. The Patriot being so enjoyable was a big suprise, because I never had a good listen to that score before. The selection of old and new stuff, well known pieces and the more obscure films was nice too.

& I never realised theres so much piano in Williams' scores too. When you see his music live, it shows that he really likes to use the full orchestral pallette to paint his music.

as long as there is something Indy in there I'd be happy

Or the Grail theme. Miracle of the Ark as a concert piece would be something quite amusing, due to Williams referring to some avant-garde techniques in the piece, which in concerts collecting thematic material might be a disappointing experience (mind you, those concerts have often somewhat "pop" character), I'd rather choose Ark Trek.

Yeah I guess you're right, I mean something with The Ark theme in it would do.

PFAH! PTUIH!
How you grow so happy listening to foolishness of this kind?

And at that point I wasn't even born!

You're old man, you're old.

indeed, I was sitting right in front of the woman who was playing the piano, and she had a lot to do, even if you barely could hear it during all those brassy affaires

YEAP!!!

He mentioned something about playing piano for some guy called "Hank" too.

There there lad <--pats back in consoling way

In all seriousness I so hope he returns for a UK concert one day, we'll ALL see it and afterwords we'll ALL make merry

Here's the thing... what about those people that have NEVER heard the Raiders March live? For all the years I've been involved in film music I've only experienced it live once. I tell ya, as much as I would love to hear all the other pieces discussed in this thread live there still is NOTHING better than hearing the Raiders March. It's a crowd favorite, a toe tapping joyful piece that bring people to their feet. That's what I want to hear when I go to a concert.

-Erik-

That's good news , THX Thomas . Looking forward to it already ...

Word, WORD, WORD to Erik.
Dearly though I love Williams' scherzos, there are some pieces to placate the fans, and then there are some pieces that will bring the house down every time.
The Raiders March and The Imperial March are Williams' "In The Mood", "Louie Louie" and "Radetzky March". There's just no way around it!

I can't argue that the March is and will always remain a crowd favourite, guaranteed to bring down the house much in favour of all these other tracks that were mentioned.

But I still maintain my own personal position. I've never heard the Raiders march performed live, either, and still I'd prefer hearing the "Motorcycle Scherzo". That piece has that much personal importance for me. Same with the fact that I would wet my pants hearing "The Asteroid Field" live, whereas the "Star Wars main theme" or the "Imperial March" would probably only make me mildly giddy. It's yet another one of those moments where what the audience wants and what I want diverge.

...although I have to admit that hearing "Duel of the Fates" live that one time in Baltimore was pretty friufhsjkfgskjfgdfgsdfs awesome.