Meeting opportunity: Morricone at Royal Albert Hall (April 10)

no training, but we were told to make a picture with the kazoo as well, I guess Anthony didn't want to look stupid

Btw, where were you all sitting? Were you close to the Maestro?

Hey, perhaps you can find yourselves in some of the youtube clips! The clips seem to be from several different angles, with different parts of the audience showing.

Peter

Not very close. Jim, Thor and I were sitting at the top circle (not the standing one), a bit to the right. I'll upload pictures this evening.

Elin and I were actually a lot closer, we were in the middle on the main floor, on the 19th row, almost horizontal with the maestro himself

sorry dear, I miscounted
god I love that moment, The Ecstasy of Gold

FAIL

We read that on Sundays there would be an extraordinary amount of people waiting in line. We didnt have that much time so we did it a bit calmer. I liked the St Paul's cathedral a lot. We weren't able to go up the balconies, but the mass and choir made it an impressive other option.

You chose wisely!

Ha! Okay. I must not have been listening very well then.

I'll get it then. Thanks.

I got back from London last night, and just got up after a good sleep. I certainly feel the days of drinking, eating fatty food, staying up to late hours etc., but happy to discover fantastic spring weather here in Oslo.

I just have to echo the sentiments expressed above. It was a wonderful experience all around, both the stuff I did with my three friends from home and the Morricone/Maintitles event, which was the obvious highlight. It was the first time I saw a film music concert with the composer himself conducting (even though I'm not really a hardcore Morricone fan), the first time I saw a symphonic legend in action, the first time I visited Royal Albert Hall, the first time I met Timmer after having known each other on film music messageboards since the late 90's, the first time I met representatives of a whole film music forum, and excellent ones as well - Bregt, Jim, Elin, Thomas, Anthony & John. It was a lot of first times, which makes you savour the moment even more.

I was 15 minutes late due to a slight miscalculation of the subway system, but no one had thankfully left when I arrived at High Street Kensington. From there we walked quite a bit, past the Royal Albert Hall and the various museums (science, national history) untill we finally found a pub where we could eat and drink. It's curious how this particular area almost seems bereft of pubs! I shot a little video with my cell phone camera of us guys sitting there in the basement, and I'll see if I can upload it to the net.

We ventured on to the Queens Arms pub after that, where we eventually met up with John Chambers, who had sent his friends off to the Science Museum (I think) while he "nerded" a bit with us! One of my friends from Norway is a divemaster, so I think he would have loved to chat with you, John, but then there would have been less time for film music talk, so it's maybe for the best.

On our way to the RAH, and after having had a few beers, we took up the kazoo for some brief Morricone impersonations, but we quickly annoyed a well-dressed couple walking in front of us and who were also going to the concert. "If you want our attention, you've got it!" she said sarcastically, and we tucked them away. Classic showdown between quirky fanboys and high class cultural elite!

The concert itself was fabulous and I'll write a rapport that's going on the montages.no site I'm writing for later on.

We went for another hike to South Kensington after the concert (the same pub that we ate in earlier in the day?), but since it had lasted longer than at least I had expected, there wasn't much time to talk before they closed at 12. I was going to take the remaining Maintitles gang (Bregt, Elin, Thomas, Anthony & Jim) to Soho, where my friends from Norway were going pub-to-pub, but due to the aforementioned luggage problems, this wasn't really feasible. So we departed at the sub.

This was a moment that I will cherish forever (not the departing, but the whole event!), and hopefully we'll be able to repeat it in the future, maybe even with some of the guys that didn't make it this time around (Martjin, Steven, Alan, Demetris etc.). I have some pics that I'll put on facebook too, some slightly similar to the ones Bregt put out.

Thanks, guys!

A few facebook pics up at:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2 … 8725a20cee

Isn't it great when you have an instant smart alec reply

I think it took us a few moments to realise it was a sarky comment.

cool! Thanks Thor, hopefully you're feeling better by now

I don't have much to add as so many of you have written great reports of the day already but I just wanted to join in the love fest and say what an absolute pleasure it was to meet every single one of you. Chatting to such a passionate and friendly bunch of people really was a joy and I just wish I could have joined you all earlier in the day. Looking forward to the next meeting!