QM2 Round Britain

I'm back now from the voyage of the liner Queen Mary 2 around Great Britain, where we celebrated her 5 years of existence. Was it really January 2004 when the Royal Philharmonic, Royal Choral Society, Band of the Royal Marines, Heather Small, Lesley Garret and I gathered to give 2000 people in a specially created tent beside the Queen Elizabeth terminal in Southampton a concert while HM The Queen named the ship Queen Mary 2? Incredible! This time, we had the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, coincidently formed within a couple of months of Cunard, on the ship in Liverpool Docks and we gave a hugely appreciative audience a concert lasting about an hour od music associated with Cunard and specifically the Queen Mary 2. We had an audience approval rating of 98.5% so I think you can say we were a success. Yes I know, where did we lose the 1.5%? I supposes we can console ourselves with the fact it now has the record for the highest approval rating of any artist, and when you think of some of the artists they've had on board, that is some success! The RLPO were superb! What a sensational orchestra; reading new music I had arranged and playing some old favourites with nary a fault. The Offenbach overture in particular was played to perfection and with great style, which is more than can be said of my karaoke singing! About once every 20 years, my Great Balls of Fire rendition is dragged out of me! This time I regret to say, I did a dance routine in the middle! Reminds me of the time I was brave enough to do the full monty in a concert in the Hamer Hall Melbourne, with the Melbourne Symphony. Alright, perhaps not the full monty, but my costume when I stripped off left little to the imagination! I had bought a Superman outfit several sizes too small. Ugh! Not pretty!