Early 2012 UK Tour Dates

[Gary S]

For those of you who are unaware of Katherine's forthcoming UK tour.

January 2012
Sat 7th Oxford New Theatre
Sun 8th Portsmouth Guildhall
Tue 10th Southend Cliffs Pavilion
Thu 12th Ipswich Regent
Fri 13th Ipswich Regent
Mon 16th Newcastle City Hall
Wed 18th Glasgow Clyde Auditorium
Thu 19th Edinburgh Playhouse
Sat 21st Harrogate Intl Centre
Sun 22nd Sheffield City Hall
Tue 24th Llandudno North Wales Theatre
Wed 25th Liverpool Philharmonic Hall
Fri 27th Cardiff Motorpoint Arena
Sun 29th Birmingham Symphony Hall
Mon 30th Birmingham Symphony Hall

February 2012
Wed 1st Manchester Bridgewater Hall
Thur 2nd Manchester Bridgewater Hall
Sat 4th Blackpool Opera House
Mon 6th Bristol Colston Hall
Tue 7th Plymouth Pavilions
Thu 9th Bournemouth Intl Centre
Fri 10th Brighton Centre
Sun 12th Nottingham Royal Concert Hall
Mon 13th Nottingham Royal Concert Hall
Thu 16th London HMV Hammersmith Apoll

[Nigel]

I'm going to see her on Jan 12th in Ipswich. Anyone else going? (I asked the same question before the Summer concert in the park and there was a resounding silence so I don't hold out any hopes of meeting up with anyone this time either)

[John]

I've booked for Feb 12th at Nottingham.
So I guess I won't be meeting you there, Nigel but at least I've answered your question .

[Gary S]

And I'm afraid I'm booked for the 9th at Bournemouth. Sorry.

[nicola]

Have seen Katherine in concert no less than five times, but I was never "wowed" and sometimes didn't even enjoy it. So I promised myself I wouldn't spend money on it again. :/ I *do* love Katherine, it's just because much of her earlier repertoire (Universal days) were really questionable and I only liked about 20% of her material.

Liked her, but not the songs.

I loved what she did with her Believe tour. It was verging on entertaining. Beautiful sets and whatnot, but again, I didn't like the majority of the songs, and Adam absolutely hates it when she goes "mega operatic". I still watch the DVD though. I love what she did with Bring Me To Life and Angel. <3

[Nigel]

It was last Thursday that Katherine was in Ipswich so I thought I'd give you a little review. It's a couple of weeks till Gary and John get to see her.

I can start by saying that she was fully in control and gave a perfect rendition of some lovely songs. She started by saying that things had not been going well for her (a reference to her recent emotional incident on stage following the break up of her engagement) and then went on to draw our attention to the programme of songs we were about to hear. "They're all about love and heartbreak," she said, and with a smile added "But that's my problem." She thanked everyone who sent her gifts and messages of support. She said if it wasn't for that, she wouldn't have been able to go on with the tour.
I've seen her three times in the last six months and I'm constantly impressed not only by her vocals and her professional performance but also by the sheer 'niceness' of her attitude and the rapport she has with her audience. She smiled almost constantly and looked around the audience giving everyone the feeling she was singing just for each of us.
The programme of songs was:
Your Silhouette
And This is my Beloved
Angel
Black is the Colour
Blaenwern
Break it to my Heart
Hallelujah
I Dreamed a Dream (in the original French)
Over The Rainbow
Ancora Non Sai
Carmen Gypsy Dance
Filles De Cadiz
I Could Have Danced all Night
... and a few more that I can't think of at the moment.

She wore four different dresses, black, orange, white and silver; all long to the floor. Each of them had patterns of sparkling, glittery material winding around the dress, a theme which was echoed in her personal, sparkly microphone which she carried. Also with the silver dress she wore a slide in her hair which was all glittery too. She looked amazing, as always and sang so effortlessly.

During the interval people were writing notes to her, so in the second half she read some out. She did this at the last concert so I guess it's a standard thing. One note said "I love your dresses. When you've finished the tour can I have the orange one?" Well she did say beforehand "Come on Ipswich. Make me smile!"
I was sitting at the front, next to a man with hearing aids. I know it's funny but he really was. She sang 'Happy birthday' to somebody behind us and made him stand up for it. When she finished, I turned to the next seat and said "That's made his day," but the man couldn't hear me so I shouted it at him but the audience fell quiet as I said the word "...DAY". Katherine looked straight at me and said "Oh it's your birthday too did you say?" Well, I hate being the centre of attention so I just sat there like an idiot, grinning at her and feeling my face go redder and redder.
One thing about the notes that were passed which was a bit thoughtless, but she did read it out. "You sang 'I dreamed a dream' nicely, but there's another song from the musical which might be more suitable for you to sing now. It's called 'On my own' " She just smiled, looked at the audience and said "If I don't laugh I'll cry".
Of course we had the usual request for 'Mae hen wlad fy nhadau' (the Welsh National Anthem) which she sang a capella absolutely perfectly.

She had a guest singer from the U.S. called Nathan Pacheco, who was very good. I really liked his voice.
He sang four songs himself:
Caruso
Danny Boy
Funiculi Funicula (with audience participation)
Nessun Dorma (stunning!)
and two duets with Katherine but I can only remember one:
All I Ask of You

The programme book I bought has a long list of songs which includes ones she might sing at any particular event, so I don't have a definitive list for the Ipswich one and I was enjoying the music rather than trying to memorise the twenty or so songs she sang. I didn't feel it was appropriate to be writing them down during the concert lol.

There was a real chemistry between Katherine and Nathan when they sang the duets, holding hands and looking into each other's eyes (though he did call her Christine in the AIAOY song of course lol). A lady behind me said "I wonder if she's having an affair?" Can you even have an affair if you're not attached any more? People tend to forget they're performing artists and as such they could easily act out the part of the devoted lovers purely for the stage.

She got flowers at the end, and a standing ovation which lasted several minutes.
It was a great evening and I hope everyone else who's going to one of the venues on this tour enjoys it as much as I do. I'll just add that during some of the songs I had to smile a little as I thought of the comment that Nic made above here 'Adam absolutely hates it when she goes "mega operatic".' I must say I prefer her lighter voice too

Here's a link to Nathan singing 'Nessun Dorma'.

[max1]

"a reference to her recent emotional incident on stage following the break up of her engagement"

Nigel, please tell us more. I had not heard of this over here on the other side of the pond.

[Nigel]

Max, Katherine sadly split from her boyfriend Gethin some weeks ago, and was overcome after singing a song with lyrics about heartbreak during the first of her 2012 concerts. She was consoled by the orchestra conductor, who accompanies her at every event. The emotional distress was evident as she started her performance last Thursday, but she bravely carried on and gave us a stunning performance. Anyone who missed the introductory remarks and hadn't seen the news would not have known anything had happened. That's how professional she is.

[Gary S]

Just got back from seeing Katherine in Bournemouth. Ditto everything you mentioned in your review Nigel. Though obviously still hurting from her recent break-up she smiled and giggled throughout her performance and sang as beautifully as ever. A breathtaking lady with a stunning voice.

Songs she performed not on your list were:

Chanson Boheme
Time to Say Goodbye (Obviously), and
Tonight (with Nathan)

Highlight from the notes handed to her was a song request from a daughter to her father on his 90th birthday - Time to Say Goodbye. Ooops!! Though I'm pretty sure some of these letters do most of the concerts.

[John]

Thank you Nigel for your detailed report which gave me an idea of what to expect, and to Gary for your additions. Time for me to add my bit now having seen Katherine Jenkins in Nottingham last night. Much of what you have described was the same, including many of Katherine's comments, but I think there were a few differences too.

The concert opened with the National Symphony Orchestra playing the theme from Carousel. They then started the next number before Katherine appeared, in a sparkly black and silver dress, to sing ‘Your Silhouette’. This is one of my favourites from her album Daydream, and was also one of my highlights from the evening. Katherine thanked the audience for their warm welcome and said it was the best on the tour so far, but I expect she says that everywhere.
Next up were ‘And this is my Beloved’ and the lively ‘Filles de Cadiz’.
Despite last night’s date having been consistently missing from the list on his website, Katherine then introduced Nathan Pacheco (I never knew how to pronounce his name before). Their duet ‘All I ask of you’ was another of my highlights.
Katherine left the stage for two solos from Nathan. I have never really got on with ‘Caruso’, and ‘Danny Boy’ didn’t quite hit the spot for me (I suppose I have heard it from too many female artists) but Nathan gave a good performance which I quite enjoyed.
Katherine returned in an orange dress to finish off the first half with ‘Hallelujah’, ‘I Dreamed a Dream’ (in French) and ‘Ancora Non Sai’ in which she did her expected dance with the conductor.

The orchestra opened the second half with a piece which sounded vaguely familiar but I couldn’t place it. I think was probably from a film theme. Katherine appeared in a dark pink dress to sing ‘Black is the Colour’. The messages from the audience consisted largely of birthday and anniversary greetings, but we also had the orange dress joke and the 90th birthday ‘Time to say Goodbye’, so those must be doing the rounds. Perhaps the best was a teenage girl asking for advice on how to pursue a singing career.
We didn’t have the Welsh national anthem. Instead we had Katherine’s tribute to Whitney Houston as she sang ‘I will always love you’. Next came the ‘Gypsy Dance’ (Chanson Boheme) from Carmen.
Nathan’s second duet with Katherine was ‘Tonight’ from West Side Story. His next two solos, ‘Funiculi Funicula’ and ‘Nessun Dorma’ both involved audience participation and I enjoyed them more than his first half solos.
Maybe Katherine’s final dress change needed a bit more time, as we were then treated to another rousing number from the orchestra. It was incredibly familiar to me but I just couldn’t place it. Tchaikovsky? – No. I had almost settled on Rimsky-Korsakov when right at the end it finally dawned on me that it was one of Dvorak’s Slavonic Dances.
I’m not sure that Katherine’s dresses quite matched the colour themes of her songs, as she appeared dressed in white to sing ‘Over the Rainbow’. A real confusion of hymns followed, as she sang the words of ‘Calon Lan’ to the lovely tune ‘Blaenwern’. This tune is most commonly used for the hymn ‘Love Divine’, which also appears on Daydream set to yet another tune, ‘Hyfrydol’. (Sorry for the little diversion – I love singing hymns to Welsh tunes.)
‘Break it to my Heart’ was followed by the (official) final number ‘I could have danced all night’. Massive applause and shouts of “More!” resulted in the predictable encore ‘Time to say Goodbye’.

Katherine is adorable as a person. I love the sound of her voice and I enjoyed every minute of the concert, yet somehow I failed to connect with her music in the same way as at her open-air concerts last summer. On a more positive note, my son really enjoyed the concert – don’t know how relevant it is that he and Katherine are almost the same age.

[Gary S]

Thanks for the addition to the review John. See you in Bournemouth on the 8th next month.

[Nigel]

Thank you Gary and John. Now that all three of us have attended one of the concerts we can see that there are items common to each venue, like a few of the 'interval' notes being the same. I suspect that some messages she received on the first occasion the idea was tried out proved amusing enough to carry around all the concerts. I did think the Welsh National Anthem was brought out whether or not someone had asked for it but both times I've seen her sing it there was a small but strong Welsh contingent who were vocal enough to let us know they had requested it. I can add that I know it very well (my Mother was Welsh) and I could sing it right through but I kept my mouth shut in case any one of the few people singing it was asked up on stage. Even the thought of meeting Katherine and singing with her doesn't overcome my inate dread of being in the limelight. That's an odd thing for a teacher to say but nevertheless true.
Now that I've read your reviews I can see the songs that I forgot to include in my list so thanks for that too. It seems that we all enjoyed the performances even if, as you point out John, there was a difference in atmosphere between Summer and Winter and between Open-air and indoors.

[dragonslair]

Congratulations in order for Katherine as she has been chosen as part of cast for Dancing With The Stars begining 19 March 2012, best wishes and good luck you should do well.

[sylvester88]

They act, they sing, they run, they swing. But can they dance?

Viewers will find out starting March 19 (ABC, 8 ET/PT) when 12 new Dancing with the Stars hopefuls take their first steps toward hoisting the mirror-ball trophy.
Actors make up the biggest contingent in Season 14, with Melissa Gilbert, Jaleel White, Jack Wagner, Latin-American star William Levy and Roshon Fegan from the dance comedy Shake It Up on ABC's sister, Disney Channel.

Singers are well-represented, too, by Gavin DeGraw, Gladys Knight and Welsh performer Katherine Jenkins. Athletes — Green Bay Packers receiver Donald Driver and tennis champ Martina Navratilova— and TV personalities —The View's Sherri Shepherd and Extra's Maria Menounos — complete the field.
"This season, we particularly wanted to go for a likable cast, people that you feel affectionate toward," executive producer Conrad Green says. "The core of our show is about finding people you can root for and wanting them to triumph."

full article---> www.usatoday.com/life/television/news/story/2012-02-27/dancing-with-the-stars-season-14-cast/53280722/1