tarotgal

Thought I'd put both reviews in the same post and be all musically fandomy together.

Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Rings Live Score Performed at Wolf Trap-
Basically, they took the score out of the movie, turned the dialoge and sound effects down a little, and showed the movie on a big screen while the Filene Center Orchestra, The City Choir of Washington, and the World Children's Choir performed the score live in front of us. I was just a few rows back in dead center during the first half, then moved over to be with friend and was a little off center after that. Before the performance, we met up with the local DC Ringers group and had a picnic up on the grass. They were a great group (and one of them has now joined my Harry Potter group, too) and I feel less intimidated about going to another one of their meetups now. They seem like a great bunch who appreciate fandom, not just Tolkien (I was worried they'd be serious book people and would laugh because I haven't read the Silmarillion fully).
After the picnic, I went down and took my seat, snuggled up under my warm AIDS Walk fleece and my jacket and my fleece blanket. So nice and warm. The music was incredible. I got shivers all over at the beginning with the rings. It starts out beautiful- and people clapped at the title's appearance. And of course we all enjoyed the fun Hobbitty scores. But it only got better from there. The lead vocalists were INCREDIBLE. And even more amazing was the fact that the woman was standing about 20 feet away from me, singing in elvish in the sweetest, most beautiful voice. Better than Enya-- better than anyone. OMG. I tried to pick my favorite part. At first, the trip through the mines was definitely my favorite. With the drums and the children's choir in the background as Gimli expressed his grief over his kinsmen... and then when they were battling. When Gandalf falls and all sound except for music goes... it was overwhelmingly beautiful. And then the post-mines moments touched my heart SO much more. It's the first time I ever saw the movie on the big screen, too, having missed it in theaters the first time. And then the Lament for Gandalf... and the singers right there- RIGHT THERE- so fantastic. Really, the whole thing was amazing to watch. Oh, and they did the whole closing credits. Which is LONG. But by the end, I didn't want it to end. Why couldn't they have done the extended version? heehee I SO hope they do the Two Towers next year as planned.
ALSO, during the first part I was sitting next to someone who had clearly never seen the movie before. Someone leaned over and explained to her that was PJ during his cameo. And then during the wraiths' pillow scene in the inn, she JUMPED in her seat in surprise. So neat to sit next to someone and experience it all over again. heehee


Harry & the Potters-
Wow. I wasn't sure what to expect from my very first Wizard Rock concert. I was worried, since I didn't know all the songs (I'd been listening to the same 17 Harry & the Potters songs on repeat on iTunes all day so I did know some!). The opening bands and Dumbledore the MC were good. I enjoyed a collection of clips they put together with Samwise's speech about heroes not turning back as the voice-over. There was everything from Harry Potter to Pee Wee's Big Adventure. Sounds weird but it totally worked. heehee And the bands (Math the Band and Uncle Monsterface) were good- not fantastic, but silly and fun and good musicians. They all definitely had Unlimited Enthusiasm, that's for sure. They named their tour properly! There was lots of band swag to buy (I made it out alive with just an HP Alliance button and a Dumbledore Wants You to Wizard Rock the Vote poster). I hadn't had dinner because I had to leave from work to get my car from the garage (passed the state inspection! Whee!) and then drive into DC- gods, I was scared. If I hadn't had Jill the GPS I would NEVER have found the place or the parking lot (which was basically a guy sitting behind a fence taking $9 from anyone who drove in). It wasn't the best part of DC, so I was worried about being there alone. But I got to the club all right and joined the line... and then friends showed up after that. We ended up being a party of... *counts* 11. Plus two friends of the LOTR convert, so that makes 13 in the end. They had a fun "send a postcard to friends" feature, but I didn't have y'alls addresses on me! So I'll send you postcards in spirit. heehee Both Harrys worked the crowds during the opening acts and we roped them in for pictures (I got to sit next to Joe!Harry!). They're both incredibly sweet and down-to-earth and just wanted to see everyone have fun. And when they got up there to perform- MAN they were fun! And LOUD! And fast. And they played all their best songs and a few I didn't know. I was THRILLED they played my favorite: Cornelius Fudge is an Ass (is soooo catchy) and my other favorite: the Human Hosepipe (I especially like the Cedric parts. Mmmm... Cedric parts...). But they played everything from Save Ginny Weasley to Hagrid is fun to Hug. We'd just had a book 5 discussion meetup and had been all over the Umbridge- OMG She looks like a Frog song so when that came on, all the club members cracked up with our private little joke. There were also two lovely Back to the Future references! As we were learning the dance moves for the Hagrid song, one of the Harrys quoted Marty's lines about "watch me for the movies and try to keep up". I laughed but I was one of few who did. The guy behind me said "only, like, 10 people in this whole place got that". I turned around and nodded in agreement to him. Then, later, they announced it was going to be a sweet song and they intro-ed it with the main part of Earth Angel- complete with holding their hands up to make sure their fingers weren't transparent. Very clever. And they were damn good. Fantastic singers and musicians but they also really knew how to work a crowd. It was fantastic. Even ended with blow-up dragons and balloons thrown out at the crowd. And they did an Encore, which was great. I really enjoyed it! I felt like a dork standing there because I don't dance (unless it's choreographed like the Hagrid song), but there were a few people around me not dancing also, so that was all right. And I still loved it. SO neat to hear them live in a crowd of fellow Harry Potter fans!


I already reserved my space for the free concert on Saturday. AND I just bought a Remus and the Lupins album on iTunes today. I was listening to Draco and the Malfoys songs all day, so I'll switch to the werewolf tomorrow. Yay for musical HP geeks!