What a magical, rousing, evening

After eight weeks of the best classical music at the Royal Albert Hall and Cadogan Hall the last night of the Proms is always a joyous occasion.  For the last 10 years the last night of the Proms has always included a show in the Park which began in London.  Once it proved such a huge success the idea was rolled out to other cities in the UK. 

For the warm up before the 'real' classical entertainment we had 'Björn Again' who are an Abba tribute band.  They were brilliant and really got us all up and dancing!  An  all male vocal group called Teatro, looking very smart in their DJs gave us beautiful vocals, enough to make you swoon!  Then to reflect the folk theme that has run through the Prom season, Bellowhead preformed, very folksie.   At 7.30 in the evening the real classical part of the concert began with Lesley Garrett, David Garrett (no relation but an extremely talented violinist) followed by Jose Carreras, the famous tenor.

For the last few weeks the BBC have been holding a competition to find the winner of Maestro which was a competition to find a celebrity conductor.  The winner was Sue Perkins who is well known to British audiences and for the finale was asked to conduct the BBC Concert Orchestra including Lesley Garrett.  Very impressive!  Especially, since one of the judges was David Soul.  Remember him?  Starsky and Hutch?  Well, afterwards he and his entourage were actually sitting right in front of us!  Quite interesting to watch all the 'lovies' in their own little world!  Even another contender in the competition called Goldie was with them.  Now there really is someone where you have to say, let looks belie!  He is dripping gold off his fingers, teeth, you name it!  But such a nice, normal and considerate guy.

Pr0ud to be British!  That is the feeling you get at the end of the most wonderful evening's entertainment that is varied to suit all tastes both popular and classical.  The proceedings culminated in rousing renditions of Land of Hope and Glory, Rule Britannia, Jerusalem and of course, the National Anthem!  We sang our little hearts out. As if that was not enough we also were thrilled with wonderful colourful fireworks display which brought the evening to its conclusion.  Everyone got on with their neighbours.  Well, they had to really since we were cheek by jowl but that is all part of it.  Most bring their own variations on picnics, champagne, wine, beer, you name it.  One drink is always available, Pimms!  Certainly, there were plenty of food caterers providing all manner of cold and hot dishes in case you still felt a little hungry. 

Thanks to modern technology we were able to link up with The Royal Albert Hall with the other outdoor venues namely, Manchester, Belfast and Cardiff.

Well, we have now been two years running and we thought this year was even better than last year.  So, I guess we might have to consider going next year again!