When the idea for ‘In the Sun’ was born, the hope was for a beautiful, dry, sunny evening. In the UK, it was always going to be a little bit of a risk, but we were hopeful that by the end of July, we’d have pretty stable weather conditions. Oh, how wrong we were! 🤣
As the event got nearer, the weather was continually changing. From torrential downpours to perfect summer days, it was starting to become clear that it was going to be potluck about whether we’d get a nice day or not.
In the weeks leading up to the event, our Choir Leader; Dan, developed a slight obsession for checking the upcoming weather forecasts across Apple Weather, BBC Weather, and the Met Office. Each app seemed to show different data and would also change on a daily basis. Despite these ever-changing forecasts, a couple of days before the event, the decision was made that we’d be going ahead. The conditions weren’t looking awful. Just maybe a bit of drizzle. We could deal with drizzle!
No matter the scenario, Love Soul Choir members are always up for a good time, and we always say that if things don’t go to plan, it’ll make a good story. As members arrived on site, their positive energy was infectious. Either way, we were going to have a fun evening.
As expected, the rain arrived and we ended up running our soundcheck in the rain with members taking to the stage wearing rain coats, poncho’s and all sorts of wet weather gear!
As our soundcheck ended and brave audience members started to arrive, the rain was getting worse. We did start to think that this had the potential to be a wash-out. That said, it was lovely to see our audience up for a good time either way, setting up base with their waterproof clothing and umbrellas in place to keep them dry. It’s amazing to know that we have such hardcore fans willing to brace the elements to watch one of our performances! 💜
As we got closer to the start of the show, amazingly, the rain started to ease up and stopped. It was meant to be…
The first set looked and sounded fantastic, and our audience were having the best time. One of our newest songs; ’Ain’t It Funny’, originally by Jennifer Lopez, features a lead vocalist; Rachel Gunstone. Rachel had intentionally kept this a secret from her family in order to surprise them at the show. It was a beautiful moment when Rachel’s wife suddenly realised what was going on and getting to watch Rachel’s wife bursting with pride was an amazing moment for all of us.
Hilariously, as the first set ended, it started to rain again. We took a 20 minute interval and as we headed back to the stage, the rain stopped. The timing was brilliant!
As the daylight started to fade, the show started to take on a new feel. The lighting started to have more impact and the venue was looking fantastic. We started our second set with ‘A Second to Midnight’ originally by Years & Years and Kylie Minogue and the audience participation was already at a high. We knew that the second set was going to bring the energy.
The rest of the show stayed dry, and we had audience members up and dancing with us in no time. Whether they were joining in with ‘About Damn Time’, originally by Lizzo or ‘Levitating’ originally by Dua Lipa, it’s always so empowering to see audience members having the best time but at this event, it felt really special.
Our final song of the night was ‘I Feel Like Dancing’, originally by Jason Mraz. We first learnt this song in January of this year and had been looking forward to our first performance of it since. One line in the song is: “even if it’s raining, I’m not complaining”. This line took on a whole new meaning at this performance and was the perfect end to the night. The song is so uplifting, and we had the whole audience up on their feet. We loved it. The energy was electric.
Overall, despite the weather, we had the best time. One member emailed afterwards to say:
“I just wanted to say a huge THANK YOU for another wonderful performing experience with Love Soul Choir. I absolutely loved it and there was a lovely atmosphere amongst everyone, I thought. Backstage, it felt so warm & friendly. It’s in those moments that I feel how well we all come together. When there is a slight nervousness about a song or dance move, we just sing, practice the dance & all support each other. It is very special indeed. There isn’t a song that I don’t enjoy at the moment, there is such a mix & they all touch me in a different way.”
If you’d like to watch a Behind the Scenes video of the day, you can click here (Instagram) or here (Facebook) to watch.
Bring on next time! 💯
