Verdi's Requiem

This was my first visit to the Royal Festival Hall and my first experience of watching and listening to a choir of this size in relation to amateur small scale school performances that I have watched my younger brother in; quite a difference!

The building was huge in scale, which we found out the hard way after running up countless flights of stairs to our seats in the Balcony. I knew we were going to be high up as we were sat near the back of the balcony (cheaper tickets) but it did nerve me how high up we actually were, not the mention how little leg room I actually had but what did I expect for nine pounds!?

The audience seemed to have developed a mutual cough and needed to clear their throats collectively in between each piece. It proved quite amusing. As the blood drained from my legs I couldn't help but fidget to gain some feeling back but tried to wait until the audiences mass fidget-tation inbetween movements to do so.

The audience saved all their appreciation until the very end of the performance, however all that accumulated applauding seemed to last forever as well as the vocalists taking their bows and then taking them again, followed more fidgeting and coughing.