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24th May 2014

USA in the Spring

After a long flight, we touched down in Newark at midnight. An hour and a half later, the coach pulled in at our final destination – Americas’ Keswick! Some of our Libera ancestors had stayed here when we sang in the Yankee Stadium when the Pope came to New York.

We woke early the next day to find ourselves in a beautiful American landscape, with a lake and lots of trees – great for climbing. We had a lovely breakfast of pancakes, and cereal of every kind – in particular my favourite – Lucky Charms!!

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Activities followed for several days, with a bit of rehearsing in between. Basketball, swimming, squash, board games, there was never a dull moment. We loved cycling off road through the forest and onto a nice stretch of land facing the river in which we could relax. It was really hot so we lay in the sun, it was lovely.

All the boys enjoyed catching up, as we hadn’t had any long social time together for a while. We fantasised about the days to come and our dreams came true – cue music and slo-motion – then we ended up at the beach. In April!! We enjoyed playing in the arcade, some of us older boys won cuddly toys, which we gave to the younger ones, except me.

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Off to New York, our first concert was on Manhattan. Arriving in New York we couldn’t believe our eyes, it was like being in a film set, but better. We imagined super heroes flying through the streets as we approached the church.The concert which was candle lit was an amazing experience. The audience was generous and noisily enjoyed our singing. Finally, we headed back to paradise and to bed.

Then another concert day, which means we stuff loads of food into us at lunchtime, but have not much for tea just before the concert – when no chocolate or crisps are allowed. We were in a big town theatre in New Jersey called Morristown. Quite different from the church and candles. For a start – no echo. But it was nice to have a big stage with the orchestra behind and really cool lighting effects, and the audience was really welcoming and gave us standing ovations.

After a short rest off to New York again, where we got to see the sights. This meant we went on the ordinary trains that go into New York and also on the Subway, and I don’t mean the eating place. Our first night, we enjoyed eating at a diner in Great Neck. For the first, but not the last time, we experienced the wonder and delight of… (drum roll)… the PIZZA BURGER – a treat that knocked us out.

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The next day it was Libera Tour(ist) day! Ha! We arrived at the Empire State building and, like King Kong, we climbed to the top. We got the lifts, but I think that King Kong would have also used the lifts if he hadn’t have been so big. I think the girl might not have screamed so much – but she might, because the lifts are sooooooo fast.

Times Square was our next destination where we went to the wonderful yet weird Ripley’s ‘Believe It or Not’ – a hit with all of us weird boys. We also visited one of the biggest ‘TOYS R US’ on the planet – so big that it has a Ferris wheel inside. After spending all our money on toys and games we ended up in another arcade, winning more prizes. Our kind sponsor giving us all a free pass, we felt truly spoiled.

We came back to our Hotel in which we had another fantastic supper, before flopping into bed like dead fish.

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The next day we were tourists again, and went on the ferry to the Statue of Liberty which wasn’t very liberty because it had a fence all round the bottom. But we said hallo as our name is kind of Liberty-era.

We had practised special music for Easter Day morning the next day to end off our tour with a mass at the massive Basilica church in Philadelphia, but then the stupid flights went wrong and we had to come home a few hours too early. So we kind of missed most of Easter Day altogether by being asleep on the plane. But soon we were happy to be back home in the cold and rain and we thought back to the sunny time we had had – except we heard that as we were leaving the weather completely changed and they had SNOW!


19 Comments on “USA in the Spring

Hoi
25th May 2014 at 9:27 am

It was splendid meeting you folks abd hearing you sing. It was the highlight of the year for me. I really hope to see you guys visit again and conduct another wonderful concert! I’m really glad you guys had fun here in NY.
P.S one of my favourite place here is ‘TOY R US’ as well. Oh and Nintendo World
P.P.S The new songs that were performed were absolutely wonderful, can’t wait for them to be out officially so I can purchase them.
=)

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Johnny Knight
25th May 2014 at 10:35 am

Hi there, Have you ever thought to come to New Zealand?

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Joanne Marie Bolo
25th May 2014 at 11:54 am

Hello! please come back to Cebu, Phils. this year we really missed Libera so much 🙁

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Timothy Sayers
25th May 2014 at 1:40 pm

Thank you for sharing your experience here (USA), glad everyone had a wonderful time. Enjoyed reading about the boys new experiences. I was surprised to read that you guys were still here in the States Easter weekend, I was sure you would have been home for Easter Sunday. Sorry your appearance at the Basilica didn’t work out. I didn’t see any of your concerts on this tour, but, I’m looking forward to your next visit. Cheers.

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pierre moreau
25th May 2014 at 9:31 pm

ur music will always bring tears to me when I think of my mother who passed away on may 15 of this year.
keep up the good work

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Adilson de Lima
26th May 2014 at 1:22 am

LIBERA: You are iluminate boys!
You are the best one boy band of the universe.
Congratulations

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Jacqueline
26th May 2014 at 3:35 am

I had the pure joy of seeing Libera in NYC this year! It was my first time seeing you perform live, and I truly hope it isn’t too long before you return to the Crossroads of the World!! So happy you got a chance to enjoy the City!

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Cara Adams
26th May 2014 at 9:51 am

Great blog! I seriously enjoy reading about your adventures while on tour, and am glad you guys had another successful and enjoyable one. I wish some of the concerts hadn’t gotten cancelled like they did, but stuff happens, right? Thank you for doing these tours and sharing your gift of beautiful music with the world. I hope to be able to see you all in concert again someday, but until then I will enjoy reading about your experiences here. 🙂

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Terry Tschopp
26th May 2014 at 12:37 pm

Dear Libera: I am very happy you enjoyed your stay here in America and your are very welcome to come back anytime 🙂

Sounds like you guys had a great time and I am proud the people of this country showed you the same hospitality that many of your fellow countrymen have shown me when I have visited your shores

I also enjoyed your concert in Morristown and hope there will be many more here in America 🙂

God Bless,

Terry

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Mara
28th May 2014 at 6:49 pm

I guess using the lift would be very dramatic and romantic, they should do this scene again!
Did you see Times Square at night? I’ve been there once with my choir and it was really amazing… But it’s nice to see you had a great time, traveling is just wunderful! And I think it is even necessary if I ever want to attend one of your concerts as Germany doesn’t seem to be one of your prefered destinations. 😀
So, just keep being awesome!

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Rach
6th June 2014 at 4:07 pm

Hi Libera! Am glad you enjoyed your recent trip to the US. Seems like you really had fun 🙂 New York is amazing, right? Did you guys see yourselves on the big screen when you were at Times Square? That was fun for me 🙂 I even took a picture of the screen so I could have a remembrance. Hehe. Looking forward to what you would be releasing soon. Love you, Libera!

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Rommel yamba
13th June 2014 at 1:19 am

I love libera it’s so amazing,,,

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Kevin Arnold
9th August 2014 at 7:31 pm

Hi Libera!
I have nearly all your albums, and I often like to lay down, close my eyes, and listen to your voices. I have sunged in boys choir and youth-choir too, and it’s so wonderfull. I send you the love of Jesus, God bless you all!!

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Joy
11th August 2014 at 7:38 pm

Hello angel voices!!! Please visit Manila this year… Many loving Filipino fans are waiting to hear your amazing voices!!! PH <3 Libera

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Marie
1st September 2014 at 5:09 am

Hi Libera,
You all sound so beautiful and angelic! When are you going to come here to Australia??! Please do…God bless you all!

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Manuel
10th September 2014 at 12:43 pm

Hi! I’m from Italy! Come from us!! You are wonderful!

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Father David Napier
18th May 2022 at 7:00 am

Please come to Oakland- San Francisco in California. We have the Golden Gate Boys Choir . They have done some world traveling too. Right now they are struggling because of Covid My son sang with the choir for eighteen years. He also rang bells. In case you are wondEring iI am Anglican . I remember fondly the trip to Rome when 2000 boys and girl choirs gather for a choir congress under Pope John Paul

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Darrell Waters
10th August 2022 at 10:37 pm

I love at least 2 of the songs on the Album called Hope. Is it in thumb drive form sine CD players aren’t being made as much? If it’s only on CD is it write protected where I can’t put it on my computer and put it on a thumb drive? That’s what I want to do cuz we bought a van that has no CD player in it and we understand they’ve quit making CD players for vehicles. You’ve got to have a thumb drive or radio in there to listen to music.

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Libera
15th August 2022 at 12:01 pm

You can purchase the album from Amazon in MP3 format, which would allow you to put it on a thumb drive.

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