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3rd August 2011

USA Tour 2011 – Part One

Good morning/afternoon/evening etc., wherever it is you are right now. And welcome to the Libera Summer 2011 US Tour blog! Here, as you know, we give you all the behind-the-scenes details you don’t usually get to hear about. So do tuck in to the glorious feast of words that shall now be laid before you, on this, the sweeping buffet of the Internet.

On Friday 22ndΒ July, at about 10:30 in the morning, the coach left for Heathrow airport, a buzz of growing anticipation aboard it. Two plane journeys later, and we were in Minnesota. It was very late in the evening when we arrived at the hotel and were tucked up in bed soon after. The next day, we had some rehearsals to do.

The tour had begun!

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First, we had a trip to the Cathedral in St. Paul (not β€˜St. Paul’s Cathedral’, as was the basis of much confusion for us London boys), a beautiful building where we were to sing at morning mass the next day and perform our concert on Friday. This was when we first realised just what a sweltering pit of heat we had walked into, by scheduling a tour in the mid-West during something of a heat wave; the church was like a furnace. Fortunately, some fans were bought, to our great relief.

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From there we went to the venue for the Starkey Foundation Gala concert, where we would also be performing on Sunday. While we were there, we were fortunate enough to see Miley Cyrus rehearsing and we got a look at the masses of items up for auction for the charity – some had starting prices in the six-figure region!

That evening, we took a trip to the Science Museum where we watched a film about King Tut. The screen was absolutely ginormous, so that there was nothing that could possibly distract you from the action. On Sunday, the mass at the Cathedral went very well, as did the Starkey event. We saw loads of famous faces; Jon Rich (with whom we performed), Whoopi Goldberg and Bill Clinton were among them.

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Not to mention Miley Cyrus, who had a photo with us in our dressing room, and took us on in a round of Top Trumps of all the famous people we’d met… (or not. She would have won anyway)

For the next two days, we stayed at Maddens Resort taking a short break… before we’d even done our first concert! It was great fun though. There we played tennis, croquet, basketball, football, badminton, volleyball and darts, essentially burning off all the weight we would put on though eating at the numerous buffets, as is customary on tour.

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Overnight we happened to be at what seemed like the centre of a thunderstorm, just for added entertainment before we departed.

On the Wednesday we returned to our first hotel, and performed at the Basilica, St. Mary’s. The concert was great, and it was a relief to get the tour off to a good start. The next day we took a trip down the Mississippi and got to have a good rest before the next day’s concert. In the evening we had a swim in the hotel pool, which was very refreshing. One concert, down five more to go. The mid-West (which could easily be titled the mid-East too) would be our home for the next two more weeks!


18 Comments on “USA Tour 2011 – Part One

Annette
4th August 2011 at 7:55 am

Whichever of you boys writes the blog should get a double A in any English exam! (Is that the highest score these days?) You put us right in the picture, and that is just what we all wanted. Thank you soooo much! I have listened to Joy to the World, mmmmmm can’t remember how many times now, but as it is still winter here in Australia, it is truely “seasonal”. I’ll try and “wish” some of our cooler weather over to you. I’m waiting for the next blog with “joyful” anticipation. Stay as cool as you can.

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anon
4th August 2011 at 8:05 am

this was soooo ben.

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Rex B.
4th August 2011 at 9:27 am

I really enjoyed the St. Louis show and meet and great. The new boys were a real treat. Best of luck with the rest of the tour and a safe trip home.

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Yuni Maria
4th August 2011 at 9:41 am

What a lovely post. I enjoyed it very much. Glad to hear you have a fun there.
Four concerts went very well, down two more to go. lol

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Gerald Catillaz
4th August 2011 at 10:02 am

Really well written and personally informative. But then from you guys we can never get enough!
Our World is profoundly enriched by and indebted to your Founder and his most unique
gifts and abilities, both with engaging with people of your age during the period in your lives when these Heavenly Moments Breach the Boundaries of Time by his love of and for Great Voices and even Greater Classical Spiritual Compositions.
Your combined gifts, efforts and long term demanding commitment is Divinely Laudable! Thank You And God Speed Libera.

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Anton Goos
4th August 2011 at 10:44 am

Good luck in the Mid East uhhh West I mean.
Greetings from a rainy Coventry, though yesterday was quite warm.

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Dennis SchΓ€fstrΓΆm
4th August 2011 at 12:46 pm

Looks like you are having fun. Keep it up. I try to follow you on the net. Hope to see you again soon.

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Jeremy Rinehart
4th August 2011 at 2:30 pm

Please come to Denver Colorado USA area. St. Louis was just to far this time. You are such an inspiration..

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Natsumi
4th August 2011 at 2:51 pm

awesome blog! Nicely Done πŸ˜‰

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Leslie Sundborg
4th August 2011 at 6:40 pm

Congratulations on what is so far turning out to be a very successful U. S. tour! I had the immense pleasure of hearing you twice in Chicago (Moody Church and Rockefeller Chapel). All of you were in fine voice, and were doing a fantastic job despite the sweltering heat in the latter venue. My heart goes out to all of you. Best wishes for continued success, and have a great time on the rest of the tour. Always remember to take good care of yourselves in the hot weather. Your health goes before anything else! Everyone here in Kitchener and Guelph hopes that you visit us again if ever you return to Canada. God bless all of you!

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Michael Cox
4th August 2011 at 10:58 pm

Great post, glad you are having a good time. Such great memories for such young people. You are all great though for being Libera.

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Leah
4th August 2011 at 11:33 pm

I can’t WAIT to see you guys in Texas on Sunday! I was hoping y’all would come back soon after seeing you in Fort Worth last year, and never dreamed I would get my wish.

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Don Coudert
5th August 2011 at 3:40 pm

You guys did a great job in St. Louis. It was a very moving experience. Nice meeting you. Also, many thanks to Steve Philipp for being so helpful in assuring that my 86-yr. old mother was seated comfortably. Wow.. your whole organization is superb!

Finally.. to the blog writer (once again): Very nice job indeed! Best of luck in TX. Stay cool!

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Choi Wing
5th August 2011 at 4:58 pm

Great post!!
It seems everyone’s having fun^ ^
Will libera come to China someday?I’m really looking forward for that!
Keep going boys! Support you as always!

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Julia
5th August 2011 at 6:52 pm

Wow! you have had a very busy time of it so far! Great job to whoever wrote the blog…for those of us who cannot go to the concerts, it was beautifully and discriptedly written.Thanks so much for coming to the US and blessing all of us thrue your music. I
hope to see you guys in concert sometime soon!Impecable and Incredible job as always:)
– Julia

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Terry Tschopp
5th August 2011 at 9:29 pm

Dear Libera: Again. I am amazed of your talent. I enjoy these blogs that give us insight and even more so enjoyed the concert in St Louis. Thank you from the bottom of my heart for a concert very well done and for the generosity of the autograph session after wards. I know you boys were tired and wanted to get back to your hotel and I thought it very gracious of you to give us that session.

God Bless,

Terry

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Chris
6th August 2011 at 6:13 am

Wonderfully written post, and congradulations on what seems to be a great tour so far!!! I am so excited to see you on Sunday in Frisco!!! This is a dream come true!!! I can’t tell you how much this means to me! God bless every last one of you!!!

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Cara
8th August 2011 at 6:08 am

Brilliant blogging! Thanks again for including us, your fans, in your adventures. I know I love hearing what you’re up to while you’re not amazing audiences with your singing. πŸ™‚

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