On Friday I flew from Christchurch to Auckland to see Toni's Echo In my Soul concert. I stayed in the same hotel that Toni did and here is the view from the 17th floor



I only had a 10 minute walk to get to the venue and arrived in plenty of time. I even chatted to Shane Gibson (Toni's dad and manager). The whole family plus boyfriend were there to support Toni.

At 8pm the band arrived on stage. Stuart Pearce was on the piano. There was also a guitarist/Double Bass, a drummer, 3 violinists, a celloist, and flute/clarinet.
Then the announcer introduced Toni and she came onto the stage to warm applause from the 200 odd crowd. I had a seat in the front row middle so I was very close to Toni  .

Now this concert was one of those rare ones where the actual concert was just as good as the album as the band complimented Toni's excellent voice very well. And Toni was as clear and precise with superb diction as was on the album. In the whole concert only the very first song was slightly flawed with Toni starting a bit early (probably nerves) but she very quickly corrected herself and for the rest of the concert she was superb.

Not only her voice was perfect but they way she used her arms to emphasize the songs was well done.

The songs virtually all came from the Echo In My Soul album plus some extra ones from her and her guest artists.

One gripe I did have with this concert (and many others I go to) is the camera police were in action and I only got 2 not very good quality photos during the concert.
The first one shows the first dress Toni wore:-


The first song Toni played was Sing For Me followed by Little Horses both very beautiful songs.
Paper Airplane was next and the vocals of Bryan White (from the album) were also heard.
One of my favourites was How Can I Keep From Singing which was very well sung by Toni as was She's Like The Swallow.

For the next song Gray Bartlett came onto the stage with his guitar and they played Never Think. Then Toni went off stage while Gray played the theme song from the movie The Deer Hunter called Cavatina which Gray played beautifully.

Toni came back and the next 2 songs it was only Stuart on the piano and Toni. Firstly one song not on the album, but an excellent choice, the well known Papa Can You Hear Me and then one that Stuart produced for Toni's album called Read All About It.

After the intermission Toni came on stage in a short red dress covered by a full length black lace netting (nice Gothic image lol) and sorry no photo of this dress  .
First song is most people's favourite Toni song My Immortal. I think I had goosebumps on top of goosebumps lol. Toni's power and high registers were so good that I felt it go right through me.
Then A Bit Of Earth and another excellent song was Glass. For this song Phil Madsen (from the album) came on stage and provided his excellent vocal backing plus guitar as well plus Gray was also there with his guitar.
Then Toni went off stage and Phil played 2 songs. First one was one of his own called Dancing On The Moon and a excellent version of the Queen song Bohemian Rhapsody.

Toni came back on stage in her white full length gown with cross and my photo was very bad but it does make her look like an angel lol


My favourite song from the album and concert was next Boy And The Ghost, I absolutely loved this song. The the French song La Lune Blanche was next and then Wild Horses.
Lastly Music Of The Night (of course) was the last song.
But Gray came back on stage and thanked Toni for a great concert and they finished with Amazing Grace.

After the concert Toni signed CDs and a lot were sold  .
I got to meet the family and they were lovely people. I did get to meet Toni and thank her for a great concert.






Toni and Phil

So I went home back to Christchurch very pleased that I went to this excellent concert and hope that I can go to plenty more in the future.