Anyone else go to this? I thought it was brilliant, but I'd be interested to hear what other people thought.

I went. I thought it was brilliant too - something never done before. There's a review in today's Guardian http://music.guardian.co.uk/live/story/0,,2237058,00.html

which makes it seem to me that John Walters isn't a huge fan of the Heritage Orchestra, and I heard him asking at the Tom Cawley gig afterwards if the project could be repeated next year with the RLPO or their contemporary ensemble. What I really liked was that this sat in what was basically a jazz festival, but the sound wasn't jazz, although it was the ultimate in improvisation on a large scale; then the following night jazz legend Wayne Shorter played with a full symphony orchestra in a format that was entirely pre-written and unimprovised apart from the breaks by his quartet.

I went to several of the other gigs in Fresh Festival too - Abram Wilson at the Bumper was great as well, as were Karen Tweed (I thought I was about to endure a folk club gig, but it really worked with all the minimal Scandinavian bits), Chris Bowden at The Magnet (he can blow, but he looks so ILL!) and of course the Bays at Bumper and John Metcalfe in the Rodewald - THAT was awesome!

Fresh was superb - hardly a mention in the Echo of course, but those that got it got a helluva lot of good music! It may only be the first week of January but it might have been the gig of the year :PDT_Piratz_26:

:snf (41)::034::unibrow::ninja: here's my review, hope you like...

In this the first ever Fresh Festival to take place in Liverpool, The Philharmonic Hall, The Magnet and The Hope Street Hotel were hosts to live music events that mixed both contemporary and classical sounds for an original if almost clandestine weekend programme.

From the comfortable confines of the finest locations the city has to offer, some of the most diverse and innovative sounds were generated and the meeting of ideas old and new saw electronic, jazz and classical music meet head on in a harmonious collision which culminated with the highlight of the festival, the Heritage Orchestra performing alongside The Bays in a revolutionary set-up conducted by John Metcalfe and Simon Hale.

The orchestra have in the past collaborated to great success and acclaim with the UK’s multiple DMC champion DJ Yoda and now showed they are a bunch of classical divas with great music taste as they combined with The Bays to produce a show of great depth on a mind-boggling evening of delightful musical entertainment.

In its unique setup, the entirely improvised performance was one of a kind the likes of which, to our knowledge, had never before been attempted. A live score is composed and beamed instantly to the orchestra with incomparable technical equipment, with the cutting edge of a samurai’s sword and synched together on the spot by the four members of The Bays and somehow it all stays in time.

The sound is rounded by the VJ projecting onto three large screens that formed the emotional and curious backdrop for the spine-tingling performance.
Although heavily orchestral-driven, the sounds varied from moods of chilled-out ambience through house music to some of the most spectacularly epic techno that climaxed with the finale of a drum and bass crescendo.

But did it sound good? Yes, yes it did. ******* rates Fresh Festival’s headline of The Bays and The Heritage Orchestra as one of the top ten live experiences you must see before you die, which is largely pointless because each show is a one-off, never to be recreated, never the same twice. So next time, keep your eyes peeled.

http://underground.moonfruit.com

There's a cracking 9 minute documentary on this gig on youtube:

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=HY54PDPEvvc