Symphonic Ibiza

A full day of activities, starting with a revisit to Calke Abbey in Derbyshire. This National Trust property is one of the larger piles we’ve visited. It was heaving with families enjoying the activities and warm sunshine on offer. We did very similar things to last time, looking around the house, into the gardens and parkland. Still most enjoyable. 

We timed the visit to go into Lichfield late afternoon, as we had bought tickets for a ‘Classic Ibiza’ style event in Beacon Park. We had time to walk around the shops, something that had memories of my weekly visits to Mom’s in the past. The shopping area itself is much the same, though the old Debenhams store is being refitted as a cinema and leisure complex.

A meal at the Bowling Green, which was very reasonable value for money and then a walk over to the park for the concert. There was some frustration where we were sitting that the music blaring out from the fair rides at the rear of the arena interfered with the music from the stage. We moved forward, but never really lost the sound from the rear.

The orchestra was energetic, but I wonder if it was only me that wondered how much of the sound we were hearing was pre-recorded tracks played by the DJ. Some of the sounds coming from the speakers defied the range of the musical instruments on stage. I suppose it is the fusion of orchestra and tracks that makes the music, but at times it was difficult to discern any sound coming from the musicians.

We left early, only to find a large number of people sitting in the wider areas of the park, listening to the music for free. Good on them, we might do something similar as the sound was cleaner than in the arena, where we were sitting.

This shot was taken from behind the stage as we left, which by my uncultured ear, was probably the best position outside to listen to the music. Still a most enjoyable day.