CHINA TOUR - Spring 2008

For the first time - after a two-year rest – Secret Garden is back on the stage. The concert tour of China was completed in The People’s Congress Hall in Beijing on May 2nd to a crowd of nearly 6000 people.

The tour included 6 concerts in Shenzhen, Hangzhou, Guangzhou, Wuhan, Shanghai and Beijing. After more than two years resting from touring it felt great to reunite with the band and be back on the stage with our full production. "We’ve been creatively busy writing and producing our new album ”Inside I’m Singing” and scoring film music, etc. during this period, but we’ve done practically no live performances. So we really looked forward to this Chinese tour, and we feel so reinvigorated by the incredible response from our audience there”.

The touring line-up also included two singers this time. To present some of the new songs from the new album we’ve invited Tracey Campbell and Espen Grjotheim to perform with us. Even if our two-hour show is mostly instrumental music we’ve included a few of the new songs. It was great to see how they were received - even if the new album is not yet released outside Norway. The program is a blend of new and old Secret Garden music, and it was also exiting to play one of the new instrumental pieces – Sortie”.

To tour China is a very special feeling. We feel so warmly welcomed and the Chinese audience seem to be so inside our music. We hear our music ”everywhere”. We can be on a domestic flight and our music will coincidently be played on the sound system when the plane lands. We can go in an amusement park and we hear our music.. We even walked into a hotel restaurant and heard our music performed by a pianist.. All these small everyday experiences are very special to us.

After one of the concerts we even met a couple who had been traveling 800 miles by bus to see the concert in Guangzhou. It was incredibly heart warming and humbling to hear first hand how dedicated our Chinese fans are!

We want to extend our heartfelt thanks to ALL who came to see and hear us during this amazing tour. THANK YOU!

Love,
Fionnuala & Rolf