Editor-in-Chief Vidhi Bhanushali attends Fever’s Candlelight Concert, describing the experience as magical, stunning and soothing
Magical, stunning, soothing – the best live music experience ever! Fever’s Candlelight Concert transports you to a different world altogether. That’s what I felt when I walked through Old Joe to see a lit-up stage in the Aston Webb building from afar, glowing in warm yellow.
Partnered with HSBC UK, these concerts do more than just entertain. They help raise money for the housing and homelessness charity, Shelter. HSBC UK’s Chief of Staff, Nayan Singh, opened the stage with a brief talk on their partnership with Candlelight Concerts and with Shelter. It was affirming to know that they had raised over £82,000 through six shows in 2024 and that number had substantially increased with the increased popularity of the concerts. The concert series this year is already on track to raise more than £100,000 for Shelter, with over £13k coming from the University of Birmingham concert alone. HSBC UK and Shelter are working together to help people build financial resilience – support that can help make a difference when the unexpected happens.
The concert series this year is already on track to raise more than £100,000 for Shelter, with over £13k coming from the University of Birmingham concert alone.
Aston Webb’s Great Hall was one of the biggest venues the quartet had ever played at. After studying from The Royal Birmingham Conservatoire and practicing since their childhoods, The Sekine Quartet have been playing together for nine years. It is this hard work and commitment that truly reflects in their flexibility to adapt to and play a range of music genres, from Bollywood to Beatles, Queen to Taylor Swift – they do it all flawlessly.
The day’s theme was Pop Anthems and the quartet started off with the iconic tracks ‘Don’t Stop Me Now’ by Queen, ‘With or Without You’ by U2 and ‘Woman in Love’ by Barbra Streisand. The next set was grouped under ‘Love, Loss and Resilience’, which entailed Adele’s ‘Easy on Me’, Amy Winehouse’s ‘Back to Black’ and Oasis’ ‘Don’t Look Back in Anger’. As we travelled across the years, with every melody and string came rhythmic head sways and toe taps followed by a thunderous round of applause after every segment.
It was incredibly mind-blowing to see this crossover between classical strings and pop beats…
The third segment focused on the theme of ‘Finding Yourself’, and what better way to do that than hearing the songs of famous artists whose stories and lyricism continue to inspire us still! We started with Sam Fender’s ‘Seventeen Going Under’, followed by Lorde’s ‘Royals’ and finished with the banger – ‘Wannabe’ by Spice Girls. It was incredibly mind-blowing to see this crossover between classical strings and pop beats that was delivered with attention-to-detail, focused sync and playful melody. The final segment felt like it was straight from Bridgerton’s classical pop tunes, starting with Taylor Swift’s ‘You Belong with Me’, followed by Harry Styles’ ‘As It Was’, Sabrina Carpenter’s ‘Espresso’ and finally ending with Coldplay’s ‘A Sky Full of Stars’.
The quartet received a standing ovation at the end of their performance. It was heartening to see how people are contributing to keep art and live music alive. These concerts are truly magnificent and suitable for all age groups, families and couples.
Follow Fever, Candlelight Concerts on Instagram to receive updates about the next concert
happening close to your home: @fever_uk, @candlelight.concerts
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