Thursday 11th August 2011
6.25am and we were gathered in the foyer of the hotel where we were given our breakfast in brown paper bags. Breakfast doesn't officially start until 6.30am so the hotel kindly made packed breakfasts for us all as that was the time we needed to leave. We headed off to Washington D.C. for our date with the White House. As a group from outside the United States we were very fortunate to be given the opportunity to have a tour of The White House because the tours are only avaliable to US citizens. We had a bit of a wait even though we were there early and to make it easier for the security staff we had to stand in alphabetical order. When we finally started making our way through security we had to show our passports and give our surnames and dates of birth. There was one incident where the information that the security staff had was inaccurate, but it wasn't too much of a problem, the person just had to step to one side while the error was sorted out. Once inside The White House we were on a "self guided" tour, where we took ourselves round the rooms which were open to us and in each room there was a member of the Secret Service who can give you further information if you so wish. Our tour included a look at: The Library, The Vermeil Room, The China Room, The Red Room, The Green Room, The Blue Room, The State Dining Room, The East Room and the Cross Hall. All the rooms are used by the Obama family whether for relaxing or for official state functions. One of the Security personnel also told us that "President Obama is in Washington D.C. today and you're very close to him, but I can't say if he's in residence or not."
We left The White House by 9.30am and then drove around Washington D.C. From the coach we were able to see a number of the various monuments to the previous presidents; the ones for the Vietnam War and World War 2 and of course we saw the Capitol Building and the Washington monument, however, being 555ft tall you can't really miss it. We also saw where the museums were so that when we had some free time in D.C we would know where to go.
We were back at the hotel by 12.45pm and a rehearsal was called for 1.15pm in the car park at the back of the hotel. A necessary thing to do when you're being streamed live across the internet in the evening.
At 2.30pm we were back on the coach, all of us in our black trousers/skirts and band polo shirts and we went to the Kennedy Centre which primarily is a living monument to John F. Kennedy. It is also a cultural and international centre. We were due to play at 6pm to a live audience and the concert would also be streamed live over the internet. Before our performance we were given a guided tour of the Kennedy Centre and its various concert halls and stages. The millenium stage (the stage we'd be performing on) is at one end of a 630ft long concorse, at the other end is the Eisenhower Stage. The tour was very interesting. The most impressive thing we learnt is that everything you see inside the centre is a gift from organisations and other countries, for example the marble used in building the Centre was a gift from Italy: 3700 tonnes from Carrara! The tour finished at 4.30pm and we were then required to be on stage for a sound check. 5.30pm and we were off the stage again and getting changed into our full band uniform: white shirts, ties and band jackets, then at 5.55pm we were ready onstage for our performance. Surprisingly the auditorium was practically full, nearly 250 seated and there were still people standing beyond the seating area all the way back to the stage on the opposite side of the concourse. We estimated that there were between 450 and 500 people listening to us. That doesn't include all those people watching online, which you can see again following the link below.
A link to the performance : http://www.kennedy-center.org/explorer/videos/?id=M4743
8.30pm we were back at the hotel having started watching the DVD of our performance on the coach. Once at the hotel it was up to individuals to find their own dinner. There is an awful lot to choose from as the hotel is just round the corner from the Rio Centre which has all sorts of shops and restaurants.
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