Fan reports
Paddy Kelly in Madrid, 2011 August 17
Report by: Ana
From: Spain
It was a magic night. First of all it was extremly hot in Madrid and waiting was already hard but some young people and some monks from the community of St John made a couple of funny sketches in front of the church to entertain everyone while Paddy and his musicians were doing soundcheck inside the church.
Crazy enough, as soon as they opened the door, people started to push even when a brother told everyone to please enter peacefully because it's a huge church and everyone would fit in. Once inside it was even hotter than before so unless you had a fan and some water, the next three hours were going to be absolutly hard (but worth it).
After a brother gave some instructions about what was going to happen next, informed everyone that no cameras were allowed at all in three languages: English, French and Spanish. The prior of the community also came forward to say some words to the youth. Finally the music started and Paddy went out and took his guitar to start singing. I have to think twice if I want to remember the exact order of the songs, because that was really A LOT of songs. First he did a mini-concert as it was announced at St John's program, starting with Pray, pray, pray, New Spirits, Holy is His name and Lord of the Dance (and some others that I can't think of right now). In this part he just sang one song after the other and made everybody stand, clap and go crazy.
Then the rosary started. Enough people had to make a circle to recreate a real rosary where every person was a bit of the rosary and had to say a Hail Mary. He introduced the misteries and in between each mistery and prayer there was a song (Party Time for the annunciation, etc). In this part have been played most of the songs that were part of the Lamb of God events like: God is Love, A sword will pierce your soul, Kiss me mother,... At the end, with Abba Father, the cross went all around the crowd, that was beautiful.
Once the rosary was complete started the adoration. Paddy kneeled down and faced the cross and the image of the Virgin. With the song I am the light of the world we lighted the candles we were given at the entrance and lights were taken off. The image of this was really great! During adoration everybody could just pray and wait for the right moment to bring the candle to the altar.
Before starting adoration, Paddy asked all of us to kneel down for the arrival of the Lord which was done with the classic Ecce Agnus Dei while we were all bowing as it passed by. And right after the invocation with Veni Sancte Spiritus. Then during adoration it was Jesus I trust in You, I didn't know you are so beautiful, Jesus, Adoramus te Domine, I thirst and then repeated Jesus. All of this in different languages (English, Spanish, French and Polish at some point).
At the beginning, while he was doin the mini-concert, he checked all the flags in the church and then asked who comes from where. He noticed there was quite a big Polish group on the front, some Spanish people and mostly French people so probably that is why he has chosen those languages, to reach everyone.
Once again the musicians were amazing and are improving at every event. Sven was taking care of everything and also making some people stop recording from time to time (because eventhough the brothers repeated that cameras couldn't be used, many people tried to take pictures and videos during the evening). Paddy was in a good mood and was wearing white pants and a grey and stripped shirt. He was once again not wearing any shoes for the event.
It was funny to see him during the son Party Time where he usually jumps in a certain point of the song and everyone kind of expects this jump. He noticed it was funny, was energetic and in a good mood so he did it some more times...
He also sang a couple of new songs so he seems to keep being creative. Both related to the Gospel I'd say, but couldn't really tell what they said cos the sound was not very clear sometimes. The church was huge and that made difficult to understand some things (specially when talking).
During the last prayer before concluding the adoration he left slowly through the door and vanished. Then all the people working at the event told everyone to just go outside. It was a beautiful event, with a lot of good music and intense times of prayer. God was present every single minute making this a very blessed moment in time. I think they were even surprised of the amount of pilgrims there. During the night many people left, either out of boredom or because it was too crowded/hot or they had to be at their groups before certain hours. Anyway it turned to be more comfortable with the time as we all had more space, though it kept being extremly hot!
The only thing I would comment on to finish this report is that the events of the Lamb of God were much more intimate and was much easier to meditate and get into the right mood.
From: Spain
It was a magic night. First of all it was extremly hot in Madrid and waiting was already hard but some young people and some monks from the community of St John made a couple of funny sketches in front of the church to entertain everyone while Paddy and his musicians were doing soundcheck inside the church.
Crazy enough, as soon as they opened the door, people started to push even when a brother told everyone to please enter peacefully because it's a huge church and everyone would fit in. Once inside it was even hotter than before so unless you had a fan and some water, the next three hours were going to be absolutly hard (but worth it).
After a brother gave some instructions about what was going to happen next, informed everyone that no cameras were allowed at all in three languages: English, French and Spanish. The prior of the community also came forward to say some words to the youth. Finally the music started and Paddy went out and took his guitar to start singing. I have to think twice if I want to remember the exact order of the songs, because that was really A LOT of songs. First he did a mini-concert as it was announced at St John's program, starting with Pray, pray, pray, New Spirits, Holy is His name and Lord of the Dance (and some others that I can't think of right now). In this part he just sang one song after the other and made everybody stand, clap and go crazy.
Then the rosary started. Enough people had to make a circle to recreate a real rosary where every person was a bit of the rosary and had to say a Hail Mary. He introduced the misteries and in between each mistery and prayer there was a song (Party Time for the annunciation, etc). In this part have been played most of the songs that were part of the Lamb of God events like: God is Love, A sword will pierce your soul, Kiss me mother,... At the end, with Abba Father, the cross went all around the crowd, that was beautiful.
Once the rosary was complete started the adoration. Paddy kneeled down and faced the cross and the image of the Virgin. With the song I am the light of the world we lighted the candles we were given at the entrance and lights were taken off. The image of this was really great! During adoration everybody could just pray and wait for the right moment to bring the candle to the altar.
Before starting adoration, Paddy asked all of us to kneel down for the arrival of the Lord which was done with the classic Ecce Agnus Dei while we were all bowing as it passed by. And right after the invocation with Veni Sancte Spiritus. Then during adoration it was Jesus I trust in You, I didn't know you are so beautiful, Jesus, Adoramus te Domine, I thirst and then repeated Jesus. All of this in different languages (English, Spanish, French and Polish at some point).
At the beginning, while he was doin the mini-concert, he checked all the flags in the church and then asked who comes from where. He noticed there was quite a big Polish group on the front, some Spanish people and mostly French people so probably that is why he has chosen those languages, to reach everyone.
Once again the musicians were amazing and are improving at every event. Sven was taking care of everything and also making some people stop recording from time to time (because eventhough the brothers repeated that cameras couldn't be used, many people tried to take pictures and videos during the evening). Paddy was in a good mood and was wearing white pants and a grey and stripped shirt. He was once again not wearing any shoes for the event.
It was funny to see him during the son Party Time where he usually jumps in a certain point of the song and everyone kind of expects this jump. He noticed it was funny, was energetic and in a good mood so he did it some more times...
He also sang a couple of new songs so he seems to keep being creative. Both related to the Gospel I'd say, but couldn't really tell what they said cos the sound was not very clear sometimes. The church was huge and that made difficult to understand some things (specially when talking).
During the last prayer before concluding the adoration he left slowly through the door and vanished. Then all the people working at the event told everyone to just go outside. It was a beautiful event, with a lot of good music and intense times of prayer. God was present every single minute making this a very blessed moment in time. I think they were even surprised of the amount of pilgrims there. During the night many people left, either out of boredom or because it was too crowded/hot or they had to be at their groups before certain hours. Anyway it turned to be more comfortable with the time as we all had more space, though it kept being extremly hot!
The only thing I would comment on to finish this report is that the events of the Lamb of God were much more intimate and was much easier to meditate and get into the right mood.