Waterlitz spectacular draws thousands into Southampton

Waterlitz at Mayflower Park in Southampton Waterlitz at Mayflower Park in Southampton

FRENCH performance art show Waterlitz went ahead in Southampton tonight after it was postponed yesterday due to high winds.

A 60ft high totem, made of eight shipping containers in a nod to Southampton’s world famous port heritage, was brought alive in Mayflower Park with aerial acrobats, loud music and pyrotechnics.

The free extravaganza, by a French theatre company, lit up the skies over Southampton Water after sunset - but the audience of thousands that braved the rain was left divided.

Some hailed it as a great show, if a little bizarre. Many were left baffled, and others went home early deriding it as rubbish.

The show was due to go ahead last night but became the latest event to fall victim to the weather, just weeks after the Red Arrows flypast over Cunard’s three Queens in Southampton docks had to be cancelled due to torrential rain during the Jubilee weekend celebrations.

The event was a cross-Channel collaboration between The Nuffield and French street theatre experts Generik Vapeur.

Waterlitz was the finale in a spectacular series of EU-funded events that have been brought to the city by the council, Nuffield Theatre, Art at the Heart and the ZEPA partnership.

Midsummer Dreams, Alive and Ablaze and Barricade, which all took place in Guildhall Square, were hugely successful and Waterlitz was set to be the grandest of them all.

The council's leisure boss Cllr Warwick Payne had promised a “night to remember”.

Comments(28)

IronLady2010 says...
5:25pm Sun 17 Jun 12

Hope the weather is going to be good. Hope all those going have a wonderful evening!

dango says...
6:56pm Sun 17 Jun 12

I think I'll give it a miss. I can see enough boxes from my balcony.

Linesman says...
7:03pm Sun 17 Jun 12

Is this 60ft totem Southampton's answer to the Spinnaker Tower?

'The Angel of the South' it ain't!

BillyTheKid says...
7:35pm Sun 17 Jun 12

It reminds me of a giant tribute to the primary school practice of making something useless out of old shoe boxes and empty bog rolls and calling it "creative". It may even be the consequence of that practice !

IronLady2010 says...
8:47pm Sun 17 Jun 12

I'm guessing it's started and the weather is being nice for once! Long may it last and hope everyone has a fantastic time.

Enjoy yourselves with yet another event in Southampton, bring on more events!

BillyTheKid says...
9:33pm Sun 17 Jun 12

IronLady2010 wrote:
I'm guessing it's started and the weather is being nice for once! Long may it last and hope everyone has a fantastic time.

Enjoy yourselves with yet another event in Southampton, bring on more events!
Iron Lady, the lone voice of optimism and goodwill on this desolate forum !

I feel ashamed. I will try to be more positive.......but honestly.....a pile of rusty containers......but, yes I do, I too hope they all enjoy themselves.

Are you a nun, Iron Lady ? Iron Lady....Our Lady.......? I'm not being facetious. Nuns have a fantastic ability to turn negative into positive with just a few well-chosen words.

IronLady2010 says...
9:35pm Sun 17 Jun 12

BillyTheKid wrote:
IronLady2010 wrote:
I'm guessing it's started and the weather is being nice for once! Long may it last and hope everyone has a fantastic time.

Enjoy yourselves with yet another event in Southampton, bring on more events!
Iron Lady, the lone voice of optimism and goodwill on this desolate forum !

I feel ashamed. I will try to be more positive.......but honestly.....a pile of rusty containers......but, yes I do, I too hope they all enjoy themselves.

Are you a nun, Iron Lady ? Iron Lady....Our Lady.......? I'm not being facetious. Nuns have a fantastic ability to turn negative into positive with just a few well-chosen words.
Enjoy life Billy, no more to say! x

IronLady2010 says...
9:50pm Sun 17 Jun 12

Just put my bins out and it's raining, typical! Hope the show is a success despite the rain!

georgetheseventh says...
11:01pm Sun 17 Jun 12

IronLady2010 wrote:
Just put my bins out and it's raining, typical! Hope the show is a success despite the rain!
And the bin men are on strike tomorrow..shucks !!!!

georgetheseventh says...
11:03pm Sun 17 Jun 12

EU funded..thats not fair...?????

IronLady2010 says...
11:08pm Sun 17 Jun 12

georgetheseventh wrote:
IronLady2010 wrote:
Just put my bins out and it's raining, typical! Hope the show is a success despite the rain!
And the bin men are on strike tomorrow..shucks !!!!
Maybe you wish? I think the Bin men have learned their lesson that striking gets you no-where ;-) It took them a while but it sank in eventually!

localnews says...
11:41pm Sun 17 Jun 12

georgetheseventh wrote:
EU funded..thats not fair...?????
must be time for your bottle and nappy change

BenjiWinsor says...
12:14am Mon 18 Jun 12

My twitter newsfeed is clogged with people tweeting how rubbish this event is. Not one person was anything other than disappointed and glad to leave!

The Music Man says...
12:16am Mon 18 Jun 12

that was probably the most spectacular event that Southampton has ever seen. Whoever said it was rubbish is an idiot.

OSPREYSAINT says...
12:54am Mon 18 Jun 12

BenjiWinsor wrote:
My twitter newsfeed is clogged with people tweeting how rubbish this event is. Not one person was anything other than disappointed and glad to leave!
Yes, but this is Southampton, it is a job to find anyone with anything good to say about anything, especially on this site. Welcome to Southampton, the Moaning Capital of the World.

Dan Soton says...
4:32am Mon 18 Jun 12

The Music Man wrote:
that was probably the most spectacular event that Southampton has ever seen. Whoever said it was rubbish is an idiot.
best freebie ever.. should be annual event.

vag says...
5:56am Mon 18 Jun 12

It was a bit odd in places, but I got a free squeaky frog toy, and a cup of tea out of it, so it's a thumbs up from me.

Woolston woman Jane says...
7:26am Mon 18 Jun 12

I wish I'd gone now but the weather put me off. OK you can lump me in with "Southampton whingers" but this weather does spoil so much - my son and I went to the Three Queens event in Mayflower and people were soaked to the skin, it was so sad!

BenjiWinsor says...
8:00am Mon 18 Jun 12

Totton Funday on Saturday was the place to be! That was also free, no one moaned about that!

George4th says...
10:06am Mon 18 Jun 12

OSPREYSAINT wrote:
BenjiWinsor wrote:
My twitter newsfeed is clogged with people tweeting how rubbish this event is. Not one person was anything other than disappointed and glad to leave!
Yes, but this is Southampton, it is a job to find anyone with anything good to say about anything, especially on this site. Welcome to Southampton, the Moaning Capital of the World.
Amen!

BenjiWinsor says...
10:34am Mon 18 Jun 12

George4th wrote:
OSPREYSAINT wrote:
BenjiWinsor wrote:
My twitter newsfeed is clogged with people tweeting how rubbish this event is. Not one person was anything other than disappointed and glad to leave!
Yes, but this is Southampton, it is a job to find anyone with anything good to say about anything, especially on this site. Welcome to Southampton, the Moaning Capital of the World.
Amen!
Amen literally means "God's will be done". Used in that context, that is actually quite funny!

George4th says...
10:53am Mon 18 Jun 12

BenjiWinsor wrote:
George4th wrote:
OSPREYSAINT wrote:
BenjiWinsor wrote:
My twitter newsfeed is clogged with people tweeting how rubbish this event is. Not one person was anything other than disappointed and glad to leave!
Yes, but this is Southampton, it is a job to find anyone with anything good to say about anything, especially on this site. Welcome to Southampton, the Moaning Capital of the World.
Amen!
Amen literally means "God's will be done". Used in that context, that is actually quite funny!
I don't know where you get your information from but the definition of "Amen" is: "to express strong approval of or support for"

chrismatthewsj says...
11:07am Mon 18 Jun 12

I braved the rain last night and I love the way the Echo goes to the extreme! "Thousands" was actually more like hundreds and I'm afraid I am part of the unimpressed group! I am glad it was free otherwise I would be asking for a refund.

The program advertised "World Food"... all there was was a burger van with a 30 minute queue, a doughnut van and a sweet van. Inflatable entertainment was a joke too!

My highlight was the talent gazebo with some talented singers.

Even the on-lookers from the Holiday Inn disappeared from the windows half way through the performance and they were in the dry!!

BenjiWinsor says...
11:10am Mon 18 Jun 12

Bible college, can't dig out the exact stuff (in boxes) but Amen comes from a Hebrew word. Obviously the world may use the word differently now and it may be commonly used as you say, but the literal meaning is God's will be done.

George4th says...
11:41am Mon 18 Jun 12

BenjiWinsor wrote:
Bible college, can't dig out the exact stuff (in boxes) but Amen comes from a Hebrew word. Obviously the world may use the word differently now and it may be commonly used as you say, but the literal meaning is God's will be done.
I think either your memory is incorrect or your Bible College was preaching incorrectly!
Upon further exploration I give you the following:
"The word derives from a Semitic root meaning fixed or sure. The Greek Old Testament usually translates it as so be it; in the English Bible it is often translated as verily or truly"

bazzeroz says...
3:00pm Mon 18 Jun 12

IronLady2010 wrote:
georgetheseventh wrote:
IronLady2010 wrote:
Just put my bins out and it's raining, typical! Hope the show is a success despite the rain!
And the bin men are on strike tomorrow..shucks !!!!
Maybe you wish? I think the Bin men have learned their lesson that striking gets you no-where ;-) It took them a while but it sank in eventually!
They haven't finished yet!

OSPREYSAINT says...
12:15am Tue 19 Jun 12

George4th wrote:
BenjiWinsor wrote:
Bible college, can't dig out the exact stuff (in boxes) but Amen comes from a Hebrew word. Obviously the world may use the word differently now and it may be commonly used as you say, but the literal meaning is God's will be done.
I think either your memory is incorrect or your Bible College was preaching incorrectly!
Upon further exploration I give you the following:
"The word derives from a Semitic root meaning fixed or sure. The Greek Old Testament usually translates it as so be it; in the English Bible it is often translated as verily or truly"
To be politically correct we should be saying aperson these days?

Dan Soton says...
5:52am Tue 19 Jun 12

Poll.. fare comparison

-

Mayflower Park Waterlitz spectacular Vs Woolston/Weston shore Millennium fireworks display.

-

P.S. for those unaware don't hold your breath for the next thousand years

click2find

About cookies

We want you to enjoy your visit to our website. That's why we use cookies to enhance your experience. By staying on our website you agree to our use of cookies. Find out more about the cookies we use.

I agree