Let’s deal with the elephant in the room first. This gig was part of a tour which is advertised in the tour section of Mike Oldfield’s official website where it says:
To celebrate the 50th anniversary of Tubular Bells, the iconic masterpiece will be performed live with a full band across the UK in Spring 2023, conducted and arranged by Oldfield’s long term collaborator Robin Smith.
It is billed as: “Mike Oldfield’s Tubular Bells: The 50th Anniversary Celebration – UK Tour 2023”. It also appears on Mike Oldfield’s facebook page as: “Mike Oldfield’s Tubular Bells LIVE IN CONCERT’. And yet, no Mike Oldfields appear on stage. Can I say that again in a slightly different way? It is not a Mike Oldfield concert where he plays Tubular Bells, rather it is a concert where Tubular Bells is played by Robin Smith and other musicians… but it does not feature Mike Oldfield. While the advertising and promotion of the tour does not explicitly state Mike Oldfield will be playing, I would argue that it is implied.
Certainly, many people (me included) assumed Mike Oldfield would be performing when they bought the tickets (see many disgruntled messages on his Facebook page for evidence of this). At best, there is unclear advertising; at worst there is deliberate deception. The music is strong enough to stand on its own and (arguably), like many other pieces of music, it deserves a life beyond the performing life of its creator. You don’t, for example, expect to see Mr Handel appear at a performance of Handel’s Messiah, but I think it would have been better to make it clearer that people were not buying tickets to see the man himself.
If you like what we do, consider joining us on Patreon for as little as £1 per month!
I’m sorry to start this review on such a negative note because, once I’d accepted Mike’s absence, I thoroughly enjoyed the performance! To counterbalance my grumpiness above, I’ll say that again in a slightly different way: it was a really good concert. The musicians were all extremely talented: Robin Smith on keyboards and conducting duties held everything together; the two percussionists (Joley Cragg and Adam Morris) looked like they were having a great time; the young guitarist/mandolinist (Maxime Obadia) seemed to have a different stringed instrument stuffed into his (very) musical hands every time he turned round while the equally talented Jay Stapley had to swap guitars all on his own; Lisa Featherstone’s bass playing and vocals were outstanding; Kwêsi Edman’s cello added depth and colour; and Amy Carson’s ethereal vocalising was astonishingly good.
As if to underline the “concert rather than gig” nature of the night, there was a printed programme with a list of the music, the musicians and crew. According to this programme, the tunes for the evening would be:
- Theme from Tubular Bells II
- Theme from Ommadawn
- Theme from Return to Ommadawn
- To France
- Moonlight Shadow
- Family Man
- The Gem (music by Robin A Smith)
- –Interval–
- Tubular Bells
I am not overly familiar with “Tubular Bells II” but, if there was a theme from Ommadawn played, it passed me by! I enjoyed the first three offerings, but it was only when we reached “To France” that I felt I knew where I was.
The staging was interesting with Robin appearing first with the other musicians gradually joining him on stage. (I should say the “smoke filled stage” – I’m guessing about half the price of my ticket went on the smoke machine!) For example, Lisa Featherstone first appeared to sing “To France” in full 1970s hippy chick mode. She then picked up her bass and adding her excellent playing to the mix before coming forward again to sing “Moonlight Shadow”. According to the programme, there is no gap between the two songs where Lisa sang but I beg to differ. As far as I could hear, there was a lengthy instrumental piece between the two. A quick Google suggests it was probably “Summit Day”. Moonlight Shadow was followed by a spirited rendition of “Family Man” with Jay Stapley on vocals. Given the lyrics of the song, I think the rough and ready vocals from and older gentleman (sorry Jay) worked better than the original recording that featured Maggie Reilly.
Don’t fancy Patreon? Buy us a one-off beverage!
After a short break, Robin came back on stage and started noodling at the piano but, very quickly, this morphed into the theme from Tubular Bells… and the audience roared its approval. This was clearly what everyone had been waiting for. Have I mentioned how talented this group of musicians are? They delivered an outstanding version of “Tubular Bells”! I was wondered how the introduction to the various instruments at the end of part one would be handled and I think they used samples of the original recording but, if it wasn’t, it was sufficiently Vivian Stanshall-ish to keep me happy. The conclusion of “Tubular Bells” part one was greeted with a standing ovation… and part two was still to follow! The second part of “Tubular Bells” was received just as enthusiastically as the first and the concert ended with a spirited (and ridiculously fast) rendition of the “Sailors Hornpipe” performed as an encore.
It is a pity it was not clearer that we weren’t going to a Mike Oldfield concert but, once I’d got over the initial disappointment, I thoroughly enjoyed the evening. If you like Tubular Bells and want to hear it performed live by a bunch of brilliant musicians, this tour is well worth the ticket price.
I think if it is advertised as ‘Mike Oldfield’s Tubular Bells’ then it is pretty obvious that this is going to be a concert of his music, which means of course that the original composer will not be present. It is more than a little naive to assume he would be.
I don’t agree. Take “Ritchie Blackmore’s Rainbow”. It features Ritchie Blackmore.