“Sprites. Fairies. Bring some magic dust.” (From The Glasshouse website). That is exactly how I remember this play. As a child I had some strange interests. My parents gave me a copy of the complete works of Shakespeare when I was very. I soon became fascinated by the book and this particular tale of actors like Oberon, Titania and Puck. Today, some 60 years later, I remember little of their adventures, but I still retain a sense of magic about the ancient tale. So it was with some childhood memories, which I carried along with me, to this concert.
I know, this is hardly vintage rock, but it was a memorable experience and one which I felt worthy of inclusion on my blog. The Glasshouse website continued: “It wouldn’t be a season-opening concert without our very own Royal Northern Sinfonia, Chorus and Principal Conductor Dinis Sousa. They’re joined by special guest, pianist Kristian Bezuidenhout, who returns after his incredible BBC Prom with us last summer, and two superb Samling singers making their debut performances with us, Charlotte Bowden and Jessica Cale. Be whisked away into the wondrous world of William Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, with Mendelssohn’s very own musical version of it, plus Mozart’s serene Piano Concerto No.21.”
The cast included: Dinis Sousa conductor; Kristian Bezuidenhout piano; Charlotte Bowden and Jessica Cale soprano; Alexander Knox narrator; Tim Burke chorus director and the rest of the Royal Northern Sinfonia. I went along out of curiosity and because, as a friend of The Glasshouse I was invited to see the performance and partake in preshow drinks. How could I resist? It would be rude to decline this tempting invitation.
The website continued: “First up you’ll hear the serene sounds of Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 21, in which the delicate fragility of the central movement (made famous by the film Elvira Madigan) contrasts with an ending that is entirely devoted to fun. Mendelssohn’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream incorporates text from the play and transports you to the mischievous, entrancing and beguiling world of Shakespeare’s play.”
“Addicted to Mozart Kristian Bezuidenhout confessed to falling in love with the music of Mozart after watching the 1984 film Amadeus, portraying the life and sometimes raucous times of the composer. He went on to create an album of the complete keyboard works of Mozart. You can hear him talking about his passion here.”
As I have said above, this was a new experience for me. It is very rare that I witness an orchestral performance. Having said that, the juxtaposition of Shakespeare, a Midsummer Night’s Dream, and the Royal Northern Symphony Orchestra intrigued me. I really enjoyed the concert and was pleased that I went along. I may well go to similar performances in the future. Many thanks to The Glasshouse for inviting me along.
I recall going to see many movies: all of the Disney cartoons,The Man from Uncle films, Cliff Richard in Summer Holiday, Born Free, Christopher Lee as Fu Manchu, the Beatles in Hard Days Night and Help and, of course, all of the James Bond films from Doctor No onwards through From Russia with Love, Goldfinger, Thunderball, the spoof Casino Royale and You Only Live Twice.
I was a massive fan of the Sean Connery Bond films and the theme tunes: the James Bond theme by the 
So I was looking forward to this performance of the James Bond theme songs and music, by no less than the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra with conductor 
The concert itself was excellent with great deliveries of the songs going from the early Sean Connery days up to the present day and epics such as “Skyfall” originally performed by Adele and “A View to a Kill” originally performed by Duran Duran. The vocalists delivered the songs excellently and the entire concert was just fine. I even decided to buy some of my old favourites on eBay (see images) and I purchased a natty little programme at the concert.
Many thanks to Chris for the images and navigating the site again. By the way, Sean Connery was still the best Bond. I still live back in the 1960s and my happy memories of the cinema with my dad. This concert took me back some 60 years. Happy days.
Setlist: Dr No – Theme; You Only Live Twice – Title Song; GoldenEye – Title Song; Live and Let Die – Title Theme; From Russia With Love – Title Song; Quantum of Solace – Another Way to Die; The World is Not Enough – Title Song; Goldfinger – Title Song; A View to a Kill – Title Song;
Thunderball -Title Song; Skyfall – Title Song; For Your Eyes Only – Title Song; The Spy Who Loved Me – Nobody Does It Better; Moonraker – Title Theme; No Time to Die – Title Song; On Her Majestys Secret Service – We Have All the Time in the World; Casino Royale – You Know My Name; Diamonds Are Forever – Title Song; Spectre – The Writings on the wall; Licence to Kill – Title Song
A night of memories, all connected, all intertwined and all came together for a special occasion at the glorious Sage Concert Hall, Gateshead. It is 50 years since 
Memory 1. This first memory is a little hazy. A group of friends and I made the trip to Newcastle in 1973 to see one of the first showings of the film The Exorcist. I think, local councils had the final say as to whether this controversial horror epic could be shown in their city. Sunderland decided to ban the film, but nearby Newcastle decided to allow it to be shown. It was a Sunday afternoon showing, we had all read a lot about the movie, and how scary it was. The film was showing at the Essoldo cinema in Newcastle (see image from Wikimedia Commons of the film opening in the USA). At this stage I had not heard Tubular Bells but, from that day on, the movie and the recurring piano theme from Mike Oldfield’s classic album are linked forever in my mind. To say the film was scary is an understatement. The impact the film had upon me and my friends cannot be underestimated. We were terrified, especially by the scenes where the possessed Regan lay on the bed spewing green slime, emanating smoke and screaming expletives including “your mother sucks c***ks in hell!”. I can watch the film now and it doesn’t seem too bad, but on that Sunday afternoon as a teenager it seemed to be the most frightening thing I ever saw!
Memory 2. Having heard Tubular Bells in the above film, and read about the album in Sounds, I decide to go out and buy the LP (I still live in the land of vinyl and like to call records LPs!) I play it to death and becomes, and remains one of my favourite albums of all time. The mix of piano music, orchestral, Viv Stanshall’s announcements of the instruments including the tubular bells themselves, electronica and jazz remains an entrancing experience for the listener. I still possess a copy and play it now and then.
Memory 3. Newcastle City Hall 1974 (see ticket). The progressive rock/psychedelic band Gong go out on tour along with a film of the recording of Tubular Bells. Another hazy memory. I think the film was shown last, after performances by Hatfield and the North and the aforementioned Gong who were well into their crazy pothead pixies phase. I seem to recall quite basic graphics with a projector showing the hour-long film on to a quite simple screen. The film followed the recording through the phases of the album, showing the musicians playing each part. It was the closest we would get to any sort of performance of Tubular Bells at the time and was very entertaining.
Memory 4. Newcastle City Hall again. 1975 (see ticket). This time an orchestra is performing Tubular Bells to a very empty hall. The support act is Last Exit to feature on bass guitar, Gordon Sumner, otherwise known as Sting, who would, of course, go on to achieve international fame with his later band The Police. Interestingly, the guitarist in the orchestra performing Tubular Bells was none other than Andy Summers, who would later join Sting in The Police. Did they meet that night and forge an early friendship? Who knows. Such is the stuff of legend. An interesting evening spent with a couple of hundred other attendees.
Memory 5. The City Hall yet again. The 1980s and Mike Oldfield has decided to go out on the road with a band and perform selections of his material including Tubular Bells and segments from his other albums. He had also achieved singles chart success with the lovely song “Moonlight Shadow” sung by Maggie Riley who, I think, joined him on at least one of the two performances I attended (See example ticket: there were two concerts in different years). Two great evenings with a true genius.
Now, I take the opportunity to see Tubular Bells performed once more, this time by a small orchestra/band in the Sage Gateshead. No appearance by Mike Oldfield on this occasion. The performance is advertised thus: “To celebrate the 50th anniversary of Tubular Bells, the iconic masterpiece will be performed live with a full band at Sage Gateshead next Spring, conducted and arranged by Oldfield’s long term collaborator Robin Smith. Tubular Bells was the debut studio album by English multi-instrumentalist, composer and songwriter Mike Oldfield conceived in 1971 and finally released in 1973. Oldfield who was just 17 years old when he started composing the music, recorded and played almost all of the instruments on the album. It gained worldwide acclaim when the opening theme was used for the soundtrack of the horror film, The Exorcist and went on to become the highest selling instrumental album of all time. A bold and progressive fusion, Tubular Bells is a journey through classical, jazz, folk, prog rock and electronica.”
The performance is in two segments. The first short 30 minute segment comprises short sections from Mike Oldfield’s other works including the aforementioned “Moonlight Shadow” performed exquisitely by a female singer. They also perform “Family Man” which was a hit for Hall and Oates. I was not aware that Oldfield wrote that song. You learn something every day. After a short interval the ensemble returns and performs Tubular Bells in its entirety, authentically, and just like my old LP! It starts, through a fog of dry ice, with The Exorcist accompaniment piano piece, performed by Robin Smith on a grand piano. He then moves on to conduct the band through the remainder of the piece complete with excellent twin guitars, fuzz guitar, Viv Stanshall (his voice, that is) introducing the instruments and first class vocalists. An hour later and the performance concludes with “the sailors Horn Pipe” just as on the album. Mike Oldfield used to perform this when he was a member of New World, a band led by Kevin Ayres. Another hazy memory: I remember New World performing at Sunderland Top Rank around 1970 supporting someone like Quintessence. Sadly, I was too young to go along to that show. And it is all over, on time at 9:30 PM. No photography was allowed hence no images of the show on this blog entry. An excellent performance and a very pleasant evening for my carer Jackie and me.
A bit of an adventure To see a celebration of the life of the composing genius and legend 
Now thinking back, I knew that I had to carefully plan a journey of the tube. Things are very different since I have become disabled. You can only embark upon, and alight from, the tube at certain stations as the gap (“mind the gap please when alighting at the station”) between platform and train is too wide at some stations. Also, not every station has a lift; after all this is a very old, and very efficient, underground travel facility. I knew all this yet I didn’t plan for this journey. Something told me everything would be okay. Big mistake.
We manage to get on the tube at King’s Cross and travel along the Northern line to Archway. However when we alight the train, we find there is no lift! We take advice and it seems the best way forward is to return to King’s Cross and get a bus to Archway. So this is what we do. The bus is very efficient, easy to get on, as every London bus has a ramp which comes out magically from the central entrance to the bus. The bus seems to stop at many different locations along the way but we are soon at Archway. We walk to the hotel which is quite close to Archway tube station. By now it is around 6 PM. After some argy-bargy about the hoist which seems to be missing the arm which the sling attaches to, and which involves finding a friendly guy who gets aforementioned arm from another room.
I have a short rest and my carers have a short freshen up before it is time to get to the O2. We had telephoned the information line which told us that the concert started at 8:30 PM. So plenty of time (or so we thought). Another mistake. The adventure continues. The very friendly lady on reception tells us that the best way to get to the venue is to use a London taxi cab. We soon learn that all London cabs have now been updated since the last time I was in the capital and have a ramp which enables me to get into the side of the vehicle easily, leaving room for three passengers to sit on the rear seat. The taxi takes us through some very familiar street names including the Holloway Road, Stanley Road and some quite “posh areas” of London town.
The concert is like nothing else I have ever experienced. It is a true multimedia extravaganza with a screen showing segments of classic movies such as the Good, the Bad and The Ugly and The Mission, alongside films I have never heard of such as a Fistful of Dynamite. Familiar images of my hero Clint Eastwood pop up onto the screen as the familiar theme tune from the Good, the Bad and the Ugly is delivered by orchestra, electric band, a choir and soloist. The sound is fantastic and the visuals excellent. The choir, band, orchestra and soloists are all first class. This is a sound very different to the rock bands I am used to. But it is loud, clear and very emotive; particularly when it is accompanying clips from such iconic movies.
I remember as a young teenager when the Hugo Montenegro version of the soundtrack theme for the Good, the Bad and the Ugly was number 1 in the UK singles chart for many weeks. I bought the single and played and played it again and again. When I finally got to see the movie I was spellbound by Clint Eastwood and how cool “the man with no name” was. I had to wait until I was a little older to see the film as it was, if I recall correctly, X-rated at the time. Even then I managed to get in to see it when I was quite young and felt so excited at seeing such forbidden treasure! It just shows you how times change. The violence of the film warranted, at the time, an adults only rating. Today it would be seen as quite mild compared to some of the violence in modern movies. The haunting theme, guitar and harmonica were simply tremendous.
Celebration of the work of Ennio Morricone played for one night to a full house. ….Under the baton of Morricone’s son Andrea, a selection of extracts from just a few of the 500+ scores that the Maestro had penned were played by the Flanders Philharmonic Orchestra, the programme having been largely devised and curated by Morricone himself prior to his sad passing in July 2020.”(From 
After a short wait we are back into another taxi and off to the Premier Inn Archway. I am hoisted into bed and decide that I’m hungry. Another big mistake. I wait forever for a pizza delivery which finally comes at 1:30 AM by which time I am falling asleep as my carer tries to feed me cold slices of pizza. I fall asleep. Before I know it is time to get up have a slice of toast and a quick wash and off we go to King’s Cross on the bus. Soon our friendly Grand Central train takes us back up north and the adventure ends. So, a whistlestop tour of London, an excellent, very different, concert and overall an exciting adventure. Happy days.
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