Mike Oldfield's Tubular Bells - The 50th Anniversary Experience
A magnificent tribute to one of England's finest modern contemporary rock composers.
Released in May 1973, Mike Oldfield’s ‘Tubular Bells’ was the very first album to appear on Richard Branson’s Virgin Records, and was initially a slow seller. That all changed with the release of ‘The Exorcist‘, an 18 certificate supernatural horror film that used Tubular Bells' opening theme as its soundtrack. For me, though, it was the New Years Day highlights show from BBC2's ‘The Old Grey Whistle Test’ that first introduced me to Mr Oldfield and his phenomenal bells. The said album joined my vinyl collection, and followed me to university in the autumn of 1976, just as punk was kicking off on the Kings Road. I probably never listened to it again until the 1980’s, by which time I was married and back living in Norwich, and when the compact disc version meant that I could listen to the entire opus as one, long, continuous track.
Fifty years on from that landmark release, Mr Oldfield has hung up his bells, and retired to the Bahamas. So, 'Mike Oldfield's Tubular Bells – The 50th Anniversary Experience' becomes exactly what it says on the tin – a live concert, a musical experience, on stage for one night only this week at Norwich Theatre Royal, performed by an eight piece band led by former Oldfield collaborator Robin A Smith.
The show is split into two halves, although the first half, with its selection of instrumental themes and songs from Oldfield's back catalogue is really just a taster, an amuse-bouche, perhaps, for the main attraction. Bass guitarist Lisa Featherstone's vocals on 'To France' and 'Moonlight Shadow' fare slightly better than guitarist Jay Stapley's on 'Family Man', and the themes from 'Tubular Bells 2', 'Ommadawn', and 'Return to Ommadawn' are seemingly coalesced into one instrumental suite.
However, after the interval, there was no mistaking the tingling sense of excitement as Robin A Smith picked out those first few bars from the original Tubular Bells, and the hairs on the back of our necks stood duly to attention. What followed was a truly stunning interpretation of one of the most familiar pieces of music in the entire rock canon, made even more beautiful by the thrilling vocal contribution from soprano Anastasia Bevan; the powerful bass guitar of Lisa Featherstone; the electric cello of Kwêsi Edman; the lead guitar of Jay Stapley; and percussion from both Tom Marsdena and Adam Morris.
Led by keyboard from Robin A Smith, and with some extraordinary deft instrument changes from acoustic to electric guitar, to mandolin and back, with a debuting replacement guitarist in place of tour regular, Maxime Obadia, Mike Oldfield's 'Tubular Bells' lost none of its magnificence, and the performance thrilled the audience from start to finish during this fifty minute rendition.
Once the audience applause had eventually subsided, the band returned with a rousing, stamp-along finale of the Sailor's Hornpipe, a wonderful encore with which to end this magnificent tribute to one of England's finest modern contemporary rock composers.
