I can be inflexible when it comes to planning my holiday schedule. If someone suggested I record my itinerary on a tablet, I'd use a chisel rather than a touch screen. So I was a bit freaked out when my holiday plans slowly unravelled. We had to cancel an overnight stay in Fort William and a trip on the Jacobite steam train after my dog fell ill; my Saxon gig got rescheduled after singer Biff Byford needed heart surgery; then Mr Singh's phoned to say there weren't enough people booked for Sunday's Pakora Masterclass so asked us to move to the Saturday instead. My plans were in tatters.
My wife, however, saw this as an opportunity and suggested we go to 'The Music of BOND' at the Concert Hall. I wasn't that keen but thought what the hell. If I didn't go, she would have gone with her mother and I would have ended up dogsitting four pooches instead.
I didn't really know what to expect other than an orchestra. I had hoped for movie clips of classic scenes but the lack of a screen on the stage put paid to that notion.
As the auditorium began to fill up, I realised from the age of the audience that this was going to be more of a Radio 2 'Friday Night is Music Night' style concert, only on a Sunday afternoon. The 28 piece orchestra started at the beginning with the classic Bond theme and treated us to a chronological journey through the soundtrack back catalogue, spiced up with sidesteps into the Pink Panther theme and a medley of crime theme tunes from tv and film, British in the first half and American in the second. I certainly wasn't expecting to hear the 'Hong Kong Phooey' theme being played today. In between, conductor Rigby acted as host and narrator giving us information about the music.
In hindsight, it seems obvious, but the lack of any backing tracks impressed me. The orchestra was tight and sounded amazing. I was able to pick out individual instruments and the way the sound gelled was superb.
Two singers were used and both had incredible voices. I particularly enjoyed Tim belting out Garbage's 'The World Is Not Enough' and Chris Cornell's 'You Know My Name'. Louise has a super range too, whether she's singing Adele's 'Skyfall' or any of the Shirley Bassey numbers.
They omitted one tune along the way. I wondered if it had been missed due to cost as Paul McCartney doesn't come cheap but it was being saved for the finale, with both singers duetting the famous number. It didn't have the impact of Paul's live version (no pyros) but Live and Let Die still left me smiling. A great way to finish the afternoon. The audience gave all the performers a standing ovation and it was well deserved.
I guess I've reached that age now where I should be looking for my slippers, pulling on a cardigan, tuning the wireless to Scala FM and sitting back to relax with a Horlicks and a Werthers Original.
Tommy Vance will be spinning in his grave.
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