James Bond Concert Spectacular in London's West End

Comments

• Barbel ScotlandPosts: 37,868Chief of Staff

  December 2018

  Great, thanks.
• Shady Tree London, UKPosts: 2,998MI6 Agent

  March 2019

  Got my ticket and looking forward to this.

  Critics and material I don't need. I haven't changed my act in 53 years.
• Shady Tree London, UKPosts: 2,998MI6 Agent

  March 2019 edited March 2019

  Shady Tree wrote:

  Got my ticket and looking forward to this.

  
  This was a great evening.
  
  Warren Ringham is obviously a huge John Barry fan. Three suites of Barry cues were strategically integrated to the programme, including, brilliantly, a suite from 'The Living Daylights': the excitement of 'Ice Chase' was followed by the melancholy romance of 'Kara Meets Bond' (beautifully counterpointed later by 'Wine With Stacey', in a 'View To A Kill' suite), though personally I'd have preferred the peril of 'Necros Attacks'/ 'Inflight Fight' to the jaunty 'Hercules Takes Off'.
  
  Beyond Barry, I never thought I'd hear Marvin Hamlisch's 'Bond 77' played live, yet there it was in all its jazzy, disco-inflected glory, opening the second half of the evening - after a tribute to Sir Roger Moore had completed the first part with 'Nobody Does It Better'.
  
  Even the recordings chosen for play before the performances, as we were taking our seats, and during the break, signalled serious Bond music geekery, with 'Only Myself To Blame', 'Make It Last All Night', the instrumental arrangement of 'Mister Kiss Kiss Bang Bang' from the 'Thunderball' album, and the ragtime riff on 'The Man With The Golden Gun' piped to whet the appetite.
  
  The substance of the show was, of course, the performances of the Bond songs. All the main title songs except 'Die Another Day' were in the line-up. Kerry Schultz knocked the socks off every one she took on, often with only short breaks or no breaks at all between all those 'power songs'. There were many highlights - the most stunning being 'License To Kill', interpreted with complete commitment. Kerry's duet with Matt Walker for 'You Know My Name' rocked the house; a duet for 'The Living Daylights' did full justice to a-Ha, and, for me, Kerry redeemed 'The Writing's On The Wall' in her female vocal rendition - a hard act to end with after the exquisite 'Skyfall'. 'Surrender' was a wonderful choice as the encore. Kudos, too, to Matt Walker for holding on to the final note of 'Thunderball' in true Tom Jones style, a feat often evaded in tribute acts.
  
  A couple of showgirl dancers, costumed variously for period and theme, added to the spectacle for some songs, with skin-tight golden body suits for 'Goldeneye' as racy as it would be possible to get for a family entertainment!
  
  Maddie Smith was joined on this occasion by Caroline Bliss as her fellow compere, cheerfully going off script at a number of points, to keep it all good humoured. Caroline, of course, gave a mention to her Barry Manilow collection... but that's another Barry for another show!

  Critics and material I don't need. I haven't changed my act in 53 years.