Peter Viney's Blog

Mike Oldfield’s Tubular Bells 50th Anniversary
Poole Lighthouse

Conducted and Arranged by Robin Smith

Thursday 9th February 2023

19.30

Robin Smith- MD / piano / keyboards
Jay Stapley- guitar, vocal
Maxime Obadia – guitars, mandolin, keyboards
Kwesi Edman – cello
Lisa Featheston – bass guitar, lead vocal
Daisy Bevan – vocals
Louisa Anna Duggan – percussion, tubular bells
Adam Morris – percussion, xylophone, drums, tubular bells

Sam Ferstenberg – sound engineer
Tom Pryce- guitar tech

SET:

FIRST PART:
Opening Theme from Tubular Bells II (Oldfield) 1992
Theme from Ommadawn (Oldfield) 1975
Theme fromReturn to Ommadawn (Oldfield) 2017
To France (from Discovery) (Oldfield) 1984
Moonlight Shadow (Oldfield) 1983
Family Man (Oldfield et al) 1982
The Gem (Robin Smith) 2021

SECOND PART
Tubular Bells (Oldfield) 1973

ENCORE
Hornpipe (Oldfield)

This is the fourth concert on the tour. There are twenty-eight more to go. Tonight the hall was full. The applause was ecstatic. What is there not to like? Nothing. This tour will get near anyone in Great Britain from Torquay to Llandudno to Perth.

They append Mike Oldfield’s name. Some curmudgeonly people think it was to sell tickets based on his name when he won’t be present. No, think about it. They advertise Beethoven’s 5th Symphony, not just 5th Symphony, or Dvorak’s New World Symphony and no one (well, very few) go out complaining that there was no sign of Ludwig or Antonín on the grand piano. Anyway, given that Mike Oldfield played ALL the instruments on the original (eighteen on side one sixteen on side two), which one would you assign to him?

I see it rather like The Australian Pink Floyd, when it’s a largely instrumental piece, other players can reproduce it just about perfectly, which is not true of a singer. A voice, like a fingerprint, has a unique quality. It can be measured. Robin Smith was Oldfield’s long-time arranger and collaborator. So, yes, I definitely rate this as the official version not “a tribute.”

I do have a first pressing of the record, the first ever Virgin LP. VS2001. It was around so much in 1973 that you really hardly needed a copy. Judging the audience, a large percentage of them remember 1973. It’s a VERY popular tour. The start of Tubular Bells itself brought instant applause. It was the sound inside Virgin Atlantic planes during boarding and disembarking, if they weren’t playing Phil Collins, that is. In fact, over the years we’ve played Oldfield’s Incantations more than Tubular Bells, but I bought the Tubular Bells II CD out of curiosity. The best time I ever heard Tubular Bells was the filmed version, which Supertramp chose to have played instead of a support act on the Crime of The Century tour, and it was played through their superb sound system. After that, I tended to think, ‘I won’t hear it like that again.’

The set was dark icy blue, and looked transparent with haze hovering. Percussionists and those tubular bells were at the top, then we had piano and keyboards, both guitarists, bass guitarist, vocals, cello across the stage. The guitar tech deserves a credit, Maxime Obadia had two acoustic guitars (one with centre pick up, one not), three electric guitars (at least) and a mandolin. He was constantly switching, at one point four instruments in five minutes. The sleeve to the 1973 original lists six guitar types. He also adds the minimalist keyboard line at the start of Tubular Bells Part One.

Jay Stapely stuck to Stratocaster in the first part of the show, switched to a small electric for Tubular Bells Part One and back to the Stratocaster for part two. He had that perfect mellifluous Mike Oldfield sound too. He has been a top session player for decades. He stepped up to sing lead vocal on Family Man.

Bass guitar and cello work together well, in this case electric cello. Vocals are mainly used as an instrument, with Daisy Bevan on the ‘vocal as an instrument role.’ Lisa Featherston sings in the first half of the show, on two numbers, the first from Ommadawn wordless mainly, the second Moonlight Shadow done as well as you’ll ever hear it. When she sings she leaves her bass guitar and stands and gives it her all (which is where cello becomes doubly important). Apart from those two songs, she sticks to bass guitar. The two percussionists each to get the chance to chime those tubular bells – anyone would want to. Adam Morris also does conventional drums (one of the two additions on Oldfield’s original) and xylophone. I wondered what they were going to do about Viv Stanshall’s vocal interjections (Mandolin! Spanish guitar!). Wisely they punch them in from the sound board.

The sound mix was impeccable, which is rare for rock at Poole Lighthouse Concert Hall. It’s designed for symphony concerts and if a band wind up the amplification too much it bounces all over the place and impedes clarity. They had the measure of the hall. It was crystal clear, beautifully balanced.

Observations? I loved the first part of the show with the varied material just as much as the second.

Tubular Bells Part One is so familiar. I’m aware that we played Part One on record much more than Part two- it’s those tubular bells. That was emphasized tonight listening after quite a while.

The encore was Hornpipe with the audience exhorted to clap along, and we clapped till our hands were sore.

There are a lot of Tubular Bells about. This adds a new CD from the Royal Festival Hall (on sale at the show). Amazon is doing a “tour special” on the blu ray of that show at £10. Yes, I ordered it. This is a show to see. It left me with new admiration for the young Mike Oldfield’s creation, arranged differently, but still the music is what counts.