FESTIVAL MUSIC | Reviews
MIKE OLDFIELD’S TUBULAR BELLS ‘FOR TWO’ Musicians on a mission to recreate a prog masterwork ●●●●●
There’s a full band’s worth of kit and more onstage, and only two young guys dressed all in black in charge of it. That’s in contrast to their audience, silver-haired ladies and gentlemen (mostly gentlemen) of a certain age, waiting expectantly for a return to their prog youth via the medium of an album whose reputation has persevered through the decades since its 1973 release.
As the familiar opening notes of the Exorcist- soundtracking ‘Tubular Bells Part One’ kick in, there are early indications they won’t be disappointed by this sonic recreation. Australians Daniel Holdsworth and Aidan Roberts have created what is on one level an accurate tribute act representation of a most unusual subject and on another a work of pure theatre. They play guitars and plenty of them; keyboards; a kazoo; a drumkit at one poundingly atmospheric point late in ‘Part Two’; and, of course, a bank of tubular bells standing TARDIS-like and bathed in blue light in the background.
It’s a set of analogue immediacy, startlingly fluid musicianship and perhaps most importantly, real dramatic tension as they race to meet each new musical cue. The fact they pause for breath and to ‘turn the record over’ midway through the show will doubtless charm their vinyl enthusiast target audience even more. (David Pollock) ■ Underbelly Bristo Square, 0844 545 8252, until 26 Aug (not 12, 19), 5.45pm, £15–£13 (£13–£11).
S E M O G L U A P S E M A J
WORBEY AND FARRELL Polite piano duets à la Classic FM ●●●●●
DRUM STRUCK Interactive drum thumping family fun ●●●●● ANATOMY OF THE PIANO Ivory tinkling with obsessed piano-man ●●●●●
En route to the Assembly Rooms, a retired chap in all-terrain sandals describes walking out of a comedy show once the farting competition began. If only he had chosen Worbey and Farrell instead: two polite, well-mannered fellows in waistcoats playing duets on a grand piano: cross Daniel O’Donnell with Classic FM and you are smelling the Persil from the audience’s well-pressed slacks already. Bona fide concert pianists, they initially keep their virtuosity quiet with showy party pieces, funny faces and endearingly lame patter. There is an educational bit where marbles on piano strings recreate film soundtracks. It stays on the right side of gimmicky.
When the overhead camera comes on though, and we watch their four hands scooting over the keys, it becomes clear that it’s ferociously difficult to make complex duets sound this effortless. Their own composition, ‘Deviations on Paganini’s Caprice’, is a hugely accomplished, technically eye-dropping piece of manual choreography. Kevin Farrell has to blink sweat from his eyes as he plays.
A highlight is their version of Coldplay’s ‘Every Teardrop Is A Waterfall’. It sounds so much better without the whiny nasal vocal. (Anna Burnside) ■ The Assembly Rooms, 0844 693 3008, until 15 Aug, 2.45pm, £9–£10.
72 THE LIST FESTIVAL 8–15 Aug 2013
Even before we enter the room, the ingredients are in place to make this show by South African drumming group Drum Café one of the sleeper family hits of this year’s festival. The premise is simple – there are lots of drummers onstage and everyone in the audience has their own drum waiting on their chair when they arrive. As the show progresses, we get to join in with a thundering rhythmic chorus or a soft percussive patter with the musicians before us. It’s great fun, and the two leads directing us
(the ‘Drummaker’ and the ‘Ubuntu Queen’) build a perfectly accepting environment in which we all learn some rhythmic basics just by watching and repeating, while at the same time avoiding the feeling of self-consciousness caused by being rubbish at playing when the sounds we’re making join into one thrilling whole. The visual settings are a little trite, from tribespeople in the desert to an urban street crew, but the very simple message of community and helping each other to become more than we’re individually capable of, summed up by the word ‘Ubuntu’, is beautifully, resonantly realised. (David Pollock) ■ Assembly Hall, 623 3030, until 26 Aug (not 12), 6pm, £16–£14 (£14–£12).
Summerhall’s Anatomy Lecture Theatre is an apt venue for Will Pickvance’s one-man show. Perhaps it was even written with it in mind, as the hour-long entertainment of part lecture, part recital, part taking a piano to bits has broad similarities with what the Victorian circular teaching space was designed for.
Pickvance is an incredibly versatile musician. In the form of a personal meandering narrative, his piano journey goes from wanting to be a spaceman – cue twinkling stars in the top register and dreamy, other worldly improvisation – to the implications of dating a piano with its chubby cheeks and prominent teeth. It’s a lot of fun, underpinned by a serious talent that just keeps on playing the notes, whether in the style of Beethoven, Brahms or Victoria Wood. Witty drawings by Tim Vincent-Smith are also
projected onto the theatre’s whiteboard, illustrating Pickvance’s various ponderings. For instance, what happens when an upright and a grand piano get together to mate? They make a baby grand, of course. And there’s even some gentle audience participation, joining Will in his signature tune, ‘Most Entertaining’. Sums it up really. (Carol Main) ■ Summerhall, 0845 874 3001, until 25 Aug, 10.50pm, £10 (£6).