As a lifelong fan of the James Bond movies (and the original Ian Fleming novels), I'd been wanting to see the highly-acclaimed 'Q The Music' orchestra for several years, now. Finally, the stars aligned, and I found myself heading over to Wrexham to see 'A James Bond Concert Spectacular' at The William Aston Hall.
This is a truly spectacular show, with an orchestra led by musical director and lead trumpeter Warren Ringham, plus a trio of superb vocalists dressed to the nines. Attention to detail was paramount, with carefully chosen projections played onto the auditorium walls, eliciting shivers up one's spine as I recognised motifs from several Bond movies; the undersea majesty of Thunderball, the outer space hijinx of Moonraker, and I'm sure I spotted a few rather suggestive triggers on the golden guns! The set design was also a delight, with a pair of huge golden pistols dominating, and what appeared to be large strips of ammunition, illuminated by sweeping searchlights and pulsating colours.
Miss Moneypenny herself, the very classy Caroline Bliss, was our host for the evening. A veteran of two 1980s Bond epics that featured Timothy Dalton as 007, she was the perfect choice to MC. Offering a few personal anecdotes from her time on the huge Pinewood Studios sound stages, along with nuggets of behind-the-scenes information on the early Connery films.
The show opened with a rip roaring rendition of the classic James Bond theme (the orchestration based on the cinema trailer music for 1995's Goldeneye), enthusiastically performed by lead guitarist Dan Booth, who resembled a young Pierce Brosnan. This segued perfectly into Marvin Hamlisch's invigorating 'Bond 77', that originally accompanied Roger Moore's classic ski chase in The Spy Who Loved Me. Drums and funky trombones to the fore, with guitar intervening with a superb, footstomping jazz interlude. All the main title songs from the 25 official movies were performed, with the stand outs being a cool, sensuous and powerful rendition of David Arnold's 'Surrender' (Tomorrow Never Dies) from vocalist Kerry Schultz, and a gloriously raunchy interpretation of 'The Man With The Golden Gun' sung by Rhiannon Porter in a slinky gold dress, accompanied by Booth.
Matt Walker managed a stonking version of the powerful 'Thunderball' (originally belted out by Tom Jones), and excelled with 'The Writing's On The Wall' from Spectre. The latter performance eliciting a cheeky remark from Caroline Bliss, stating that Matt did a better job than original singer Sam Smith! The stage erupted into blinding white light, created by huge sparkler effects, during a gutsy 'Live And Let Die', while the quieter numbers were beautifully performed with heartfelt verve. John Barry's gorgeous 'You Only Live Twice' and the bittersweet 'We Have All The Time In The World' given total respect; the latter delivered with true emotion by Warren Ringham on trumpet. Kerry Schultz provided a wonderful finale, and equalled the iconic Gladys Knight, with an erotically soulful 'Licence To Kill'.
A truly cinematic experience, perfectly capturing the essence of James Bond, and his 'kiss kiss- bang bang' world.
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