A Woman Watches Bond, James Bond, in Concert
…with Q The Music and The Bond Experience in a James Bond Celebration Concert @ Indigo @ the 02 London
Q-branches international concert export Q The Music teamed up with David Zaritsky at Indigo at the 02 to deliver a sophisticated evening of Bond music, seamless outfit changes and bonding over… James Bond (pasts and present). And then kindly livestreamed it for those who couldn’t be there at the time…
Whilst much of the online communities built around fandom or online or all of the above can be about shouty put downs and very public cancellings, David Zaritsky is the ultimate positive influence. As host, he charmingly acknowledged the ‘Bond fans by proxy’ brought along (willingly or unwillingly for the ride), (perhaps lured and made bearable by some interval merch)… before plunging the live and online audiences into a thrilling night of sequins, stars and stagey fireworks. Even the music stands have dinner jackets…
Q The Music themselves are a massive band or perhaps an orchestra (all on theme in Bond dinner jackets and glamourous sparkle). They mix up a medley of instrumental and sung movie music, covering the sixty years of James Bond on screen. Opening with the James Bond theme so soulful and full of funk that I expected Roger Moore in a safari jacket to gatecrash the stage in full ‘70’s Bond mode. Instead, know your Bonds! This was Pierce Brosnan’s Bond music, complete with Slash guitar solos…and scratching.
‘Surrender’ went full Shirley Bassey mode with Kerry. And just as well for bathed in golden light, ‘Goldfinger’ was next. Both on stage singers had to contend with originators with enormous voices, ‘Goldfinger’ was sung higher than Bassey, but made the most of the lyrics. And I was personally mesmorised by Kerry’s snaking arms — watching and learning for future Leila Issac bellydance classes. Again, Matt made the most of the emotions in a vibrato filled ‘Thunderball’. So you’re getting the performed song rather than an impersonation of the recording, but something of the spirit and character behind it. Whilst celebrating 60 years of From Russia With Love, 50 years of Live and Let Die and 40 years of Octopussy all in one go!
Interspersed with storytelling. Martine Beswick, fighter extraordinaire in From Russia With Love against a trained Miss World and IDF soldier, entranced with languorous stories of caviar and champagne with director Terence Young. And the hardest training regime ever — tanning and eating everything! Before segueing into a gritty and groovy From Russia With Love medley — all the ‘60’s keyboard sounds and congos.
Is Bond 26 in the venue? We’ll never know. Dealing expertly with hecklers and admirers in the audience, Martine and David vacated the stage for an operatic version of Adele’s Skyfall, in silvery grey light. Then a jazz club-esque meets Sting and Frank Sinatra of I don’t know what — something to do with The World Is Not Enough. Matt sang it incredibly (very Chet Baker) and meaningfully. ‘Only Myself To Blame?’ (Which I’d never heard of before, but mesmerised me — q furiously Googling/phoning Q-branch to find out more).
Some Bond greatest hits followed: ‘You Only Live Twice’ — opulently romantically and decorated with a flourishing guitar. Filling my head with Robbie Williams sampled loops, Q The Music band? orchestra? skipped nimbly into ‘We Have All The Time In The World’ with Matt’s crisp and emotional lyrics, and a tambourine and trumpet getting their glory moments. Immediately, Kerry launched into a gutsy and soprano-like version of ‘Diamonds Are Forever’, complete with all the accompanying brass and ‘waa-waa’ guitar. Followed by a superb trio of Matt and Kerry being A-ha (The Living Daylights) with a bit of a Latin vibe, Kerry being all of Duran-Duran for a very danceable version of ‘A View To A Kill’ and glorious guitar and singer duet on belter ballad ‘Nobody Does It Better’, plus more stagey fireworks and trumpets to the front! All matched by superb lighting and mixing so that neither orchestra/band and singers overpowered each other.
Act 2 went off with a bang that Sir Hilary Bray would be proud of — ‘On Her Majesty’s Secret Service’, with fantastic guitar and singer duet to the fore in ‘The Man With The Golden Gun’. In a movie which treats women appallingly, Kerry redeemed it by giving a fantastic performance of the title track, fully embodying Lulu.
Storytelling came this time in the form of Kristina Waybourn and the knife-throwing circus twins, Tony and David Meyer, all from Octopussy. They discussed the devouring love technique promoted by director John Glen and the big ’80s hair wig which made one of the twins look like his mother (as a villain!) And the other twin received an on-set dummy of himself to throw knives at! (Though he was keen to use a real life target). Then there were Roger Moore’s practical jokes!
Matt nailed the high notes and the shivers in ‘Writing on the Wall’. The beautiful Live and Let Die Suite followed, with guitars, flutists and brass all having a lot of fun. Segueing ‘You Know My Name’ and ‘Another Way To Die’ I thought that Kerry and Matt would duet for both. Instead, there was a twist — ‘You Know My Name’ was the Kerry and Matt duet, lead by Matt’s fantastic vocals, (working in a nice homage to ‘On Her Majesty’s Secret Service’ at one point) and Kerry dueted with two guitarists having a blast. Then, after a rendition of The Bond Theme Tune and the potential for a chorus line of high kicks, instead Kerry gave Tina Turner a very good run for her money with ‘License To Kill’. *
Not to mention that the orchestra/band’s (still can’t work out which one they are) delivered their own version of a theme song for ‘No Time To Die’. Maybe the next Bond is amongst them too?!!! Not a pastiche or a tribute band, this is something really special — in terms of slick and enthralling performance, delivery and orchestration. Thank you, Q, for the music.
Whilst the link stays live, you too can watch the same concert on the Bond Experience channel: https://www.youtube.com/live/vI_JbLYdVlU?si=XEKH4-2YY1M0E2O1
*Or indeed Beverley Knight!*
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