Royal Albert Hall
Mark Knopfler, Royal Albert Hall review - the Sultan's returnWednesday, 22 May 2019![]() Prufrock might have measured his life in coffee spoons but for many of us it’s rock albums, the money to buy them way back when scrabbled together from Saturday jobs and student grants – remember them? Many in the audience at the... Read more... |
Loreena McKennitt, Royal Albert Hall review - making Celtic connectionsFriday, 15 March 2019![]() Having long been immersed in folk and world music and acoustically-oriented singer-songwriters, it’s a surprise to be given a CD of music by someone who’s never crossed your radar, especially when the artist concerned turns out to have sold some 14... Read more... |
Jason Mraz, Royal Albert Hall review - a rare UK visit from the Grammy-winning organic farmerFriday, 08 March 2019![]() Jason Mraz… How can someone so big slip under so many radars. Mine, the muso with whom I trek to all sorts of gigs, and that of a wide range of friends, most of whom are pretty au courant with the scene.Then you hear it. Of course, the big hit –... Read more... |
Jools Holland and his Rhythm & Blues Orchestra, Royal Albert Hall review - all stand for the piano manMonday, 03 December 2018![]() A rainy night… not in Georgia, as the great Ray Charles sang, but in London, the second of two nights at the Royal Albert Hall for Jools Holland and his Rhythm & Blues Orchestra. The 35-date tour that began in Dublin on 20 October and ends in... Read more... |
Gary Numan, Royal Albert Hall review - the best night of his lifeTuesday, 20 November 2018![]() There was barely a black-clothed, white-faced Numanoid in sight in the packed auditorium of the Royal Albert Hall as Gary Numan made his first ever appearance at the Victorian concert hall. His fans appear to have left that kohl-eyed look behind... Read more... |
Caro Emerald, Royal Albert Hall – an injection of sunshine for the weary soulFriday, 02 November 2018![]() “We will be taking you on a journey,” promises Caro Emerald at the start of tonight’s return to the Royal Albert Hall, which she last played back in April 2017 – and for the next 90 minutes, that’s what jazz-pop queen Emerald and her slick seven-... Read more... |
Carlos Acosta: A Celebration, Royal Albert HallThursday, 04 October 2018![]() Ballet superstar Carlos Acosta returned to the Royal Albert Hall this week, accompanied by the youthful dancers of his company Acosta Danza, for yet another show celebrating his long career. Photographer Bill Knight of theartsdesk captured... Read more... |
Last Night of the Proms, Finley, Gillam, BBCSO, Davis review - a fine send-off without send-upSunday, 09 September 2018![]() Outside the Royal Albert Hall blue-bereted devotees were handing out free EU flags. A great many people accepted them, while some with the Union Jack looked on askance and muttered. But inside, all differences were firmly put aside: every flag under... Read more... |
Prom 74, Theodora, Arcangelo, Cohen review - coherent and compelling HandelSaturday, 08 September 2018![]() This was the first complete performance of Theodora at the Proms, one of a series of Handel oratorios initiated with William Christie’s Israel in Egypt last year. Theodora is more often performed today as a staged opera, most famously in the Peter... Read more... |
Prom 72, War Requiem, RSNO, Oundjian review - the pity, and the spectacle, of warFriday, 07 September 2018A day after John Eliot Gardiner and wandering violist Antoine Tamestit had converted the Royal Albert Hall into a sonic map of Hector Berlioz’s Italy, conductor Peter Oundjian and his full-strength divisions transported us to the Western Front.... Read more... |
Prom 71, DiDonato, Tamestit, ORR, Gardiner review - concert Berlioz as bracing theatreThursday, 06 September 2018How do you make your mark in a crucial last week after the Olympian spectaculars of Kirill Petrenko's Proms with the Berlin Philharmonic? Well, for a start, you stay true to recent principles by getting as many of your period-instrument Orchestre... Read more... |
Prom 69, Skride, Boston SO, Nelsons / Proms at...Cadogan Hall 8, Berlin Philharmonic Soloists review - sophisticated limitsTuesday, 04 September 2018Crazy days are here again – many of us are lucky not to have been born when the last collectve insanity blitzed the world – and nothing in Shostakovich seems too outlandish for reality. On the other hand, there's a growing movement to liberate his... Read more... |
