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Continuing on from last year’s 50th anniversary celebrations of Mike Oldfield’s Tubular Bells, the multi-million-selling and multi-award-winning album will be performed live in concert across the UK this autumn with a date in Hastings confirmed for Wednesday 30 October 2024.
Tubular Bells is world-renowned as one of the most celebrated examples of music in film for its soundtracking of horror classic The Exorcist. Its legacy was cemented with Oldfield’s performance of the album’s main theme at the iconic London 2012 Olympics Opening Ceremony, one of the rare performances of the project he has given.
The Tubular Bells UK Autumn tour will feature an expansive live group, conducted and arranged by Oldfield’s long-term collaborator Robin Smith, which will see the iconic Tubular Bells performed in full, as well as other works by Mike Oldfield including ‘Moonlight Shadow’, ‘Summit Day’, ‘Family Man’, and ‘Ommadawn’.
Tubular Bells, created in 1971 and released in 1973, was the debut studio album by English multi-instrumentalist, composer, and songwriter, Mike Oldfield. At just 17 years old when he started composing the music, Oldfield recorded and played almost all the instruments on the album. It went on to become the highest selling instrumental album of all time. A bold and progressive fusion, Tubular Bells is a journey through classical, jazz, folk, progressive rock, and electronica and went on to win a Grammy for Best Instrumental Composition in 1974.
Robin Smith, the Musical Director of the tour show, was completely mesmerised by Tubular Bells the moment he heard it. Smith has collaborated with Mike Oldfield for over 30 years, with performances of Tubular Bells including at Edinburgh Castle, and also the 2012 Olympic Games Opening Ceremony.
On the tour, Smith says:
“Mike in my view is one of England’s greatest composers of the last century. Along with the musicians, it’s a real privilege to be performing this extraordinary work. It’s as fresh today as it was when Mike created it in 1971 – and I love having the chance to bring it to new audiences as well as those who, like me, are still captivated by it whenever they hear it.”
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"A magnificent performance of a piece that's now part of the fabric of popular culture...it's nothing short of a work of genius."
"This is a concert for anyone, for those who grabbed the album when it came out on vinyl in 1973, to the Spotify audiences of today."