Anthems, feat. Brian May and Kerry Ellis
Royal Albert Hall, May 2011
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Though only a minor part of last year’s ‘Night of 1000 Voices’ show, this year’s Hugh Wooldridge Royal Albert Hall production saw the full might of the Ellis/ May partnership astound the audience with the first show of their Anthems tour backed by the City of London Philharmonic Orchestra and the West End Chorus.
Combining classic Queen songs, West End hits (including, of course, numbers from Wicked) original compositions and their own reworkings of infectious pop songs, the show was a formidable musical tour de force, with Brian’s incendiary guitar underpinning Kerry’s bombastic vocals. Paving the way for their set, Adam Pascal carried the first half of the show admirably belting out West End and Broadway classics, much to the pleasure of the audience. With the show running the gamut from rock to theatre, and even showcasing tender acoustic moments, Sound By Design’s principle engineer Phil Wright was at the helm, being widely experienced in all such areas. The installed Meyer Sound M2D/ M1D array system coped perfectly with the demands of the wide ranging dynamics of the performance, and delivered the best coverage possible with great clarity. DiGiCo mixing consoles were also ever present, with a D1 handling front-of-house and an SD8 dealing with monitors. Judicious close mic-ing and the decision to screen off large areas of the orchestra helped restrict the inevitable spill of Brian’s signature army of Vox AC30 guitar amps (all the way to 11!), meaning that a clear, well-balanced mix was easily attainable. "Defying Gravity" and "We Are The Champions" were the highlights of the show and created an atmosphere so electric it could have powered all of Blackpool. It’s safe to say that as shows go, it will be a hard one to top next year. |
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