Depending on your personal perspective you could read this as Tubular Bells Live or Tubular Bells Live (think about it!). Either way your perspective is reasonable for after being in existence for 50 years, Mike Oldfield’s Tubular Bells is alive and kicking thanks to the hard work of one Mr. Phil Toms.

Tonight’s ensemble comprised: Emma Nash, Keyboard; Hannah Wainwright, Woodwind; Jay Stapley, Lead Vocals & Guitars; Steve Smith, Guitars, Mandolin, Banjo & Bouzouki; Mike Watkinson, Guitars; James Stirling, Bass Guitars; Rich Nolan, Drums; Adam Morris, Percussion; Guy Eade, Percussion; Matt Boyles, Sound Operator; Matilda Bourne, Vocals and, of course, Phil Toms, Musical Director and Keyboard.

A little bit of the back story to get you started – are you sitting comfortably children. . . then I’ll begin.

Although Phil Toms knew much about Tubular Bells, and the Mike Oldfield discography beforehand, it was 2013 when he decided to definitively catalogue the recordings of Mike Oldfield and do it note for note! It took him around two years to do it. Phil then met Jay Stapley, a guitarist who had lived the Tubular Bells experience, who agreed to join the cause. A concert of Mike Oldfield’s music, held at the Colchester Institute, was a sell-out. It also used 25 musicians to pull it off. Later, in 2017, Phil and the band raised around £8,500 for Colchester’s Mercury Theatre charity with another live show.

Tours were then undertaken in 2018 and 2021/2 where there were sold-out shows around Britain and they even received a message from Mike Oldfield, sent via sister Sally, saying he was ‘heartened to see the verve and enthusiasm for performing his music’ – praise indeed.

From my own perspective I remember the original release of Tubular Bells in 1973 and recall seeing a short film of Mike Oldfield while I was at a gig at the Liverpool Stadium. It was the segment where Vivian Stanshall announces each of the instruments and Mike Oldfield plays each in turn. The film was less than 15 minutes long in total but made a lasting memory, particularly as I got to know Viv Stanshall’s other endeavour, The Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band, and photographed them several times, sadly all after the loss of Viv.

Tonight was 2023’s first show, let’s see what it brought!

The players assembled on stage and without any introductions or announcements at all went straight into a medley taken from the 1974 album, Hergest Ridge. I have to admit for a concert where there were opportunities aplenty for filling in gaps and changeovers with chat there was surprisingly little; instead the audience had the pleasure of simply bathing in the music.

We move on to Sentinel from Tubular Bells II and this has a very familiar sound to it, Tubular Bells revisited if you will. Emma Nash’s keyboards, Jay Stapley’s rather sharp guitar and Matilda Bourne’s vocals all play to dark bass line played beneath all these.

Matilda Bourne remained on stage for two songs from Crises (1983) both having the shadow theme; the ever popular Moonlight Shadow followed by Shadow on the Wall. The latter song steps out from a lot of what Mike Oldfield wrote. The original version also featured one of my favourite singers, Roger Chapman, a difficult act to follow that’s for sure but the rendition tonight was quite exceptional.

We moved on to another medley, this time from Ommadawn, released in 1975 before the ensemble move forward in time to 1984 and the Discovery album for To France. This is a light, airy song that bounces along nicely.

Doctor Who couldn’t move through time as efficiently at this group of musicians as they fast forwarded to 1994 for the title track from The Songs of Distant Earth with its whale-song opening and guitar licks heavily reminiscent of Dire Straits. A new song next, Heaven’s Open from the 1991 album of the same name. Emma Nash’s keyboards introduce the song before Jay Stapley’s vocals and raking guitar took over. This is a song that an 80’s feel about it and while it never quite makes it as a power ballad, two short guitar solos take it pretty close. This is a great addition to the setlist.

In 2017 Mike Oldfield released an album that had its direction dictated by his public insomuch as the album previous to this, Man on the Rocks released in 2014, comprised shorter rock songs which didn’t necessarily sit well with his audience. Instead they asked that he return to his roots, in particular the sounds associated with Hergest Ridge and Ommadawn. The result, surprise, surprise, was Return to Ommadawn, released in 2017, as he called upon the two early albums for inspiration. Tonight we were given 7 minutes of music from that 2017 album.

Time for a break before we got to the main event and the primary reason for this show!

As with the first half, Part 2 got underway with no introductions but the opening bars emanating from Emma Nash’s keyboard were unmistakable and brought a cheer from the crowded venue. The incomparable sound of Tubular Bells took over the audience for the next 50 minutes or so with the briefest of breaks between the two halves of the album. Phil Toms himself took the role of MC introducing the instruments at the finale, even playing those tubular bells himself.

This part of the show was rounded off with the Hoedown sequence, the finale from Tubular Bells II which, at the end, gave rise to well-deserved rapturous applause.

The team leave the stage only to be called back, as you might have expected, for an encore and a slightly comedic few seconds as a couple of the musicians started to play with a slide (Swannee) whistle, maybe for no other reason than they could – but more likely because of what was to finish.

The final six or so minutes of the show consisted of 2 elements, a rendition of Five Miles Out followed by the final act of nostalgia being the Blue Peter Theme tune with accompanying toot-toots from a few of the audience.

These brought to a close a splendiferous evening of Tubular Bells and other assorted Oldfieldian music. If the show comes anywhere near where you live, get out and see it/hear it – it’ll be worth it, believe me (I’m a doctor).

Words and images: (Dr) Reg Richardson

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