Oct
I wrote about my love of the Saturday Night Fever soundtrack some time back, so when I saw the BBC Electric proms season was going to include a full performance featuring the BBC orchestra and even an appearance by Robin Gibb himself, then I thought I had better get myself down there. Tickets were ?27 - not exactly cheap in the shadow of recession, but I expected to have a thrilling evening of fun at the extremely pleasant Camden Roundhouse, so as a one off, I thought it was worth the splurge. Once inside and a couple of Cans of ?3.50 red stripe later, it was time for the show to start. I have to say, the BBC orchestra were brilliant, and the actual Saturday night Fever performance was superb. My only disappointment was a “missing” section during my favorite track - Manhatten Skyline - the high pitched synthy/flutey keyboard sound was completely omitted leaving a big gap in the track. However, seeing all those musicians working away to create such a lush sound did compensate. There were a number of guest singers who were all reasonably OK. Sam Sparrow was great - I didn’t know him before the show but he was really good. Gabrielle (second name escapes me) was stunning, both visually and to the ear and gave some great performances. I wasn’t overly impressed with the Boyzone due of Ronan and Stephen - they both looked as if they thought they were in E-Z mode, and I thought their performances were dull and lazy.
Anyway, getting back to the subject, Robin Gibb did a couple of tunes and it was great to be able to give a whoop to the man himself, and at the end of the album there were a few not-terribly-exciting Bee Gees tracks sung. By then it was only around 8.45pm and we’d been in there for not much longer than an hour. So we were wondering what was going to come on next. Suddenly the orchestra packed themselves up, and made for the wings. People were shouting for an encore, like they do, but after five minutes it was apparent that no encore was planned and booing commenced. This was a shame, because the orchestra, as I said, were really excellent, and I felt sorry for them having the shine taken off their evening’s work. Anyway, off they trotted, the lights came on and security started ushering people out of the auditorium! It wasn’t yet 9pm!
Everyone there was really fed up off but, being british, too polite to actually do anything about it. So people did what they do, and milled out politely.
I appreciate that there were a lot of people involved in this performance but come on. It wouldn’t have been hard to stick a couple of DJs in there with some best disco of the 70s compilations for a few hours would it? People were really getting into the show and suddenly they were being kicked out at 9pm thirty quid down (plus expensive drinks).
It felt like we’d just been pulled in and fleeced in order to provide some background cheering for the BBC’s radio broadcast (and presumably a DVD will be in the offing at some point). Anyone thinking of going to a BBC electric proms show in the future would be well advised to check out exactly what they’re getting for their money. I know the album is only so long, but I expected a night out. Whoever was responsible for this should be given a kick up the backside because I won’t be going again and I expect I’m not the only one who was there who was very very disappointed at the way in which the audience were ripped off.
