The vibe was New Years Eve mixed with Eurovision – with added bunting.
The King’s Coronation Concert took place on a Union-Jack-shaped stage and a slightly random selection of artists celebrated the newly crowned monarch.
After the charming Hugh Bonneville welcomed the crowd, the concert got underway with DJ Pete Tong – yes, really – who managed to nail the feel of a retirement party for the guy at the office whose name no one can ever remember.
The King had specifically requested Tong’s Ibiza Classics – covers of dance tracks with an orchestral flair. The booking had left Tong wondering “Maybe there’s a few relapsed ravers in the royal household.” Wouldn’t that be something?
But there wasn’t much time to reflect on that before Olly Murs gambolled out doing his best Rat Pack impression and pausing for the crowd to sing along – which no one did. “Break it down now!” he cried, twirling madly like a toddler who’s had too much sugar. We had the “Coronation Choir” singing Emile Sande’s song “Brighter Days”, before pianist
Lang Lang’s spirited piano rendition of “Reflection” from Mulan led into Nicole Scherzinger (a baffling but chic addition to the bill) coming out to sing the actual song with some serious gusto. Maybe our sovereign is a secret Pussycat Dolls fan?
There was a real vibe shift at this point as other arts hurriedly got their moment: the Royal Ballet, Royal Opera, Royal Shakespeare Company, Royal College of Music and Royal College of Art teamed up to perform a scene from Romeo and Juliet complete with a song from West Side Story, which had the feel of a slightly over the top school play. There was also a virtuso performance of Bach from 13-year-old blind pianist Lucy Illingworth.
Steve Winwood, wearing the smallest glasses ever made, was backed by choirs from around the Commonwealth on video screens as they sang his 1986 hit Higher Love. My own royal decree is that this is a banger and should be played at all major events henceforth.
Tiwa Savage absolutely smashed her slot, looking incredible in her emerald green gown with a train as long as Queen Elizabeth II’s reign, and sounding effortlessly cool. Opera stars Andrea Bocelli and Sir Bryn Terfel gave us a throaty version of You’ll Never Walk Alone, the one time Camilla looked vaguely interested in the proceedings.
If the night needed a pick me up, along came Lionel Richie: he grinned his way through a rushed-feeling “Easy Like Sunday Morning” as torches shone throughout the grounds.
The BBC broadcast happened to cut to Camilla checking her watch after the song – it has been a long weekend, after all -although she was on her feet waving the Union Flag for All Night Long (All Night)
There were video messages from celebrities including Pierce Brosnan, Bear Grylls, and even Tom Cruise from the cockpit of a fighter jet, offering to be the King’s wingman anytime.
Kermit the frog popped up with Miss Piggy, who prepositioned the bashful Bonneville. Prince William also took to the stage to pay tribute to his father and also to the late Queen, after promising that – unlike Lionel – he wouldn’t go on all night long with his speech.
As darkness fell Paloma Faith, Take That and Katy Perry rounded off star-studded evening – and ushered in the Carolingian age.
Katy Perry was all arms while dressed in all the Quality Street wrappers your nan’s been saving and absolutely belting out her chest-beating anthem “Roar” – which sounds even more triumphant with an orchestra’s worth of musicians behind it.
Her performance of Firework has a musical theatre energy to it and comes with the obligatory pyrotechnics which were concerningly close to that flammable-looking dress.
The finale is left to the three remaining members of Take That, of course, with Gary Barlow grinning like a man who reckons he’s just closed the deal on a knighthood.
They stuck with the obvious choices of “Greatest Day” and “Shine”, forgoing the spicier choice of “Rule The World”. They brought Callum Scott out to participate in some literal dance moves (like singing “Can you see it” while theatrically looking into the distance), which I suppose was exciting for some people although a better guest would have been either of the other two members of Take That.
Mark Owen, who takes the lead on “Shine”, sounds like he has a number of marbles in his mouth and Howard is just happy to be there. Closing on “Never Forget” is a surprisingly emotional move, the crowd finally throwing themselves into a singalong oblivious to the irony of singing “Never forget where you’ve come here from” to the most privileged man on the planet.
As a showcase for the arts, the King’s Coronation Concert was not exactly the best of British. But it was certainly not the head-clutchingly awful disaster that it could have been. Thoughtful, inclusive and jubilant, it was a garden party to remember.
from inews.co.uk https://ift.tt/z6oHpsW