Review: Mike Oldfield’s Tubular Bells at Astor Theatre

Mike Oldfield’s Tubular Bells at Astor Theatre
Saturday, August 24, 2024

It’s important to note that Mike Oldfield did not perform at any of the Australian tour dates in celebration of his debut album, Tubular Bells, released 50 years ago.

To be fair, it didn’t matter. The audience at The Astor on this clear Saturday winter evening had a ball of a time rocking out and honouring a golden anniversary of iconic music.

First some context; there’s a lot of music history here. At the age of 17, Oldfield wrote, performed, and produced Tubular Bells on his own and launched it into the world. The mostly instrumental work has been credited with the launch of the progressive rock genre; the launch of the influential (but now defunct) Virgin Records (okay, also the fortunes of Richard Branson); and the sound that launched moviegoers into a fright when the horror film The Exorcist hit cinemas on Boxing Day in 1973. It also launched a whole generation of music fans (young and old), who, somewhat surprisingly, knew every little moment and flourish of Oldfield’s composition.

Back to the show. The crowd was having a wonderful time! Yes, that’s an exclamation!

A seven-piece live band led by longtime Oldfield collaborator Robin A. Smith kicked off the evening with performances of other Oldfield favourites Moonlight Shadow, To France, Family Man, and excerpts from Ommadawn.

The band had an awesome knack for keeping the crowd engaged and excited—this was a raise your hands and clap along, pull out your air guitar, or go wild on your air drums kind of fun. You could look around the room and physically see the flood of memories and joy that came out of the crowd during Moonlight Shadow.

The band was genuinely happy to be there. Hats off in particular to the two percussionists who had the enviable job of chiming the actual tubular bells that towered ominously behind the musicians. There’s a moment when a pre-recorded voice calls out to each instrument on stage to play the main hook. This was greeted with applause all around for each player, but when the tubular bells had their time to shine, the crowd went wild. Happiness erupted not because of a person but because of an object and its sound. Mike Oldfield wasn’t even there that night. But a guitar he owns and leant to Smith was on stage.

For Smith, this last performance of a successful Australian tour must have felt like its own existential moment. This is a man who has worked or performed with Oldfield for over twenty-five years, and these performances weren’t just a celebration of the original composer but also a chance for Smith to single out and celebrate the composition itself.

Tubular Bells is a timeless artefact of modern music. This night was a sharp reminder that, even without the composer, it’s a body of work that will outlast us all.

KAVI GUPPTA

Photos by Linda Dunjey