Star Wars a Musical Journey at the O2. Anyone else go?

S

stellarparadize

New member
I went on Saturday (packed out). It was a great moment when the familiar Fox logo began and then the curtain dropped and the theme began. real goosebumps time.

The light show was a bit overdone at times but the effect of the clips on the big screen and the orchestra playing live was tremendous.

I thought the first half was better than the second oddly enough, even though it mainly dealt with the prequels. Hearing "Duel of the Fates" live was amazing, as was Anakin's theme and the power of the ROTS music, even the romantic theme from AOTC worked well. There was a droiRAB section from the original film in there and the only naff part was the pod race sequence but I suppose it was for the kiRAB. The thunderous Empire march closed the first half to spectacular effect.

I was disappointed with the second half even though it dealt with the original trilogy. The themes for Luke, Leia and Yoda were all excellent. The attempt at the Cantina Band didn't really work though. The falcon/tie fighter attack from the first film was played at the wrong tempo (!) and they missed out the music from the attack on the death star altogether. sacriledge!

It then ended with an oddly extended throne room sequence which featured music not from the films at all ?!?!?!?! And the effect of playing the end credits music was dissipated by the fact that they had opened with them, so were just repeating themselves. They should have saved them for the end.

Still, the highlights were stunning and I wouldn't have missed it. Great to have Anthony Daniels there at the helm. My ideal concert would have been an hour of music from the first film, followed by an hour of highlights from the rest. at 90 minutes I felt they had rushed it.
 
i had tickets but had to sell them as i was away skiing. gutted to have missed it.

thanks for the run down of the event. sounRAB like i missed a good show although you think it could have been better?
 
I went.

Thought it was great at the time and came out reasonably happy, but on reflection, you are right - it was rushed and probably not as good as I thought it was at the time.

The first act seemed too short with argubly the better music coming in the prequels. Duel Of The Fates was indeed the highlight of the show and played perfectly by the Royal Philharmonic.

The giant HD screen was simply incredible to see. The clarity was amazing even from an angled distance. Couldn't fit that on the wall!

Second half was a bit of a let down. As the OP has said, Cantina didn't sound particularly good at all and seemed to be only put there because of what it was. It really wasn't required at an orchestral performance. I was hoping to hear the music from the final Luke/Vader battle in ROTJ but this was left out.

Anthony Daniels suitably hammed it up by presenting - his amusing exchange with the conductor aside, I felt he overdid it at times (we do know the story Anthony!). Still, the only other person I'd want in the role would be James Earl Jones (maybe the New York version)

Worth the money I thought but couldn't help but feel it was a tad too short.
 
I really enjoyed this when I went and might go again. My only dissapointment last time and I see they have changed the title, is I thought John Williams was going to be conducting when I went in April.
 
Back
Top