Beatles. By Uncle Monty.

The Beatles 50th Anniversary Concert.

By Uncle Monty.

Concert Photos By Alex Albion.
***

Superstar Dame Shirley Bassey was the most

adorable and most inimitable of the famous per-

forming artists at last night’s Royal Philarmonic

50th Anniversary Tribute to The Beatles that was

held at London’s renowned Royal Albert Hall.

***
The other performing stars of note last night in-

cluded Tony Christie, Darius Campbell, Beverley

Knight, Antony Costa, and Liz McClarnon. Followed

by Maria Elena Infantino, Analiza Ching, Tony Moore,

Elliott Frisby and Lou Jordan, who I first met during

the concert intermission. Along with the stars was also

the 115-member Maltese choir of “The Mediterranean

Voices” with their dozens of sopranos, altos, tenors

and basses who sang Beatles songs during

the three-hour long orchestral concert.
***
With the weekend here and the end of British

Summer Time come Sunday, I will state here

some other critical observations of The Beatles

Tribute that was oddly rather “un-English” in its

presentation and the orchestral arrangements by

Wayne Grima of The Beatles most famous lyrics

I just didn’t much like to be frank with you.

Such just didn't sit well with me.

***

There was a “foreign” tone, I thought,

thoughout the whole concert performance, aside

from the notable performances of Dame Shirley

Bassey and Tony Christie and a few other British

artists at last night’s unique Beatles Tribute that

I attended with three good friends of mine, who

requested that I not name them ... OK!
***
Lou Jordan with Uncle Monty.

***

It was a case at times during the concert of the

huge choir drowning out the orchestra or the

orchestra more times than not drowning out the

choir. Not only was the choir Maltese, but it

was also monotonous and unimaginative in their

Beatles repertoire. What “The Medditeranan

Voices” had to do with The Beatles simply beats

me! Their singing voices was far from Liverpool or

the British and American sounds of Beatlemania

of the 60’s. I could have stood up right then and

there inside the Royal Albert Hall, with my three

good friends, and have sounded more authentic in

singing Beatles songs we know off by heart than

those foreign voices trying to sound like some-

thing like John, George, Ringo and Paul.
***
Then we had to put up with the dreadful trio

“Candy Rock” – doing a Beatles tune or two.

They were all dressed up in satin white like

they were at a wedding instead of at the 50th

Anniversary Tribute to The Beatles. Not much

better was soloist Lenny Zakatek singing “Come

Together” and I cringed in my balcony seat at

Elliott Frisby’s rendition of “For No One.” A

pink pussy cat could have sang it better!!
***

But now for the good part ... I just loved solo

violinist Analiza Ching with her superb playing

of “Yesterday” and her magnetic performance

with her whole body "speaking" as she played.

She thrust her majestic head back and forth with

her dark and silky long hair flowing in exact

harmony with the strings of her lovely violin. With

Analiza Ching was Soprano Maria Abela Manconi
tagging along singing the same song of

"Yesterday" on stage.

***

Lou Jordan was good, too, as he sang “Don’t Let Me

Down” in his British-born and authentic Beatles style.

And, “Hey Jude” couldn’t have been sang any better
than by Glasgow’s Darius Campbell at age 30. He was

striking on stage and his singing gave the huge

audience much pleasure I must say.
***
Tony Christie and his singing of the Beatles song "The

Long And Winding Road" went together like peaches
and cream as he sang from the heart. Indeed, he did.

The audience wasn’t a warm lot and I’d say they were

a rather aloof and impersonal crowd. But Tony soon

brought the best out of them, although it was now

getting rather close to the closing of the show.
***
But overshadowing whatever faults I found at

The Beatles 50th Anniversary Concert, Welsh-born

superstar Shirley Bassey cleared much away and

then brought the audience to its feet as soon as she

appeared in her posh jet black sequin dress that few

would have guessed she was almost 75 years old.

***
The dame not only looked damn good, but she

sang damned good, too! She did us all good by her

adorable and inimitable presence that was worth

the steep price of the concert ticket (almost $100

a piece) just to see her in upclose performance.

***
As special guest star of the evening, Dame Shirley

beautifully sang “Something” and it sure was some-

thing to hear and see her sing it. Bouquets were lavish-

ed on her and at last the audience came alive and show-

ed their human warmth toward dear Shirley Bassey.

Men, young and old, stood agog in the aisles to get

a closer look at her. And, so did I!

***

Cameras went wild photographing her at the Royal

Albert Hall that has been, I suspect, a second home to

Dame Shirley for more than 50 years. Folkz kept re-

peatedly clapping for her out of their long love and

respect for the distinquished Cardiff-born lady who

sang “Diamonds Are Forever” in the 007 or James

Bond movies and, of course, in her stunning sound-

tracks for the film themes of “Goldfinger”

and “Moonraker.”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shirley_Bassey
***
Thus, The Beatles 50th Anniversary Tribute was

brought to a befitting and gracious close by lovely

Shirley, who is a true Welsh dame and a true British

artist with or without her royal knighthood and

title of Dame of the British Empire (DBE).

God bless her!! And The Beatles, too!!
***

Honestly, Uncle Monty.

+Apostles Simon & Jude, 2010.

The Body Shop's Dame Anita Roddick.

Anita Roddick: Damn The Dead Dame. By Uncle Monty.

http://allaboutthebigissue.blogspot.com/2010/11/dame-by-uncle-monty.html
.

So How Did John Bird Enter The US
With A Criminal Record? By Uncle Monty.
http://allaboutthebigissue.blogspot.com/
.

.
:: Feedback & Comments ::
thebiggerissue@k.st
.

.

.

{ Click on any image to Enlarge }
.