Act One
Our first section paid tribute to Sir Tim
Rice and featured a variety of music from throughout his lengthy career.
Our opening number, The Golden Boy, was co-written with
Mike Moran and Freddie Mercury and was originally recorded in 1987 by
Freddie and Montserrat Caballe, for their "Barcelona" album.
The section continued with All Time
High, the theme from the 1983 James Bond film "Octopussy",
co-written with John Barry. This was followed by Pity The Child,
taken from the musical, "Chess" and co-written with Benny Andersson and
Bjorn Ulvaeus, formerly of Abba.
You Must Love Me was the only new number written for Alan
Parker's 1996 film version of "Evita", which won Tim Rice & Andrew Lloyd
Webber their Oscar. The next
three songs were all co-written with Sir Elton John - The Legal
Boys, followed by My Strongest Suit and
Written in the Stars, which both featured in the two Knights'
musical reworking of "Aida". Our
second section paid tribute to the great legacy of Scottish Music and
started with a medley of songs based on the poems of our national bard,
Rabbie Burns. We then continued with a tribute to Edinburgh's own Sir
Harry Lauder, his signature tune, Keep Right on to the End of the
Road. In a completely different vein, we continued with
Wachlin' Hame, famously performed by Rikki Fulton and Jack
Milroy, in their Francie and Josie guises. A true theatrical phenomena, Francie and Josie starred in countless pantomimes and variety shows,
before effortlessly transferring to TV in the early 60s. The section
closed with two Scottish classics - The Skye Boat Song,
performed with lyrics penned by Robert Louis Stevenson, and a song
frequently suggested as a potential national anthem, Scots Wha Hae.
Our first half closed with a selection of
songs originally performed by the great David Bowie, starting off with
the title track of his 1972 album, Ziggy Stardust & The
Spiders From Mars. We followed this with Under Pressure,
the result of a 1980 jam session with Queen. Released as a single in
1981, it immediately topped the charts. In 1986 Bowie appeared in the
Julien Temple film, Absolute Beginners, and although the
film itself was not a hit, Bowie's title track rose to number 2 in the
charts. The final three songs in
the first half were a trio of hits that perhaps epitomise Bowie -
firstly The Jean Genie from 1972; Space Oddity,
originally released in 1969 but becoming Bowie's first number one on its
1975 re-release; and Life on Mars, originally released on
the "Hunky Dory" album and released as a single in 1973, reaching a peak
of number 3. Act Two
We opened the second half with a section
dedicated to the era that taste forgot, the 1980s, kicking off with
Wham's1984 classic Freedom. This was followed by
Hunting High and Low, originally performed in 1986 by Norwegian
pinups, A-Ha. This was the title track of their debut album and rose to
number 5 in the charts. Then came
Prince Charming, originally released by Adam and the Ants
in 1981 followed by Don't Give Up which was recorded by
Peter Gabriel with Kate Bush providing additional vocals. The section
closed with Holding Out for a Hero, originally written and
produced by the great Jim Steinman, The song was the theme for the TV
Series "Cover Up", and gave Bonnie Tyler a hit in 1985 when it reached
number 2. We then moved onto more
traditional Showcase territory as we performed a selection of numbers
from some of the biggest stage shows of all time. Kicking off the
section was Hopelessly Devoted to You, taken from the
musical "Grease". Written especially for the film version of the show,
Olivia Newton John took the track to number 2 in the charts in 1978. We
then moved onto Big Spender, taken from the 60s classic,
"Sweet Charity". Performed in the film by Shirley Maclaine and an
assortment of "hostesses", the number is perhaps best known as a vehicle
for Shirley Bassey, whose version hit number 21 in the charts in 1967.
Then onto "Les Misèrables"
and Stars, memorably sung in the original production by
Philip Quast.Although not a huge hit with the critics, "Les Mis" has
continued to prove them wrong and a new revamped version has recently
opened in London. Also recently performed in London was a new production
of Andrew Lloyd Webber & Don Black's "Tell Me on a Sunday" - here we
performed it's opening track, Take That Look Off Your Face.
The section closed with a medley of songs from Schonberg & Boublil's
follow up to "Les Misèrables", Miss Saigon.
Our penultimate section features some of
those great floor fillers no party is complete without. Firstly, we
presented Phil Spector's classic composition, River Deep, Mountain
High. First recorded by Ike and Tina Turner in 1966, the song
reached number 3 in the UK. This was followed by the 70s classic and
karaoke favourite, Gloria Gaynor's I Will Survive. From
the same decade, Love Me for A Reason, originally
performed by the Osmonds, it hit number one at the height of Osmond
mania in 1974. In the same year Barry White's My
First, My Last, My Everything, gave him his biggest UK hit, at number one.
The section closed with a medley paying tribute to The Village People,
and featured their 1979 hit, Go West alongside their 1978
number one, YMCA.
The final section opened with Love Somebody - one of the
highlights of Robbie Williams' 2002 album, "Escapology". Although never
released as a single, the song stands alongside the best of Robbie's
work. We then featured Nights in White Satin, the Moody
Blues 1967 hit, which reached number 17 in that year, and number 9 when
it was re-released in 1972. The
show closed with Love and Mercy, the title track of former
Beach Boy Brian Wilson's 1988 debut solo album, showing that even twenty
years after his creative peak, his harmonies are still as great as they
were. |