War Of The Worlds 2007 : Jeff Wayne's musical version of The War Of The Worlds, O2 Arena, Greenwich, London (GB) - Dec 22, 2007

I was lucky enough to have Jeff Wayne in my Taxi. I told him I was gutted to have missed his show at the Royal Albert Hall. I was of course angling for tickets. Alas, Mr Wayne wasn't forthcoming but he did tell me that if I bought a ticket and emailed him, he'd arrange for his secretary to send out a guest pass for the aftershow drinks party with the cast and crew. He was as good as his word!
The show starts with a large CGI holographic image of the late actor, Richard Burton who played the part of the Journalist/Narrator and, whom boomed out the now immortal line,"No one would have believed, in the last years of the nineteenth century, that human affairs were being watched from the timeless worlds of space".
A massive screen spanning the full length of the stage showed animated scenes of Martian Tripods and various scenes inspired by the albums artwork whilst a twenty foot model Tripod stared menacingly at the crowd! The stage was divided into two sections. On the left hand side of the stage was the area devoted to the Black Smoke Band. The Black Smoke Band was a 10 piece consisting of acoustic, lead and rhythm guitars, bass guitar, assorted percussion and drums. On the right hand side was the area devoted to the UllaDubUlla Strings, a string section consisting of over 20 violinists, cellists and double bass players. Jeff Wayne was on the Podium in front, conducting them all.
Justin Hayward of the Moody Blues and Manfred Mann's Chris Thompson, both of whom featured on the original recording, were joined by Alexis James (Artillery man originally played by David Essex), John Payne (Parson Nathaniel originally played by Phil Lynott) and Sinead Quinn who played the Parson's daughter Beth. WOTW is a magnificent feast for both the eyes and ears, with sumptuous visual effects and delicious orchestration. Magnificent. The after show party was an experience too!