BSO Pops Orchestra presents ‘Queen Rock Symphonic: A Rock & Orchestra Experience’ at Mayflower Southampton Review

DISCLOSURE – TICKETS TO SEE THE SHOW WERE GIFTED TO THE REVIEWER AND GUEST FOR THE PURPOSES OF WRITING THE REVIEW

Reviewed by Georgina Bentley

This concert took place in the wonderful Mayflower Theatre right in the heart of Southampton. The Mayflower is easy to find and there is plenty of parking available nearby.

The Mayflower Theatre has a partnership with the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra (BSO) to host a variety of concerts to bring a wide range of musical experiences to audiences in Southampton. Tonight’s concert featured the BSO Pops which is a subset of the BSO, specialising in performing a mix of light classical and popular music appealing to wider audiences beyond the traditional classical concerts of an orchestra.

BSO Pops collaborated with the full rock band and stars from the West End smash hit musical ‘We will rock you’ to bring us an amazing spectacular show based on the four decades of awesome music from one of the most successful global bands of all time, Queen.

Jenna Lee James, Emma Hatton, Jon Boydon and Peter Eldridge helped us to rock out to iconic hits including, Radio Ga Ga, I Want To Break Free, Don’t Stop Me Now and many more. Pete Harrison was the conductor today and did a stellar job in keeping everyone on beat, he even joined in the vocals and dancing at one point which was great to see that all the musicians were enjoying the occasion as much as the audience was. A special mention must go to Martin “Frosty” Beedle on drums, who surely must have been the busiest musician on stage, his timing was impeccably kept and he was rock solid throughout the whole show.

The first set was started by the beat of the bass drum introducing ‘Flash’, a great start to a medley of songs kicking off the concert. All four singers were phenomenal but for me in the first half the strong rock voices of the male leads (Jon Boydon and Peter Eldridge) really stood out. Another stand out moment was the performance of the Freddie Mercury song ‘Play the game’. This was first performed in 1980 using the sound of the synthesisers as a prominent feature, no synths were required today as the BSO Pops Orchestra replicated the sound to perfection, it really was mesmerising. In the first half we also enjoyed David Bowie’s collaboration with Queen’s song ‘Under Pressure’ which includes the walking bass line which is highly recognisable and an iconic riff throughout the piece. The first half was finished off with the beautiful song ‘One Vision’ which was inspired by Queen’s experience of performing in the 1985 Live Aid concert.

The musicians came back from the short interval and seemed to be even more energised after their break, we really didn’t think things could get any better but somehow they upped their game even further. They got the audience up on their feet and rocking out to songs such as ‘We are the champions’, ‘Don’t stop me now’ and ‘We will rock you’. The collaboration between the Rock Band, BSO Pops Orchestra and singers throughout the whole concert was brilliant and at times I totally forgot there was an orchestra playing as the sounds were seamlessly transitioned. The standout piece for me showing off the professionalism of all musicians was in the emotional song ‘who wants to live forever’, well if I could listen to these musicians until the end of time, then yes I want to live forever.

Thank you to everyone involved in this amazing show and I urge you to catch another show at the Mayflower Theatre, Southampton with BSO Pops as you won’t be disappointed.

Rating: 5/5

This was a one off concert in the BSO Pops series of concerts, tickets cost from £36.50 (booking fees may apply)

For more information visit www.mayflower.org.uk

Mayflower Theatre, Commercial Road, Southampton, SO15 1GE