The Palace will be rocking
OVER the years, the iconic Benidorm Palace has hosted some incredible one-night special performances by visiting artistes and groups, which I have been lucky enough to attend.
Although currently closed, the Palace will be re-opening for Valentine’s weekend with a double billing. On Saturday night (February 12), they will be back with their incredible Terra show, but on Sunday night, February 13, the stage will welcome 'ELO Again' - the UK's No 1 tribute show celebrating the truly universal music of Jeff Lynne and the Electric Light Orchestra, an English rock band from the 70s and 80s.
The seven, yes seven-piece group, will grace the stage for a one-off performance in between their very busy and hectic UK tour. I got to speak with Andy Smith, the keyboard player and MD of the group about his forthcoming trip – his very first time to Benidorm, so let’s make it a memorable one for him. The group must cart over a cello, violin and bass guitar for the show so is not travelling light!
Last summer they at CarFest in Cheshire, the UK's biggest fundraising festival founded by Radio One presenter Chris Evans, to raise money for Children in Need. It was, Andy told me, probably the biggest audience they have had, with over 20,000 people! Wow – that must have been incredible, and they were in some very good musical company, rubbing shoulders with the likes of The Charlatans, Rag ‘n’ Bone Man and introduced onto the stage by Chris Evans himself. But as I got talking with Andy, he is not at all phased by it all as has quite an astounding back-story.
His musical interest began at school where he joined the Essex Youth Orchestra and finding a natural gift, attended the Royal Academy of Music. Classically trained he joined the prestigious Royal Philharmonic Orchestra as a viola player, where he freelanced for
over two decades.
He was part of the Hooked on Classics phenomenon, a multi-million selling recorded by Louis Clark – former arranger for ELO and the RPO, published by K-tel. In 2011, it was bought back live to the stage by Andy to celebrate 30 years of the album series where he played keyboard and strings. Next year it will be 40 years so surely another special must be in the pipeline.
He has, in his own words, ‘gigged’ with the likes of Andrea Bocelli, Johnny Logan (Mr Eurovision and the only performer to have won Eurovision twice), Stevie Wonder, George Benson… the list goes on like a who's who of musical royalty!
He even recorded with Hollywood star Gwyneth Paltrow and ended up being filmed performing in one of her blockbuster movies! As if that isn't enough, he is also Suzi Quatro’s ‘string arranger’. He has gone from classical to progressive rock and the feels very lucky to be in this tribute band. The famed Abbey Road studios, he said, “was like my second home where I did many recordings”.
The group have been on the road since September and already have in the region of 50 gigs booked across the UK for this year, next July they have been scheduled to perform in Cyprus, so Benidorm is very lucky I'd say.
Mr Blue Sky is regarded as ELO's greatest hit. I didn't think I knew it so I consulted Google and found it on YouTube and guess what – yes I instantly recognised it! If you don't think you know it, look it up and you'll be like me saying ‘Of course!' It’s a unique song and a real crossover of classical and rock – a masterpiece. But when I asked Andy what his favourite song of the show was, he told me it was Xanadu (as in Olivia NewtonJohn), their finale song. The staging for this show will no doubt, as always is at the Palace, be stunning.
Tickets are available at the box office.