Q The Music, Theatre Royal, Drury Lane (12 Oct 2025)

This evening's sell-out 'Q The Music' concert at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, was another magnificent celebration of James Bond's greatest hits by Warren Ringham and the band. Vocalists Kerry Schultz and Matt Walker were as brilliantly versatile as ever; compere David Zaritsky did a great job, and special guests Caroline Bliss, Samantha Bond and Naomie Harris took to the stage several times as three Moneypennies to lend support for Q The Music, express cameraderie, relate anecdotes and production insights, and share their reflections on the shifting Bond/ Moneypenny dynamic. I'm sure Lois Maxwell would have joined them in spirit.

The first half of the evening included anniversary tributes to TB, AVTAK and GE. The two John Barry scores were remembered in well curated instrumental suites topped by the films' title songs. Warren prefaced the evening's 60th anniversary TB spot with a shout out to LaLaLand's recent CD releases, an appropriate plug given that many of us will have recently received our stunning new TB CDs through the letterbox. 

For me, Warren's Barry suites are always the highlight of these evenings. 'Death of Fiona' from TB's Club Kiss Kiss sequence brought all the excitement of blended diegetic and non-diegetic music, mounting to a lethal climax, while 'The Bomb/ The Spa/ Fight At The Chateau' evoked ambient stealth, eerie menace, funereal gravitas and the fast-paced bombast of Bondian action. Whether deliberate or serendipitous, the stage lighting during this segment suggested the film's chopper-view imagery of netting covering the wreckage of a NATO plane in the turquoise shallows of the sea...

Warren's souvenir programme includes articles covering both the tangled production history of TB and the story of the film's alternate title songs. Kerry Schultz seemed to channel simultaneously both Dionne Warwick and Shirley Bassey in a terrific performance of 'Mr Kiss Kiss Bang Bang' - a synthesis accomplished enough to resolve any by-gone rivalries - while Matt Walker gave his customary, powerful rendition of 'Thunderball'!

On to 1985. In his article on the music of AVTAK for the souvenir programme, Warren acknowledges the limitations of that score as well as it strengths, but his AVTAK ensemble certainly played to the strengths. The suite began with the sublime 'Wine With Stacey' before sampling a selection of haunting ambient and action cues, including the mimetic theme for Zorin's airship.

And so to 1995. The concert opened with the first phase of a celebration of GE: the James Bond theme in the Starr Parodi & Jeff Eden Fair arrangement, as for Pierce Brosnan's original trailer. This segued into the disco-brass nostalgia of Marvin Hamlisch's 'Bond 77'. It was a bold choice to go on to tribute GE with a performance of Eric Serra's 'The Experience of Love', a track unloved in isolation but which, in cinemas, functions serviceably as a wind-down over GE's end credits. On stage, Walker lent 'Experience' credibility, with a Serra-like nasal tone, supported by Kerry pitching in with backing vocals. Kerry, of course, trumped 'Experience' when she returned to belt out 'Goldeneye', giving that classic title song its full Tina Turner heft. 

The first half of the evening was buttressed by standalone hits including 'Diamonds Are Forever', 'The Man With The Golden Gun' and 'Licence To Kill'. For 'Golden Gun' guitarist Dan Booth obviously relished going wah-wah, while the Gladys Knight ballad clearly remains Kerry's showpiece tribute. The second half of the evening opened in stirring style with an OHMSS arrangement, no anniversary needed as pretext to celebrate that film's landmark score. The music covered the drama leading from Bond's morning ski with Tracy to the avalanche and its aftermath, before easing into Walker's performance of the poignant 'We Have All the Time in the World.' From there, the concert featured some clever back-to-back pairings: 'You Only Live Twice', followed by 'The Writing’s on the Wall'; 'You Know My Name', paired with 'Another Way to Die'; and 'Skyfall', answered by 'No Time To Die'. Several more classics were presented as standalone highlights: 'Goldfinger,' 'Live and Let Die', 'The Living Daylights' and 'Nobody Does It Better'.

Then came a surprise. Before the encore, David Arnold - no less! - took to the stage to join Warren and Zaritsky, creating a real sense of occasion and engaging everyone with his comic wit. Looking casual in a baseball cap, the composer cut a delightful contrast to the sea of tuxedos and evening gowns surrounding him. Then Warren announced that next year’s concert will be a celebration of Arnold's Bond scores, news that was met with rapturous applause. Tickets, we were told, will go on sale in January. The plan is that Q the Music will be bolstered by the RAF band, and the concert will contribute to the Help For Heroes charity. 

The evening closed with a high-octane preview of next year's Arnold-themed extravaganza. First was 'Come In 007, Your Time Is Up', then Kerry returned for 'Surrender', a powerhouse track that never made it to TND's opening credits but which has since become a fan favourite. I'll be buying my next ticket in the New Year!