10.10.15 FIRST REVIEW

The concert at the Wales Millennium Centre was the culmination of a journey well-travelled with a man whose music has meant so much to so many

by DAVID OWENS [WALES ONLINE]

Mike

This concert was always going to be emotional.

A week before the lavish 30th anniversary show to celebrate the life and career of Mike Peters – it was revealed The Alarm frontman was battling cancer for a third time.

It was a mighty blow for the singer who has courageously fought leukemia since 1995, twice battering the blood cancer into remission with an indomitable spirit and an herculean strength that us mere mortals could only marvel at.

It was that determination that spawned the singer’s Love Hope Strength Foundation – the rock ‘n’ roll charity he co-founded with fellow cancer survivor James Chippendale in 2007.

It’s this story that has now translated to the big screen in the form of the movie The Man In The Camo Jacket, a director’s cut of which was screened ahead of the main event at the Donald Gordon Theatre.

Simply put – it is one of the most powerful, affecting and inspirational films you will ever watch.

An unbreakable bond between a band and their fans can touch the lives of thousands

The tears were rolling and we were yet to hear a note being struck. Nor were the Welsh football fans amongst us, including football mad Mike Peters himself, yet to hear that Wales had qualified for Euro 2016.

The musician’s stunning Horizons Sing concert at the WMC’s Hoddinott Hall last year, where Mike’s extensive back catalogue was given an orchestral makeover courtesy of the BBC National Orchestra Of Wales, was the catalyst for tonight’s ambitious production – put together by Welsh promoters Orchard and featuring the Welsh Pops Orchestra, and the Acquire and Morriston Orpheus choirs.

For many of us in this mass congregation it was the culmination of a journey well-travelled with a man whose music has meant so much to so many.

I first saw The Alarm on April 22, 1985 at St David’s Hall in Cardiff. It was a night that has lived long with me. It taught me how an unbreakable bond between a band and their fans can touch the lives of thousands and leave an indelible mark that stays with you forever.

The Alarm’s fanbase was always a devoutly ardent army, but concerts in Wales were especially memorable – fervent gatherings, the like of which I’d never seen before and very rarely since. I was hooked.

Screen Shot 2015-10-11 at 18.28.20

But then everybody who had the fortune to witness a show that transcended the normal parameters of a ‘rock concert’ elevating it to something altogether more deeply personal and touching, would no doubt be able to share similar tales.

Touchstones from his four decades in music were stripped of their rock ‘n’ roll grit and in re-imagined in an altogether new headspace.

But then everybody who had the fortune to witness a show that transcended the normal parameters of a ‘rock concert’ elevating it to something altogether more deeply personal and touching, would no doubt be able to share similar tales.

Touchstones from his four decades in music were stripped of their rock ‘n’ roll grit and in re-imagined in an altogether new headspace.

A choir and orchestra reinvigorated the songs sweeping us along on an emotional high

Witness those Alarm totems Spiirt Of ’76, 68 Guns, Where Were You Hiding When The Storm Broke and Marching On, defiant protest songs reborn thanks to the stunning new arrangements of conductor John Quirk.

There were old standards from the first incarnation of The Alarm and selections from the band’s regenesis in the noughties.

Deeside, The Day The Ravens Left The Tower, In The Poppy Fields, The Stand, Rain In The Summertime, My Town – all imparted with the searing honesty and raw passion we’ve expected from this most inspirational of men, but the addition of a choir and orchestra reinvigorated the songs sweeping us along on an emotional high.

Screen Shot 2015-10-11 at 18.27.48

When Orchard Entertainment promoter Dave Driscoll, who had been detailed to keep the singer informed of what was happening in the Bosnia v Wales game shouted out between numbers that the Welsh football team had qualified for their first major international tournament in 57 years, the response was bedlam.

Chants of ‘Wales, Wales’ filled the auditorium, and left those for whom football and music mean so much to wipe away our tears.

If you hadn’t shed a tear by then, you would have when the Morriston Orpheus Choir reacquainted themselves with one of the greatest Welsh songs ever committed to record, the stirring search for hope in the rubble of industrial ruin that is A New South Wales.

Set closing highlights The Bells Of Rhymney, Blaze Of Glory and One Guitar – with it’s prescient refrain of ‘I’m a soldier marching in an army, I’ve got no guns to shoot, I’ve got one guitar’ – told you everything you needed to know about the man in the camo jacket who has been fighting his own personal battles his whole life.

As he embarks upon his new crusade against cancer everybody at the Wales Millennium Centre wished him all the love, hope and strength we could muster.

We all stand alongside you as one Mike.