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A review from 5D Music & Theatre writer Maria Robertson.
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If you want to see one of the recent fads of the music world – concerts by candlelight – then you need to go to one by Fever. They create an absolutely magical experience with gorgeous venues, a plethora of candles and very talented musicians.
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We chose to go and see Queen by Candlelight in the Union Kirk in Aberdeen, which is a stunning venue made even more so by over 1,200 candles for the evening. We were treated to the Grampian string quartet which was four excellent musicians who obviously really enjoyed playing the songs of Queen.
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I must admit to being quite sceptical of how this would work as Queen is obviously quite rocky music, with drums and amazing guitar solos. So how would it translate to the classical instruments? The answer is: very well.
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The quartet performed a selection of Queen’s classic tracks: I Want to Break Free, We Will Rock You, Somebody to Love, Radio Ga Ga, Don’t Stop Me Now, Killer Queen, Crazy Little Thing Called Love, Who Wants to Live Forever, Bohemian Rhapsody, We Are the Champions. One of the violinists acted as the compare, and he did apologise for his jokes! Each song was announced, sometimes with an interesting fact such as which album it was on or when it came out. We were asked to clap our hands or click our fingers, as the music needed. We were also told we could sing along for Bohemian Rhapsody and certainly some people were vocalising some bits.
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Listening to orchestral versions of the songs actually gave you the head space to test your knowledge of the lyrics, I was singing along in my head to many of the songs. It was quite a moving experience, fully engaging with the music. No phones were allowed – until the last two songs when we were invited to take photos or recordings to remember our evening. With the lights dimmed and the flickering candles (even if they were artificial) you could fully immerse yourself in the music and the real world just disappeared.
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In a serene moment I felt that the mighty man himself could be looking down on us, and I imagine he would be smiling at everyone in the room’s enjoyment of his music, even if it was missing the vocal magic that Freddy brought to the band. It was truly a magical evening, not at all worthy of the word fad, I left wanting to try Fever’s other candlelight events – they have two coming up in the gorgeous setting of St Machers Cathedral: Hans Zimmer and Abba. What’s not to love?!
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Further information: https://feverup.com/en/aberdeen/candlelight
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Maria Robertson is the Chief Music & Theatre Writer for the 5D Pop Culture Website and provides reviews & coverage of local Aberdeen music & theatre gigs. She’s an experienced writer for numerous sources and is a self-confessed live gig addict ever since seeing The Counting Crows at the Barrowlands in 1994.
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