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A LIFE IN SONG: QUINCY JONES LIVE IN CONCERT To celebrate his 85th birthday, the musical icon took over London’s O2 Arena for one night, opening the doors to thousands of fans to witness his famed tracks reimagined by a full orchestra. A handful of A-list performers turned up to lend their voices for the evening of celebration. TPi was invited to meet LD Ben M Rogers, who outlined his visual goals for the performance. Quincy Jones’ musical repertoire is truly incredible. The impact of his farreaching work has found critical acclaim in cinema, theatre and popular music. Jones has won a Grammy, Tony, Oscar and Emmy for his efforts. With the famed producer turning 85 this year, London was ready to roll out the red carpet. Hosted by Nic Harcourt, the audience was treated to an evening with Jones as he told stories from his illustrious career about collaborating with the likes of Michael Jackson, Steven Spielberg and Frank Sinatra. In between chats, the O2 enjoyed Jones’ back catalogue reimagined live by the Senbla Symphony Orchestra conducted by Jules Buckley. A selection of industry heavyweights, including Mark Ronson, Paul Weller and Mick Hucknall, joined the orchestral party. Ollie Rosenblatt, Founder of promoter Senbla, told TPi how this historic show came about. “It was actually us who originally approached Quincy’s management,” began Rosenblatt. I just so happened that Jones and his management were already in Europe during the summer so they agreed to go ahead with the show. “We had to get our skates on pretty quickly,” reminisced Rosenblatt. “We didn’t have much time to create or sell tickets for the show but that made us focus more, think clearer and more efficiently about what we want to achieve and how to do it.”
Ben M Rogers was brought in as the show’s Lighting Designer with PRG XL Video providing all the fixtures needed for the performance. 8 weeks before doors opened the LD got to work to ensure the stage set was up to scratch for this very special birthday celebration. Senbla has a great deal of experience in this style of show although, according to Rogers, the venues are usually not as vast as the O2. “Most of the Senbla shows of this nature have been in concert halls, so I was keen to try and capture the warmth and intimacy of those spaces within the cavern of the O2,” he began. Rosenblatt agreed: “The scale was much larger as we were in an arena and had to create everything from scratch. From the music and design to booking the orchestra and guests and to selling the tickets. Ben did a brilliant job bringing it to life and creating fantastic visual elements, getting the feeling spot on.” Unlike other orchestral shows, Rogers explained, this particular performance had 3 areas of interest. First was the large orchestra with an expanded rhythm section. Then stage right there was an interview area, where Jones and Harcourt sat throughout the evening. Finally there was a space for the guest artists to perform just in front of conductor Jules Buckley. Understandably all 3 of these elements largely dictated the stage 16
