Stars light up the room at Scottish Royal Variety Performance
A host of celebrities and artists from the worlds of music, dance, comedy and theatre walked up the red carpet to perform at the very first Scottish Royal Variety Performance which was held in The Royal Concert Hall, Glasgow. In the audience A-list celebrities joined His Royal Highness The Duke of Gloucester and The Duke of Buccleuch to watch this glittering event which was held in aid of The Royal Blind School Appeal.
Presented by Scottish personalities Jenni Falconer and Tam Cowan, a whole host of home-grown talent which included the singers and orchestra of Scottish Opera, The Red Hot Chilli Pipers, Sandi Thom, Dougie Maclean, Craig Armstrong, Alasdair Gray and Danny Bhoy mingled with international stars such as Soweto Gospel Choir, Jason Byrne, Peres Brothers, Robert Foxhall and Daniel Bedingfield. The show also presented the opportunity for emerging Scottish talent such as Frightened Rabbit, the Flyin’ Jalapenos, the Magnets, the Rhythmic Gymnastic Squad and Saad Attieh to take to take centre stage at this inaugural event.
The Red Hot Chilli Pipers blew proceedings off to an explosive start, blasting out their inimitable interpretation of the Rocky Theme. Next came the Orchestra of Scottish Opera, accompanying soprano Kate Valentine and then baritone Roland Wood through stunning renditions of O Mio Babbino Caro from Puccini’s Gianni Schicchi and the Toreador Song from Bizet’s Carmen. Scottish comedian Danny Bhoy entertained the audience just before Frightened Rabbit took to the stage with a storming rendition of their single Swim Until you Can’t See Land. Our own star of the evening Saad Attieh then took centre stage as he played his own composition Passing Waves, which he wrote at just 12 years of age. Dougie Maclean closed the first half of the evening with a melodic singalong of Caledonia which the audience adored.
After the interval Sandi Thom entertained with an old favourite I wish I was a Punk Rocker and some great new material. Jason Byrne was hilarious, the Soweto Gospel Choir were amazing, the Peres Brothers were awesome and Daniel Bedingfield blasted out three of his new hits and said he was delighted to be there to help raise funds for such a worthy cause.
Take a look at the pictures to get a flavour of this star studded event that received 4 out of 5 stars in the Scotsman Review which ended with the comment that ‘Hopefully this evening is now firmly established in the arts calendar’.
