Part of the fabric of popular culture, Tubular Bells is world-renowned as one of the most celebrated examples of music in film for its soundtracking of horror classic The Exorcist. Its legacy was cemented with Oldfield’s performance of the album’s main theme at the iconic London 2012 Olympics Opening Ceremony, one of the rare performances of the project he has given.

Tubular Bells The 50th Anniversary Celebration will feature an expansive live group, conducted and arranged by Oldfield’s long-term collaborator Robin Smith. It will see Tubular Bells performed in full, along with further Oldfield compositions, touring across the UK including Birmingham’s New Alexandra Theatre on 13th February and warwick Arts Centre, Coventry, on 10th March.

Tubular Bells, created in 1971 and released in 1973, was the debut studio album by English multi-instrumentalist, composer and songwriter Mike Oldfield. At just seventeen years old when he started composing the music, Oldfield recorded and played almost all the instruments on the album, gained worldwide recognition when the opening theme was used for the soundtrack of the horror film, The Exorcist and went on to become the highest selling instrumental album of all time.

A bold and progressive fusion, Tubular Bells is a journey through classical, jazz, folk, progressive rock, and electronica and went on to win a Grammy for Best Instrumental Composition in 1974.

Robin Smith, conductor of the show, was completely mesmerised by Tubular Bells the moment he heard it. He was educated at the Royal Grammar School High Wycombe and then studied Composition at the Royal College of Music. He spent several years working as a piano/keyboard player in Africa, the Caribbean, USA, and Europe before coming back to UK to join National Youth Jazz Orchestra. He quickly became the principal pianist and spent most of his free time composing new jazz compositions.

Smith has collaborated with Mike Oldfield for over thirty years, with performances of Tubular Bells including at Edinburgh Castle, and also the 2012 Olympic Games Opening Ceremony.

On the tour, Smith says: “Along with the musicians, I’m really thrilled to be offering this beautiful re-imagined version of Tubular Bells to a wider audience up and down the country. It was premiered at the Royal Festival Hall in August 2021 to great acclaim, as an early celebration of Mike Oldfield’s stunning work – so to be touring the UK in the fiftieth year is a huge privilege for me and a perfect tribute to one of England’s greatest composers.

The wonderful thing about Tubular Bells is that it never seems to age, the actual composition is just perfect and is as spell-binding now as it was fifty years ago. It incorporates so many things – folk and rock, blues and jazz which evoke such melodic beauty and drama. This performance also features others works by Mike: Moonlight Shadow, Omadawn and Summit Day.”