When Queen's Brian May recorded his majestically multitracked guitar version of the National Anthem back in 1976, he wouldn't have dared imagine that 26 years later he would be performing it live from the roof of Buckingham Palace. But this is exactly how the Party At The Palace - a rock and pop celebration to mark The Queen's Golden Jubilee - kicked off, and in appropriate regal style.
Attended by a full complement of Royals, young and old, the Party At The Palace came two days after a spectacular Classical Prom, featuring the BBC Symphony Orchestra & Chorus, with Conductor Laureate Sir Andrew Davis, and performers including cellist Mstislav Rostropovich, soprano Dame Kiri Te Kanawa, baritone Sir Thomas Allen and operatic duo Roberto Alagna and Angela Gheorghiu.
It was the June 3 Party which grabbed most of the headline action. With legends such as Sir Paul McCartney, Sir Elton John, Ray Davies, Ozzy Osbourne, Steve Winwood, Rod Stewart, Tom Jones, Aretha Franklin, Brian Wilson, Eric Clapton, Phil Collins, Annie Lennox, Sir Cliff Richard, Joe Cocker and the remnants of Queen sharing the bill with newer talent, in the shape of The Corrs, Will Young, Blue, Atomic Kitten, S Club 7, Mis-teeq and Emma Bunton, this show was arguably the greatest pooling of talent since Live Aid. Dame Shirley AND Ozzy on the same bill? Now that's what I call variety!
As well as the music, humour played a big part, with Lenny Henry and Ben Elton adding more than a shade of irreverence - McCartney possibly going one step too far with his revisiting of the cheeky 'Her Majesty' from Abbey Road.
An audience of just over 12,000 people attended the three and a half hour Party - their seats were allocated after millions throughout the UK applied for the Golden Tickets. Both the Prom and the Party were broadcast live by BBC Television and Radio across the UK and the world, and also shown on large screens around the Mall and elsewhere in London, so that those not lucky enough to receive invitations could also enjoy the entertainment.
Twenty-five years on from their first touring collaboration with Pink Floyd, Creative Director Mark Fisher and Event Producer Robbie Williams came to organise the two Palace concerts as a natural follow-on from their high profile involvement in the Millennium Dome project.
Deep in the backstage village just a few days before the first show, Williams explained how the production got underway. "Mark Fisher, who normally gets me involved in projects of this nature, was approached by the Palace Trust two years ago, with the original idea to stage a series of concerts in several Royal palaces, including Windsor and Holyrood, and pay for them by selling the world television rights. Any money left over from the sale of the TV rights would go to the Queen's favourite charities. When the BBC were offered the rights, they asked for exclusivity and agreed to pay for the concerts. This now meant that the BBC were now both the broadcasters and the concert producers. The contract that Mark and I had with the Palace Trust was then transferred to the BBC, and I've been working on behalf of the BBC ever since."
Was the link between this project and the Dome as obvious as it seemed? "Probably," replied Williams. "I guess the Dome got us into this because it was that project which earned Mr. Fisher his OBE and, by default, the status of being the 'by appointment' rock show co-ordinator. Usually, wherever he goes, if it's sufficiently wacky, I go with him."
There have been some fairly extreme security infrastructures in rock'n'roll, but the one in place at Buckingham Palace was on another level, with possibly only this year's Super Bowl rivalling it. How did this affect the speed of set-up? "It's affected it on a major scale, because everyone entering the site has to go through a series of clearance procedures, and all equipment has to be searched," informed Williams. "September 11 came along just as we were getting this project up and running; the Police were naturally very worried and made a ruling that everybody working on it had to go through the full CTC check, involving an extensive counter-terrorism questionnaire which traces family history by several generations. For some people in our industry, that could be a little problematic, of course! We've had a few people rejected which was unfortunate."
As Williams knows only too well after the Police almost destroyed the Dome's opening night by lengthy search procedures, this level of security can be extremely damaging to the smooth running of an event, especially one which HAS to run on time, for live broadcast.
How did he apply that experience this time? "I threw down a challenge to the Police, who responded by installing a huge search operation in North Carriage Drive in Hyde Park, with dogs, chemicals and an airport style security checkpoint. Every truck is brought in under escort. It's slowed us down an awful lot, but we built in the extra time to allow for it. It's probably added another 50% to the schedule, compared to any other event of this size. Also, when Her Majesty is in residence, it can add the same amount of timing, yet again. We have to work around the Changing of the Guard every morning, so we can't bring trucks across the forecourt between 10am and 1pm. Then if Her Majesty's in residence and is due to go on an official visit, that usually stops us from doing anything for an hour or so while she is making her exit/entrance."
Buckingham Palace Gardens was, of course, never designed to accommodate the loading in of a live music event. The entry point, the Garden Gate, allowed for just four inches of clearance either side of an artic - not much of a margin for error! "Apart from demolishing one light on the lawn, we've had a pretty clean sheet which is a real testimony to the skills of our drivers - a few of whom had to audition for us!" revealed Williams.
After the Saturday classical Prom, there was just one overnight shift available to transform the stage into a vehicle for a rock and pop show, and then rehearse the artists and cameras on the Sunday for the Monday performance. All this in the midst of a well-publicised fire inside the Palace which brought a halt to the rehearsals.
Negotiating the various layers of a formidable organisation such as Buckingham Palace that is not accustomed to staging rock concerts had been a challenge in itself, said Williams. "They organise garden parties and investiture receptions incredibly well, but this is clearly well beyond the scope of that. We're very used to working on green field sites for open air events. At the Palace, however, we are dealing with one of the world's most treasured and largest camomile lawns and I really sympathise with the Head Gardener. "After the concerts we will be lifting up trackway that's been down for three weeks, and if anything's still alive underneath it, it'll be a miracle. There's no pretending that we are going to leave the Gardens in its original state." (Hence when Sir Paul asked the Queen if there would be a repeat event next year, she replied. 'Not in my garden'.)
THE BAND
Fisher and Williams' first idea for the Party was to loosely base it on the Songs & Visions concert at Wembley Stadium in 1997, for which they (with Tony Hollingsworth) put together a dynamite house band, and persuaded various top artists to front each song in interesting duets and combinations.
"That was our original template for this event," said Williams, "but when the BBC got involved they were very keen to broaden its appeal, and started to recruit lots of self-contained bands who wanted to come in and play live. In my mind this was not going to work - there would be far too many complicated changeovers, and it was potential chaos. It was not Live Aid or the Brits - we only had so much room to accommodate a stage between the trees. With musicians like Phil Collins, Ray Cooper, Pino Palladino, Wix Wickens, Phil Palmer, backing vocalists Sam Brown, Margo Buchanan and Claudia Fontayne, and Michael Kamen in as MD, confidence in the house band approach was extremely high, and more and more performers were encouraged."
To decide on the performing cast, a 'talent' committee was recruited which included Sir George Martin, Tony Smith (Phil Collins' manager) and Barrie Marshall. When the BBC took over, the talent sourcing was already at an advanced stage. "However," commented Williams, "by the very nature of the Corporation's power and influence, our committee was largely made redundant and that side of the organisation was taken in-house. To be honest, after working on this for a few months and realising the extent of our responsibilities - everything from staging to ticket design - it was actually a relief to have the talent aspects of the project lifted off my shoulders."
The 'talent' rehearsed at Music Bank Studios for two weeks leading up to the show, later joining up with the orchestra at AIR Studios for two days, with stalwarts Eric Clapton and Steve Winwood deciding to play along beyond the numbers they were due to front. Williams: "That naturally gave the audio department a few headaches, but that's what theyÕre paid to cope with! It's been one of those events that keeps expanding and you somehow have to keep on top of it, mindful of the fact that the show can only last three hours long."
One of the problems with bringing whole bands in to perform at 'all-star' events is that they expect to come with their usual entourages, and with only a small backstage area, this was not going to be possible. "Some have insisted on bringing their own LDs in, despite the fact that the show is mainly in daylight," said Williams.
He pulled no punches when he added: "It's ironic that the artists who have been most insistent are the younger boy/girl acts who don't actually need a heavyweight technical entourage - but they do have a vocal coach, hair and make-up, and the people who really run their shows are the PRs and record label staff. Do they really need three label reps and two PR people here in order to watch them mime one number? And yet we were told that if they weren't invited, the act would not perform. Interesting!"
SUPPLIER CHOICES
Were the production suppliers inevitable choices? "Pretty much, yes. On this I have had to become Event Producer rather than Production Manager, which is the role taken by Julian Lavender who helped us with the Dome. Derrick Zieba is Head of Live Sound with Andy Rose in the recording truck, and Britannia Row servicing all of our PA requirements, while the BBC's OB Resource unit looks after the scanners. My usual colleagues like Steve Jones and Chalky White are in as Stage Managers... all the old cronies really!"
While Blackout provided all of the drapes, Andrew Crimin of scenic company Cutting Edge was on site to deliver the fluted columns at either side of the main stage, which were enhanced by the presence of a large unicorn at stage right and a regal-looking lion on the opposite side for the classical concert. For the rock/pop show, these icons were joined by a pair of massive Gibson Les Paul guitars.
The main stage (25m wide x 23m deep x 15m high) and supports for XL Video's screens were provided by Edwin Shirley Staging, who also supplied the Pagoda 'B' stage, the Royal Box, FOH mix/spot and camera towers, and security platforms.
A slight wrinkle of frustration crossed Williams' face when he mentioned the politics of TV shoots. "I'm used to putting on concerts for a live audience which a TV crew would then come in and film. Once I became employed by the BBC I had to be reminded that this is primarily a TV shoot, and if they wanted to put their close-up cameras in the third row and obscure the view of 3,000 people, so be it! The BBC brought in their own production team for the broadcast side of the show; meanwhile, my friend Patrick Woodroffe [no stranger to the Royals] was hired as the overall concert Lighting Director with Elstree Light & Power employed as the main lighting contractor. There's been much more compromise than normal between the live and television camps."
The lighting design team was bolstered by Patrick Woodroffe's assistant Adam Basset. Bernie Davis and Mark Kenyon were the TV Lighting Directors for the classical night and rock/pop show, respectively. ELP's involvement was project-managed by MD Ronan Wilson, while ELP's Toby Dare managed the 16-man crew which worked 24 hours a day during the entire set-up, show and changeover periods, as well as covering inside the Palace and around the grounds. Other key personnel included Nigel Catmur, Will Charles and Dave Hill who operated Whole Hog IIs and Wings, while 12 spot operators piloted seven Gladiators and five Panis.
The rig supplied by ELP included 61 High End Studio Beams, 40 Studio Spots, 10 X-Spots, 67 Martin MAC 2000s, 20 MAC 600s, 18 MAC 250s, 33 City Colours, 10 Space Cannons, 15 LED battens, 46 Vari*Lite VL2402s, 12 Coemar CF1.2s, 18 CF7s, 200 Pars, and a wide range of HMI fresnels, Cine-Pars, fresnels and molefays.
Toby Dare commented: "Hardly any trussing was used - the brief was to keep the lighting fixtures as discreet as possible, without altering the line of the roof. Most fixtures were hung on scaff fixed to the ESS roof with brackets which we supplied."
Whilst Her Majesty took great interest in the All The Queen's Horses event at Windsor, she skilfully managed to disguise her acute fascination in the set-up of the Party At The Palace. "All I ever hear is 'beep beep beep'," she was heard to say, referring to the constant sound of reversing forklifts in her salubrious backyard. "We did recommend that she stayed clear of the Palace during set-up, and thankfully she spent most of the period up in Scotland so that we could get on with the job without disturbing her," Williams said.
He added: "It's had its moments which could be considered fun. It's been a hell of a challenge. There are times when you wish you were working with people who had done this kind of thing before, rather than spend a lot of valuable hours explaining the ways of rock'n'roll. Then again, I seem to have a reputation for diving into the deep end, so they probably saw me coming!"
Wisely, The Queen joined the younger Royals at the show AFTER Ozzy Osbourne's frenzied workout of 'Paranoid'. The concert finished just after 10.30pm. With the strains of 'All You Need Is Love' and 'Hey Jude' still ringing loudly in their ears, Her Majesty and the Duke of Edinburgh left the Palace to light the beacon which triggered the most spectacular pyrotechnics display ever seen in the UK. Read on...
an unusual jubilee