Princes Street Gardens, Edinburgh
Four Stars
Broken hearts were everywhere
onstage for Mark Ronson’s headlining slot in a DJ-only show to see in the new year
as part of Edinburgh’s Hogmanay’s main event. Two pieces of a giant silver
construction sit like a collapsed mirrorball, dwarfing the midas-touch producer
as he sits inbetween, where his desk-top console resides. Behind him, a twelve-strong
all-female string section featuring Scottish Chamber Orchestra violinists Aisling
O’Dea and Siun Milne, plus cellist Niamh Malloy swish out the sort of lush
clusters barely heard since the Biddu Orchestra turned disco into a classical
gas.
Other hearts are either
framed in red as neon shapes zigzag about them, or else spiral round like Joe
90 might hatch like a Kinder toy. Ronson moves through a set of the last
decade’s bangers at a gallop. He only pauses to don guitar for a brief guest
slot from Daniel Merriweather, whose Ronson-produced mash-up of the Smiths and
the Supremes on Stop Me remains sublime, despite his patter suggesting
ambitions to be an international peace envoy.
Warm-ups came care of the
vintage punky reggae party of Mungo’s Hi-Fi sound system and the old skool hands-in-the-air
vibes of Rudimental’s Leon ‘Locksmith’ Rolle, accompanied by free-styling
trumpeter Mark Crowney. There are more hearts here, as Rolle gets the audience
to make shapes with their hands.
All of which fits in
with this year’s Be Together theme. Not that there’s been much togetherness in
responses to what some see as the serious mismanagement of Edinburgh’s Winter
festivals. The resultant brickbats raise serious questions regarding the
event’s future - if it has one – that must be addressed.
In the meantime, Ronson’s
medley of his own hits synchronised to the turn-of-year fireworks is a work of
eye and ear-popping razzmatazz. As are his slightly spooky closing renditions
of Back to Black and Valerie. The power of Amy Winehouse’s disembodied vocal is
heightened by the image of her bee-hived visage that covers the stage wall.
Winehouse’s face is bent down, as if acknowledging the broken mirrorball below.
All heart, as ever.
The Herald, January 2nd 2020
ends
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