David Arnold: the Bond maestro proves he’s also a vocal star

Thanking his audience for coming out on “a miserable evening” to watch a debut solo concert at the packed 600-capacity Lafayette club, David Arnold joked: “I realise that there is an abundance of opportunity to see Hollywood composers singing songs in pubs in London, so thank you for choosing me.”

It was an unusual show, but those who had braved the inclement weather got ample reward. The 61-year-old Arnold is one of Britain’s leading film, TV and theatre composers, whose credits include scoring five James Bond films and collaborating with director Danny Boyle on the opening ceremony of the 2012 Summer Olympics. “One of the things about writing songs for films is that you never get to sing them in public, ever,” noted Arnold, who is embarking on a short UK tour to scratch a lifelong performer’s itch. “If I do a film score, it might come out on a Friday night and 10 million people might watch it but I’m not there when that happens.”

Across two highly entertaining hours, Arnold performed songs originally composed for singers such as Dame Shirley Bassey, Scott Walker, Bjork, KD Lang, Chris Cornell, Sandy Shaw, Kathleen Jenkins, Youssou N’Dour, Sophie Ellis Bextor, Shirley Manson of Garbage, Nina Persson of the Cardigans and Mel C of the Spice Girls. Rather astonishingly, he proved up to the task. Sporting a tidy goatee beard, he looked far more like a backroom composer than a pop star, but the velvety tone and mellifluous fluidity of his vocals were a treat. Playing a 007 branded electric guitar with occasional forays onto piano, he apologised for peering at a music stand throughout. “Some of these songs are 30 years old, and I haven’t had any reason to sing them since I first wrote them.”

Indeed, a couple of songs were given live debuts, including a theme for a forthcoming Christmas TV animation of Judith Kerr’s much loved cat Mog. Arnold introduced it with “two words to strike fear into the heart of any UK crowd: audience participation,” noting “this is your chance to stare at the floor.”

Arnold chatted as much as he sang, telling tales about each song. He was backed by a five-piece band of colleagues, all supremely accomplished session musicians, composers, arrangers and musical directors in their own rights, who particularly seemed to enjoy amping up the melodrama for Bond songs, including a punchy You Know My Name (from Casino Royale), The World is Not Enough and Surrender (from Tomorrow Never Dies).

Children’s songs and James Bond are an odd mix, but if the under-rehearsed band were sometimes flying by the seats of their pants, and the songs themselves lacked emotional resonance in this out of context setting, the whole evening was tremendous fun, with Arnold a very amusing host. He even revealed that he had once been commissioned to write a song for government trade missions by David Cameron, before unveiling the dreary piano ballad Home. “A year later we got Brexit,” he wryly noted. “Don’t blame me.” 

Touring the UK until Nov 26; aegpresents.co.uk