The Art in Heaven Concert

Untitled

The Art in Heaven Concert (full title Mike Oldfield The Art in Heaven Concert Live in Berlin) is a Mike Oldfield concert video taken from 2000 New Year's night (31 December, 1999) concert at Berlin, Germany, which is currently available on DVD.

In a press conference in July 1999 in Langeland, Oldfield revealed that some ideas for the venue for the millennium night concert were Jubilee Gardens or possibly New Zealand.

At the concert Oldfield performed pieces from his back catalogue, his then latest album The Millennium Bell and another piece titled "Art in Heaven". "Art in Heaven" begins with an excerpt from the first track of his The Songs of Distant Earth album ("In the Beginning"), and ends with "Ode to Joy" from Ludwig van Beethoven's Ninth Symphony. The rest of the piece was specially composed for the event and was later turned into "Thou Art in Heaven" on his next album Tres Lunas.

Original DVD annotation

Berlin welcomes the new millennium with the world's most sepctacular ligh-show Art in Heaven set to the timeless music of Mike Oldfield performing live in concert.

Twelve fluorescent light balloons, 250 rare Xenon gas Space Cannons and 550 special stage lights turn the sky above Berlin into a unique pyramid of light under the direction of Gert Hof. More than half a million spectators experience this superlative show set at the foot of Berlin's beautiful Victory Column.

Mike Oldfield performs several of this legendary classics including Tubular Bells, Moonlight Shadow and Shadow on the Wall as well as the premiere of his album The Millennium Bell. The musical climax of this event is the special Art in Heaven.

Also appearing is the State Orchestra and the Glinka State Choir of Saint Petersburg. An amazing event of art, culture and music to commemorate the start of the new millennium.

DVD track listing

Classic songs

1. "Tubular Bells"
2. "Portsmouth"
3. "Moonlight Shadow"
4. "Secrets"
5. "Shadow on the Wall"

The Millennium Bell songs

6. "Sunlight" ("Sunlight Shining Through Cloud")
7. "The Doges Palace"
8. "Mastermind"
9. "Broad" ("Broad Sunlit Uplands")
10. "Liberation"
11. "Amber Light"
12. "The Millennium Bell"

Special features

• "Art in Heaven" – Oldfield's 13-minute solo
• "The Making Of..." – documentary
• Interview with Mike Oldfield

Personnel

• Mike Oldfield – guitars
• Robyn Smith – conductor
• Adrian Thomas – keyboards, guitars
• Claire Nicolson – keyboards, guitar
• Carrie Melbourne – bass, Chapman Stick
• Fergus Gerrand – drums, percussions
• Jody Linscott – percussions
• Pepsi Demacque – vocals
• Miriam Stockley – vocals
• Nicola Emmanuelle – vocals
• David Serame – vocals

Also

• Symphony Orchestra State Academic Capella, Saint Petersburg
• The Glinka State Choir, Saint Petersburg

Production

• Gert Hof - Director
• Egon Banghard - Producer
• Achim Perleberg - Producer

External links

• Soundtrack of The Art in Heaven Concert at IMDb
• Ringing in the Millennium in Berlin – a review by Carole Martin