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Diary

Tim Rice

Wednesday, 2nd January 2008

I was actually offered a Led Zeppelin ticket, but I declined. I was tempted, but I had just been to the impressive O2 stadium to see the even more impressive Take That, so there was no architectural lure. More important, I had promised to see another four-piece band, the exquisite vocal quartet Cantabile, in Paris on the same night. While it is clear that Led Zep are hugely important, influential, seminal etc., I think I was just too old (by about five months) to become a serious worshipper. I met their bass man John Paul Jones when he was orchestrating Cliff Richard Eurovision entries for my then boss the late Norrie Paramor, in 1968, and was mildly surprised to see him featuring in that wild and hedonistic line-up 12 months later. I met Cantabile when they were monks in my flop musical Blondel back in 1983, and since then have kept close tabs on their flourishing international career. Cantabile (pronounced Can-TAH-bih-lay, Italian for ‘in singing style’) move from Bizet to Barbershop via Beatles and Baroque with charm and humour — and great musicianship. Furthermore they do their act in the language of wherever they happen to be. In Paris they knocked the locals dead. I wish I could go to Alba Julia in Transylvania next week to see them crack gags in Romanian.

I am genuinely delighted, and perhaps a little amazed, by the emergence of Andrew Lloyd Webber as a bona fide television star. The success of his reality casting shows has been extraordinary and, despite the predictable moans of the allegedly intellectual and upmarket end of the theatrical business, shows such as Any Dream Will Do have done wonders for musical theatre, one of the few remaining forms of entertainment that cannot be easily downloaded for free (although I bet someone’s working on that). Andrew has succeeded by being himself and his combination of genuine shyness and love of the spotlight has been a welcome contrast to the more typical television performer who only possesses the second of these attributes. Mind you, I’m not sure how he copes with being so recognisable. The only places I ever get recognised without fail are Lord’s and Cliff Richard concerts, which is enough visual appreciation for me. I still have a fighting chance of not being identified in a Belgian lap-dancing club.

Stop Press: Pete and the Sugar Pops have broken up, citing ‘musical differences’.

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The Spectator's Notes

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‘A money-financed tax cut is essentially equivalent to Milton Friedman’s famous “helicopter drop” of money.’ So said Ben Bernanke, now the chairman of the Fed, in a speech about how to ward off the ‘extremely small’ chance of deflation, which he delivered in 2002.