There are great nights and there are awesome nights. Great nights are, as the word suggests, perfectly enjoyable: fun, memorable events which you are glad to have attended. The thing is, they lack the special something that elevates them into the ranks of awesomeness.

Last night, I think, was a good example. Of course, on one level to have seen all the James Bond themes performed live by a full orchestra at the royal Albert hall was incredible: a few months ago my mum managed to get tickets; and as I made my way to meet up with my parents at the old family house in Harlesden yesterday, I was buzzing with anticipation. The Bond themes, like the films themselves, mean a lot to me, and have done since I played them over and over again as an MP3 playlist on my computer as a teenager. They seemed to encapsulate the suave, brutal rebelliousness of the character himself. Here was an ultra masculine, ultra able man who could go anywhere at will and perform any task with an ease I would never be able to muster. Absolutely nobody did it better than Bond: he seemed able to live and let die in an increasingly cold, brutal, unjust world.

Thus to have a chance to hear these pieces of music played at a venue as magnificent as the royal Albert hall was an opportunity I simply couldn’t miss. As I went into the hall with my mum last night, all the gravitas and power of the films swirled about in my head. Frankly, I could have killed a martini. The thing is, when the music started, that was all it really was: the themes from films which I had listened to many times before. The spectacle didn’t seem to have the impact that I was sort of expecting. They struck me as covers, played fairly rapidly one after the other, which didn’t quite have the resonance or aura of the originals. The compère for the evening, Nick Mohammed, struck me as quite lame; and the performances, although perfectly good, didn’t seem to have the impact I was kind of longing for. The only original performer in the entire evening was Lulu, but who on earth could replace the likes of Shirley Bassey, Tina Turner or Paul McCartney?

The event itself is due to be televised this Saturday, so I’ll leave you to make your own minds up about it. I’m not sure what, if anything, could have elevated it to the level I was longing for: the appearance of a Bond actor or two, perhaps, or a guitar solo by some awesome rock legend. I don’t want to sound too negative or ungrateful, as it was, after all, a pretty special night. Yet it didn’t quite hit the mark which for me comes with the martini swilling, adventurous legend that for me is Double O Seven.