Musical review
Currently on tour across the UK

The rock album from 1978 based on H.G. Wells' novel comes alive...

Jeff Wayne's The War of the Worlds has had a life far beyond anything the composer could have imagined when he put his house on the line to finance a double album starring Richard Burton and some of the rock greats of the time. The album has been digitally remixed, inspired dance and techno numbers and kept in the public eye throughout the last 30 years.

Last year, Wayne finally realised his dream of performing the album live – but not just a straight concert performance. As currently touring, this is a multimedia event. A 30-foot-tall Martian descends on the audience, there are pyrotechnics live on stage, and the story is told on a huge screen behind the orchestra and rock group, mixing footage mostly from the original period with newly shot material. To cap it all, holographic technology has recreated Richard Burton so that his lines are "read" by the man himself. (This isn't as new as the producers seem to think – Laurence Olivier appeared in the musical Time like this way back in 1989!).

Wayne remains pretty faithful to the album, although there are occasional moments when the guitarists get a chance to riff away and the show comes alive in the hands of Alexis James' Artilleryman, and John Payne's tortured Parson Nathaniel. It's a fine line to draw: if the artists deviate too far from the template then the many extra effects simply won't work, but I'd have loved to see a bit more spontaneity. Paul Simpson

VERDICT: 8/10
If you liked the album, you'll love the show; if you've not yet heard it, then try and get a ticket, or failing that, download the album from iTunes!