Pavilion Theatre, Bournemouth, November 22, 2018

Steven Spielberg’s 1993 dinosaur classic celebrates its silver anniversary with a tour of UK music halls, projected to live orchestral accompaniment.

It’s inevitable that the CGI dinosaurs showcased in the early 1990s have been eclipsed by subsequent leaps in terms technical wizardry, but John Williams’ score is as fresh and majestic as it ever was, and I defy anyone not to be enthralled as Richard Attenborough’s John Hammond utters those immortal lines ‘Welcome to Jurassic Park’ as the majestic theme swells.

The Czech National Symphony Orchestra, under the baton of conductor Ben Palmer, clearly relished playing such a rich score by Williams, having already toured earlier in the year with the composer’s Raiders of the Lost Ark and Jaws.

For those who have yet to experience a live orchestral performance to film, it can be a hard sell – I could just as easily watch this as home. But once you’ve immersed yourself in such a concert you soon realise that this is the way to experience a movie. Even if you’ve seen it countless times before, a live performance can be a epiphany, as you hear nuances and depth with the ultimate sound system.

What was really apparent in this performance was the power of the action cues, particularly the peril theme that ratchets up the tension as the raptors invade the kitchen. There’s also some desperate ethnic woodwind action during the jungle sequences. But that moment when we all get to the Brachiosaur for the first time… just magical, and you want that orchestra to keep playing forever.

Verdict: The concert tagline cheekily transposes the original movie poster by claiming its ‘A performance 65 million years in the making.’ Well, 25 years is probably a bit more accurate, but well worth the wait.

Nick Joy