Thomas Dolby's The Invisible Lighthouse
Wed, 11 Sep 2013
Thomas Dolby came to the Phoenix in Leicester tonight to kick off the UK tour of his film The Invisible Lighthouse. I say 'film', but it was more of a live performance than a typical film showing - with Dolby delivering most of the spoken word and music live from the stage.
The film is centred around the closure of a lighthouse in Suffolk near where Thomas Dolby grew up and has now returned to live with his family. Backed by both documentary and more abstract film sequences, he delivers a narration that reflects on his memories of the lighthouse and the area. On the top of this he adds live music, lighting and the wearing of various hats to produce something quite unique - true live 'multimedia'.
I found it highly absorbing. I liked both the subject of the story and the way it was performed. As a child growing up in Selsey I can remember looking out to the Nab Tower at night and being fascinated by the flashing light (and the booming of the horn in the fog). I realised that this was something I hadn't thought about in years.
As well as performing, Thomas Dolby also filmed most of the video footage himself - sometimes using a camera mounted on a small quadcopter to get aerial shots.
Being the first night of the tour I spotted a few little glitches in the show, but these didn't distract from the performance at all. The film was followed by a Q&A session and then a couple of songs for the fans. The tour continues across the UK and then goes to the US. See thomasdolby.com for details.
See my pictures from the night here on Flickr, and a video of Thomas Dolby performing "Hyperactive" here on YouTube.
