Live Review: Jeff Wayne’s The War of the Worlds – Alive on Stage – 20th April 2025 – O2 Arena, London, UK
4 min read
Most people around the world are very familiar with the War of the Worlds, the science-fiction novel by H. G. Wells. A story about aliens coming to earth with a plan to destroy all of humankind and make the planet their own through the use of the famous and menacing tripods. There have been countless b-movies, TV series and the Tom Cruise blockbuster all put out over the last few decades to remind us of that iconic story.
My very first introduction to The War of the Worlds was through the double-CD by British composer, Jeff Wayne. That memorable cover of the trip shooting the Thunder Child war ship with its lasers is something that has stuck in my mind since I was a child and it was also my introduction to orchestral music. It also helped me develop a fascination for the story of War of the Worlds and from that moment I was obsessed with anything that was connected to the tripods.
That album went on to become one of the most successful releases in music and these days, fans are able to experience The War of the Worlds through various stage productions – the most notable being the periodic performances of Jeff Wayne’s The War of the Worlds – Alive on Stage and that time has come around again in London as the spectacle arrived at the famous O2 Arena for a pair of shows for fans to be emersed yet again in the science fiction staple.
We attended Sunday’s evening performance and upon arriving at the venue for the early 7.45pm show, thousands of fans had already filled the venue and most clutched onto programmes or wore merchandise like t-shirts and hoodies to display their appreciation for Wayne and his orchestral retelling of the alien tale.
At 7.45pm the orchestra took to the stage and positioned themselves to the right while a band took up residence to the left and composer, Jeff Wayne emerged from the centre of the prop filled floor space and took his position on a pedestal right in the centre as the crowd erupted with applause with an orchestra positioned to his right and The Black Smoke band to his left’ both balancing and blending orchestral and modern instrumentation into one.
From here we were treated to a wonderful 2 and a half hours of the most spectacular classical arrangements we have heard, and told through narration by actor Liam Neeson who would appear on the large oval screens on each side of the stage or as a hologram that interacted with both the audience and the actors who would momentarily appear on stage as characters from Wayne’s version of the story.
Enter Shikari’s Rou Reynolds is impressive in his role of The Artilleryman as he interacts with Liam Neeson’s 3D hologram and flees to a bunker in the middle of the arena as he encourages the invisible cast of civilians to safety while The Wanted singer Max George wasn’t quite as convincing as Parson Nathanial but still did a fair job. His real life wife, Eastenders actress Masie Smith plays Beth incredibly well and this seemed an ideal role for her to show off her surprisingly powerful vocals in such a big arena like the O2.
The show has been going strong for 19 years as a stage musical and many stars have paced the stages as one of the iconic characters. This time around, Busted Charlie Simpson has been enlisted to play the role of The Sung Thoughts of the Journalist and while a little stiff on stage as he towers above most of his peers, the musician does a decent job and delivers some good vocals, particularly on his highlight number, Forever Autumn which introduces the audience to the first immersive element of the show as autumn leaves fall from the ceiling and across the whole of the O2 arena, pulling the audience slightly into the apocalyptic world.
As the orchestra and band play the soundtrack for the show to absolute perfection, a giant green-eyed tripod is lowered from the ceiling, extends its legs and shoots bursts of flames toward the crowd during several of the numbers, adding to the shows impressive immersive experience. It was these moments that took this from being a simple stage production to being a stage show on a completely different level. You could feel the heat form the multiple bursts of flames that shot form the tripod above and the pyrotechnics that shot upward form the stage with quite an intensity.
It’s a world renowned story that has played through multiple formats and the stage show is every bit as entertaining as that iconic double-disc collection that Wayne delivered to us back in the 70’s and well-worth seeing!
::: RenownedForSound.com’s Editor and Founder –
Interviewing and reviewing the best in new music and globally recognized artists is his passion.
Over the years he has been lucky enough to review thousands of music releases and concerts and interview artists ranging from top selling superstars like 27-time Grammy Award winner Alison Krauss, Boyz II Men, Roxette, Cyndi Lauper, Lisa Loeb and iconic Eagles front man/songwriter, Glenn Frey through to more recent successes including Newton Faulkner, Janelle Monae and Caro Emerald.
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