Festival of Remembrance 2021, Royal Albert Hall, review: pride, belonging – and almost unbearable emotion

It’s a remarkable fact about the Royal British Legion’s annual Festival of Remembrance that there’s always an anniversary to be commemorated. It’s a reminder of all the innumerable times and places that members of the armed forces have been called on to defend the country, and perhaps make the ultimate sacrifice. At last year’s Festival – a somewhat muted affair, where coloured lights had to stand in for the thousands of empty seats in the Royal Albert Hall – it was the 75^th anniversary of VE and VJ day.

This year it was the 100^th anniversary of the Royal British Legion itself, founded in 1921 in response to the urgent need to care for the more than 1.75 million soldiers wounded in the First World War. As always, the splendid and dignified ceremonials were mingled with filmed stories of how the Legion has helped countless soldiers, projected onto screens. One ex-serviceman described how the work of the rehabilitation Battle Back Centre had rescued him from suicidal thoughts (mental health is as big an issue for ex-servicemen as physical injury).

We heard eyewitness accounts of the First Gulf War, whose 30th anniversary falls this year, in which 47 British servicemen lost their lives. The contributions of servicemen and women from Commonwealth countries, so often overlooked, this year were given extra prominence. Most affecting of all were the personal tales of heroism and loss. Two proud parents told us of the loss of their son in Afghanistan. He was always putting himself in front line for risky jobs like bomb clearance because, as his told his mother, “I’m good at it.” To see those parents then process down an aisle into the hall along with a dozen others was almost unbearably moving.

But as always the prevailing emotion of the festival was pride and a sense of belonging expressed in a stunning display of crisp uniforms, regimental and British legion standards carried in precisely drilled marching patterns, and some terrific music-making. Anyone who thinks military bands are fit only for marches would have been astonished by the variety of tone and sound produced by the four military orchestras and bands assembled at the back of the big arena. Whether they were backing the famed mechanic-turned-tenor Alfie Boe’s full-throated rendition of the Take That song Greatest Day, or the honey-voiced jazz singer Gregory Porter in the song He Ain’t Heavy, He’s My Brother, they summoned a rich many-hued sound with a proper Broadway sheen.

But as soon as a military precision was required the conductor Lieutenant Colonel Simon Haw snapped back into alert, precise mode. However the most astonishing display of virtuosity actually came from the band of HM Royal Marines, which treated us to a stunning display of choreographed drumming known as the “Four-Five-Seven”.

Alongside Boe and Porter were a number of other celebrity guests. The actor-singer-songwriter Cynthia Erivo performed her own song You’re Not Here, which provided a welcome moment of sad reflectiveness. Ramin Karimloo ecstatic rendition of You’ll never Walk Alone got the whole hall singing along. Much the best of these guest performances came from the Soul Sanctuary Gospel Choir, which gave us a rapt rendition of the Lord’s Prayer.

And this was apt, because in the end this festival is not about “star turns”. It’s about the feelings that come from being part of something greater than oneself. So the best moments were the ones that expressed those feelings, above all the Muster where servicemen and women from innumerable ships, RAF bases and regiments simply processed into the hall, one by one. Then came the Last Post, and shower of poppy petals. It was simplicity itself, and so moving.