In this article I cover attending the first Life on Our Planet in Concert in Bristol. You can find out more about what I thought of the concert below!
I was fortunate enough to be offered guest tickets to attend the Life on Our Planet in Concert at Bristol Beacon for the evening of the 2nd of October 2024. I had been hoping to attend one of the concerts for sometime so I was thrilled to be able to attend.
In this article I review the Life on Our Planet Netflix series and cover some of its palaeontological accuracy. I also cover my thoughts on the actual live concert experience at Bristol Beacon and showcase where you can buy tickets for the remaining concerts across the United Kingdom.
The Life on Our Planet Series Review
I have covered Life on Our Planet a lot on the blog in the past. A natural history series created by Silverback Films in collaboration with Industrial Light and Magic and Amblin Television. The series tells the story of life on our planet over the course of the Earth’s 4.5-billion-year-old history.
The show debuted on Netflix on the 25th of October 2023 with eight episodes covering the story of life and following the five mass extinctions, including how the planets wildlife has adapted and evolved as a result to survive.
The Life on Our Planet series itself is quite a unique series displaying the evolutionary adaptations and behaviours of a diverse range of wildlife across millions of years. The series takes a technically complex topic of palaeontology, biology and geology and makes it accessible with a mix of theoretical and empirical evidence alongside footage of present day flora and fauna.
The scenarios presented on screen do ignite the audience’s imagination of what behaviours extinct prehistoric creatures might have had. A lot of these behaviours have been influenced by the extant taxa of today whether it be bird and crocodile courtship behaviour or how mammals move and react.
Whilst there are palaeontological inaccuracies across the episodes themselves, I think the series does a decent job of providing the audience with behavioural and environmental scenarios for the creatures for audiences to relate to.
A lot of palaeontology is about comparisons between extant taxa of today and those of the past including evolutionary counterparts so it is good to see the series emphasis these topics, even if it glosses over the more in-depth aspects of phylogenetics and the complexity of evolution, adaptation, behaviour and survival.
The dinosaur and prehistoric creature designs in Life on Our Planet walk a line between palaeontological accuracy and the shows own stylised take. It is clear the creators behind the series wanted to showcase the story of life’s history in an overview first and foremost. This is something which many Natural History documentary series have not been able to commit to.
The incredible score for the series by Lorne Belfe is memorable providing a wealth of emotions when watching the amazing biodiversity of life unfold on screen. This is something I was looking forward to hear in live form at the Life on Our Planet in Concert and the experience did not disappoint!
Life on Our Planet in Concert at Bristol Beacon
The concert experience was amazing, and the Welsh National Opera Orchestra did a fantastic job with the series score. The concert was a condensed version of the show and covered key moments of the Earth’s geological and wildlife history, whilst providing the overall story of the series.
It was great to see a lot of the iconic sequences from the series on the big screen for the concert, with the orchestra playing iconic tracks from the score. Sequences such as the Tyrannosaurus rex pair doing their courtship dance and panicking Edmontosaurus trying to save their newly hatched babies during the K-Pg extinction event came to life on screen, with the orchestra weaving a symphony of sounds for each natural history sequence.
Overall, I thought the Life on Our Planet in Concert was very well done and was not only a great way to celebrate the series but share the series with a wider audience. The series has a fantastic score and it was great to hear the score in live form. For people not familiar with the series I think the concert will be helpful in bringing the series to new audiences.
Life on Our Planet in Concert Tickets
If you would like to attend the remaining Life on Our Planet in Concert experiences across October you can find the remaining concert dates and tickets below. Just click the links and you will be able to buy tickets.
- Tues 8th – MANCHESTER Bridgewater Hall – with Manchester Camerata
- Thurs 10th – GLASGOW Royal Concert Hall – with Royal Scottish National Orchestra
- Thurs 17th – LONDON Barbican – with London Symphony Orchestra
If you would like to listen to the full score by Lorne Balfe before attending the concert, you can find the full score on YouTube below.
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If you are new to the website I encourage you to explore all the pages of the website to learn more about palaeontology and prehistory. From the dinosaur palaeobiology profiles to fossil finds pages where there is a wealth of palaeontology content to view and read! You can also find all my science communication links at the scicomm page for easy access.
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