Jeff Wayne's Musical Version of The War of the Worlds Live! The Concert Experience

Jeff Wayne's Musical Version of The War of the Worlds comes to York Barbican on Wednesday 14 October, presented by Kilimanjaro. It's a concert version of Wayne's original double album, The War of the Worlds, brought to life on stage by West End performers, a live band, an orchestra and animation.

If you know the record, you'll know it's a big, cinematic piece of storytelling, and this production keeps that scale. The West End cast handles the voices, the band and orchestra provide the music, and the animation runs alongside to keep the story moving. It's the whole album played through, rather than a selection of highlights.

What makes this version a bit different from the tours Wayne has done before is the focus. He describes it as a concert production that strips away the stadium-scale grandiosity of his previous tours to put the music itself at the centre. For this one, Wayne is stepping back from the podium, leaving the spotlight to the West End performers and the musicians. It's less about the man behind the record and more about the record itself.

So, if you've got the album on your shelf and have always wondered what it would sound like with a full band and orchestra in the room, this is your chance to hear it. It's at York Barbican on 14 October.