Weekender: Dance music legends announced for Symphonic Sounds of Back to Basics with the Orchestra of Opera North

Dance music legends Robin S, Utah Saints and Alison Limerick have been confirmed as the headline special guests for the return of The Symphonic Sounds of Back to Basics featuring the Orchestra of Opera North in Leeds this summer.

This year’s collaboration between Dave Beer’s trailblazing Leeds club and Yorkshire’s resident symphony orchestra, which takes place at Millennium Square July 27, is set to turn the clocks back to the heady days of the early 90s, when electrifying new waves of US dance music hit the UK and home-grown musicians and producers responded with hard-hitting sounds of their own.

Robin S, best known for her worldwide chart-topping dance music classic Show Me Love, said: “I am really looking forward to returning to the UK for this unique performance in Leeds. It is amazing that Show Me Love is still going strong after 25 years and I am so excited to be able to perform this live for the audience alongside Opera North’s 50-piece symphony orchestra –  it is going to be a very special moment.”

Home-grown DJ and sampling pioneers Utah Saints had their first hit in 1991 with What Can You Do For Me. More success followed with Something Good, which sampled Kate Bush’s Cloudbusting, and Believe in Me, another top ten hit. The duo, Tim Utah and Jez Willis, started out as promoters on the same Yorkshire club scene as Dave Beer, and the Back to Basics mainman once even served as their tour manager.

Willis said: “We have always been immensely proud of our home city, Leeds, and to be performing in as part of Symphonic Sounds in Millennium Square is a real honour.

“This will be a one-off for us, we will be performing a couple of our hits in a completely new way, and we aim to make it very special. When we started, Dave Beer was a big part of our early live set-up, so to be reunited at this gig is a big deal.”

Alison Limerick’s 1990 debut single Where Love Lives topped a Mixmag chart of the Greatest Dance Singles Of All Time, and continues to influence the sound of club music today.

“When I see people reacting to it, that’s always genuinely amazing”, says Limerick. “More so now, when those people are not just of the older club generations but the new ones too, the twentysomethings. Live, there are always new ways to sing a classic song like that, and keep it fresh and enjoy the atmosphere I’m creating.”

Once again the event will be presented by Back to Basics’ Dave Beer, with DJ sets from Basics residents Ralph Lawson, Tristan Da Cunha and James Holroyd. Returning to rework the tracks for orchestra, renowned songwriter and producer Steve Anderson has been musical director for Kylie Minogue for over 20 years, and Cliff Masterson has worked as conductor and arranger for artists including Emeli Sandé.

Beer said: “After being totally blown away by last year’s event, which still seems like a surreal dream and probably the highlight of my life so far, we can’t wait to come back with another knock-out live show that the city can be proud of. It was a humbling experience to get such a great response from the citizens of Leeds and further afield, smack bang in the centre of the city under the watchful eyes of Millennium Square’s golden owls.

“I am really honoured once again to be working alongside Leeds City Council and the brilliant Orchestra of Opera North and I am so excited to collaborate closely once again with my good friends Jez and Tim from Utah Saints. It’s also going be amazing to be performing my own track that I wrote for Robert Owens, dedicated to beloved friends both past and present.”

Phil Boughton, director of orchestra and chorus, Opera North, added: “The first meeting of Opera North and Back to Basics last year brought together two very different Leeds institutions in the heart of the city. It was an unforgettable night for everyone involved, and a huge buzz for our orchestra to perform for a whole new audience. With more original artists joining us to perform expanded arrangements of their classic songs, we’re preparing to build on that success as Symphonic Sounds returns bigger and better this summer.”

Tickets for The Symphonic Sounds of Back to Basics are on sale now.