First Night: Mike Oldfield Horse Guards Parade, London: Man ringing bells in the rain

THE BRITISH have a great propensity to enjoy themselves whatever the weather. Staging the world premiere of Tubular Bells 3 in the open air on Horse Guards Parade right in the middle of Westminster in early September was asking too much of the gods and, sure enough, it bucketed down on the 7,000 spectators who remained stoical under their macs and umbrellas.

Shades of Pavarotti in the Park or the three tenors at Wembley Stadium - and surely not what Mike Oldfield had hoped for to launch his new opus, which sees the progressive rock maestro go back once more to the sweeping grandeur and pomp of Tubular Bells.

Twenty-five years on and 18 million copies later, the record that launched the Virgin label has gone from hippie-must-listen to coffee-table status and its minimalist motifs still send a shiver down the spine of any self-respecting Exorcist aficionado when they do not crop up on curious dance mixes.

Perhaps prompted by Rob Dickins, head honcho of WEA who has already engineered a makeover for Rod Stewart, Oldfield - the godfather of the ambient and new age movement - has upped sticks and gone to Ibiza to absorb some of the techno and hedonistic aspects of the club scene there as well as the more obvious flamenco flavourings.

Somehow, Mike has ended up following the trans-dance route his old Gong cohort Steve Hillage had started exploring at the beginning of the Nineties. A rave Tubular Bells then? Not quite, but there are certainly some dance rhythms and loops behind the opening and closing sections of the new work which followed a shortened reprise of the original.

Tinkle tinkle went the famous piano phrase, and the event took on messianic proportions as blankets of rain fell in front of the stage. Fittingly enough, Tubular Bells 3's central song and forthcoming single is called "Man in the Rain" and the thunderous effects of the intro detracted from itssimilarity with the 1983 hit "Moonlight Shadow" included in the encore.

Backed by a 10-piece ensemble, including three percussionists, the bleached- blond, tanned and healthy-looking Oldfield doodled away and bent the notes like a virtuoso, soothing the corporate audience. Somewhere between the neo-classical style of Adiemus and Jean Michel Jarre's synthesised musak, Tubular Bells 3 was not quite up to the regal setting of central London.