Sibelius 5 performed in a Peckham car park: we were there

23 June 2014, 10:05 | Updated: 23 June 2014, 12:05

The Multi-Story Orchestra took over a grotty Peckham car park on Saturday night to play Sibelius' Symphony No. 5 to a jammed-in crowd. We were there to see what happened.

In here

No signs and very little advertisement meant that this particular performance of Sibelius 5  was different from the outset. Indeed, punters were seen confusedly checking Google maps to make sure they were in the right place.

It's definitely a car park

In case you were in any doubt, this is a Peckham car park. The Albert Hall it ain't.

There was a massive queue

The car park is sharing its space with Frank's Bar, one of Peckham's hotspots that usually attracts a massive queue of bicycle-riding, tropical shirt-wearing bright young things. Tonight, however, this queue was for Sibelius.

The audience is rammed

Latecomers were made to stand at the back, in the hope that the extra bodies would stop the sound from bouncing around the cavernous acoustic too much.

The basses are ready

Lying, waiting to be unleashed on the Peckham multi-story audience. 

The sound is majestic

Huddling around the orchestra makes for an incredibly present, striking sound: 

Horns of plenty

The horns in the final movement are perhaps the most defining aspect of the whole symphony, and in this acoustic, with the sun streaming in through the gaps in the walls, it sounds absolutely incredible:

Quite unsurprisingly, there is an ecstatic response:

Then, quite fittingly, the sun sets

Cue an audience rush to the window for mass Instagramming (us too, obvs).

The Multi-Story Orchestra will be playing Shostakovich's Cello Concerto with Matthew Barley on cello - tickets available here.