ON a recent promotional visit for the International Eisteddfod members of classical violin quartet Bond promised to blast off the new multi-million-pound roof of the famous pavilion.

And at a couple of points on Thursday night it looked like they might have done just that.

Because fire engines twice dashed up to the eisteddfod field, just before and after the girls appeared on stage.

However, according to North Wales Fire and Rescue Service, they were both false alarms.

The first alert came at about 9pm and was caused by steam from a kettle. And the second, at about 11pm, was down to special effects smoke drifting away from the empty stage.

Seldom can one of the festival’s concert evenings have witnessed a show providing such a mixture of extreme musical talent and sheer glamour.

Seeing the four girls stride on stage in their slinky designer costumes, then swing their flowing locks in time to the music as they sawed away at their high-tech string
instruments, was like watching an episode of Sex and the City.

And Bond certainly hit the ground running, with a lively number called Viva – an exuberant celebration of life in up-beat musical terms.

Without a break it was on to a number called Duel, in which the two blonde violinists, South Wales own Eos Chater and Australian Tania Davis, duelled it out at
the front of the stage to see who had the deftest touch with the flashing bow.

The girls next threw more than a little spice into the mix with a spirited and much-appreciated interpretation of Jai Ho, the a Hindi song composed for the smash-hit 2008 film Slumdog Millionaire.

There was another bit of hot Bollywood before the foursome took off with Fly Away, a soaring number penned for their second album by cellist Gay-Yee Westerhoff.

Although it was then time for something a little more traditional with the girls’ arrangement of Summer and Winter from Vivaldi’s the Four Seasons, there was still nothing highbrow about the presentation which came laced with the familiar Bond heavy backbeat.

The big last offering was one called Explosive, which did precisely what its title suggested, touching off a riot of in-time clapping from the large audience.

Also appearing in the concert earlier in the evening was the Maria Fidelis Convent School Gospel Choir from London, a combined children’s choir of competition
winners from the day, a group of talented Punjabi folk dancers, a German choir and
troupe of traditional Scottish dancers.