Burt Bacharach: 'I'm hard on my music'

Bacharach took to the Pyramid Stage at Glastonbury last month - 15 years after a shoulder injury forced him to pull out of the festival

Weeks after finally making his Glastonbury debut, Burt Bacharach's back catalogue is having another moment in the spotlight - his songs take centre stage in new show, What's It All About? Bacharach Reimagined.

Bacharach has a busier diary than most 87-year-olds. When we meet at his London hotel he's about to embark on a series of UK tour dates, including a star-studded show at London's Royal Festival Hall and what proves to be a triumphant set on the Pyramid Stage at his first Glastonbury.

"We're doing five shows in six days - and they're all in different places," he smiles.

He's looking relaxed - having swapped his usual smart threads for a casual sports top and some comfy joggers - but it all sounds exhausting enough to someone half his age, so how does he deal with the rigours of touring?

"August is looking like a good month for laying on a beach," he laughs.

Before beach life though, Bacharach's back in London for the UK premiere of What's It All About About?, opening at the Menier Chocolate Factory after a successful run in New York.

Burt Bacharach with Kyle Riabko who created the show

It features more than 30 hits from Bacharach's back catalogue, which reads like a karaoke songbook - from The Look of Love to I Say A Little Prayer, Close to You and I'll Never Fall in Love Again.

Equally impressive is the list of artists who've performed them - including Frank Sinatra, The Beatles, Barbra Streisand, Neil Diamond, Dionne Warwick and Aretha Franklin - but it's the songs themselves that are the stars of What's It All About?

The "new and unique" take on the song collection strips it back, adds electric guitars or ukuleles and takes the audience on an "emotional journey", according to singer and star of the show Kyle Riabko.

And Bacharach - who, despite his eight Grammys and three Oscars, says he's usually "pretty hard on my music" - is fully on board.

"This is a love letter to me. Or a valentine, or a Christmas present," he says. "It's brilliant. I can't say enough about it."

The pair first met at a recording studio, where Riabko was "a hired gun" singing on Bacharach's demos. Despite the 60-year age difference, they're now firm friends and big fans of each other's work.

Nevertheless, Riabko - who Bacharach calls "a beautiful singer and one hell of a guitar player" - admits it was nerve-wracking seeking Bacharach's approval, after coming up with the idea for the show with his friend David Seltzer.

"Once I started the arrangements, I would take it in chunks to Burt's house and - with a sweaty palm - press play on the demo and have him listen to it," explains Riabko.

Bacharach and Dionne Warwick - whose hits included Walk on By and Say a Little Prayer - performed together in 2006

"I was very impressed," adds Bacharach. "It's very different to the way I approach my music, but it's special.

"So much of my stuff was a large string section and to hear the songs, not naked, but stripped down, was so good."

What's it all About? is not a jukebox musical though, steering clear of the style favoured by West End hits like Abba's Mamma Mia and Queen's We Will Rock You, or Spice Girls flop Viva Forever!.

"We were very clear what we didn't want," says Riabko, "and what we didn't want was to slap some weird story on it that we assumed made sense.

"We just wanted to honour the music, so the format that it takes is an emotional one - it sort of just ebbs and flows and takes you in a lot of different directions."

From his spot on the stage, Riabko has "a front row seat to the audience recognising all of Burt's songs."

"The second we play Always Something There to Remind Me, every face in the room lights up, and they go, 'oh right! That was Burt too!'."

Bacharach wrote many of his hits with former songwriting partner, the late Hal David

President Obama presented Bacharach with the Library of Congress Gershwin Prize for Popular Song in 2012

And Bacharach says watching the show in New York gave him a new perspective on his music too - especially after he went "a little bit incognito" in the audience.

"I was there for the opening night - then I had theatre tickets for something else and ditched them to come back and see the show again.

"I was out amongst the crowd with my son Oliver. Younger people, older people - they were hooked on the songs.

"People who would have been maybe a housewife in '52, who'd loved Walk On By or Say a Little Prayer with Dionne's [Warwick's] record, were loving this version.

"It made me feel very good, hearing the comments and seeing the emotion."

Bacharach says he's still writing new music, but is "really grateful I'm not starting out in the music business now. You're a little more limited," he says.

"I've been writing some pretty good songs, songs I like," he reveals.

"I'm writing with a very good Nashville writer, Tim Nichols, a country writer - because they still get some good songs down there."

Bacharach has a history of performing with fresh young talent too, although he admits he leaves a lot of the organising to his musical director.

When he played the BBC's Electric Proms in 2008, a young and relatively unknown Adele joined him for a performance of Baby It's You, while Laura Mvula and Rebecca Ferguson were among the stars joining him on stage in London last month.

Bacharach has won eight Grammys

Bacharach at the piano in 1964

He says he tries to keep up with new artists and can often "pick up stuff on YouTube", but you'll find him listening to one thing in particular in his down time.

"When I train and work out in the gym the only thing I play now is Brazilian music," he explains.

"I love it, because I don't understand the language, which I think is great.

"It's a very sensual, very sexy, very sophisticated music. I'm sure I've been influenced for many years by Brazilian music."

The UK also has a special place in Bacharach's heart too though.

"I'm really excited," says Riabko, "because from day one Burt's been telling me 'you've got to do the show in London, because people there are so great'."

"They discovered me before they discovered me in America!" adds Bacharach. "They've been very good to me."

What's It All About? Bacharach Reimagined is at the Menier Chocolate Factory in London from 15 July to 5 September.