Review: Bridgerton, Billie Eilish and so much more - Vitamin String Quartet captivates audience with its classical crossovers

For years classical music felt very niche to me.

I didn’t particularly feel connected to the genre, aside from enjoying film soundtracks. This wasn’t because I didn’t appreciate the skill behind the music or the beautiful melodies – it was because it was so vastly different to the music I gravitated to.

That was up until the Vitamin String Quartet (VSQ) entered my life through the Netflix TV show Bridgerton.

Like many others I was drawn into this show but I became really invested in the music. The songs weren’t just classical – they were covers. I will never forget the feeling when I realised ‘Bad Guy’ by Billie Eilish was being played via a string ensemble. The original song was a hit. No doubt. But this version just seemed to hit perfectly in a way I never experienced with classical music.

Like many others, I took to the internet and Spotify to find out just who was behind the covers I was quickly becoming obsessed with.

VSQ are not alone in creating covers of modern, pop and rock music as well as other soundtracks but they already had a strong following and a large back catalogue, which continued to grow after to Bridgerton.

For more than five years I have enjoyed the quartet’s varied covers, from creating a new depth to my favourite rock artists to adding a delightful classical twists to catchy pop songs.

I even added many of the quartet’s covers to my wedding breakfast playlist – and walked down the aisle to their rendition of the emo anthem ‘Welcome To The Black Parade’ by My Chemical Romance.

After missing the 2025 tour, I leapt at the chance to see the ensemble which broadened my music tastes – and I took along one of my closest friends as we share the same music tastes.

The Concert

The opener Tom Speight received a good response from the audience. It’s not easy being an opening act, especially when some of the audience is unfamiliar with your music. I was one of those people.

Tom was engaging and did a great job in getting the crowd warmed up. He encouraged sing-alongs and still performed great music. Although, there was a hint of fear in some audience members’ eyes when he left the stage to stand on the set of stairs, not knowing what he had planned. Much to their (and my) relief he just wanted to get in with the audience, make everyone a part of what he was doing and performed his heart out. You can’t ask anymore than that from a musician. His added sales pitch for his candles also gave something for people to chuckle over. Yes I bought a candle.

On to the main event, the four-piece ensemble of the VSQ was made up of Earl Maneein on violin, Sarah Zun on violin, Adda Kridler on violin and Jeremy Harman on the cello.

They are the New York crew of the VSQ, with the LA crew having previously visited the UK last year.

This was also the first time that the New York crew had come over to the UK for a concert series.

Opening up their first UK concert with Billie Eilish’s Bad Guy certainly felt like I had come full circle from the Bridgerton discovery days – and it just felt right.

The concert showcased other favourites from across the Bridgerton series including All I Wanted by Paramore, Thank U, Next by Ariana Grande and Lose Control by Teddy Swims – all clear hits with the audience.

Of course Billie Eilish’s award-winning What was I Made For was another crowd pleaser, creating a beautiful string rendition to an already beautiful song.

Some unexpected surprises included Fall Out Boy’s Sugar We're Goin Down, which was a favourite of the night for me and many other Fall Out Boy fans in crowd – it was certainly hard fighting the urge to stand up and sing so I settled for enthusiastically bopping my head along.

Other performances included Radiohead’s Creep, Merry Go Round Of Life from the anime film Howl's Moving Castle and a delightful mash-up of Britney Spears’ Toxic and Michael Jackson’s Smooth Criminal.

The concert really showcased VSQ’s range and how they can create such beautiful and fitting covers of popular songs across a very broad spectrum.

The quartet’s energy and passion was contagious with the crew often interacting with the audience – even making jokes about the difference in pronunciations of ‘vitamin’.

When the lights came up to end the show, it was sad. I easily could’ve sat there watching them perform covers for double the performance time.

After the concert

What also felt special was the musicians staying around after for ‘meet and greets’ with fans. It was during my own chance to meet with these guys, that I discovered violinist Earl Maneein was one of the talented VSQ performers behind my own wedding march song.

Speaking after the show on behalf of the Vitamin Strong Quartet, Earl said: “What a great crowd. What a great show.

"We felt really good about our performance and we felt really great about the crowd so we're super stoked and super amped.

“The crowd rolled with us – it was definitely very warm and on our end it didn't feel bad at all.

“You guys were awesome and a great crowd.

“It’s the first time as the New York crew we’ve been over here. We’re absolutely looking forward to the rest of the tour.”

Earl said the Belfast date was a particularly exciting stop on the tour as he missed performing in Northern Ireland’s capital in the 1990s due to the tensions and escalating violence at the time.

He said: “It’s been a long time so I’m really looking forward to it.”