When Mike Oldfield performed his Tubular Bells album in its entirety in London in June 1973 he called on musicians from the Rolling Stones and other bands of the time including Soft Machine, Gong and Henry Cow to help him.

In the winter of 2008, Daniel Holdsworth and Aidan Roberts, two Australian musicians, decided to reproduce Oldfield’s iconic music on just two guitars. When they conceived the idea over a drink, little did they think they would go on to tour an internationally-acclaimed show, Tubular Bells For Two, across Europe as their contribution to the 40th anniversary of Oldfield’s multi-million selling album.

Conceived by Oldfield in his late teens, Tubular Bells was an ambitious composition developed from a simple theme into a Celtic folk-rock epic that took up two sides of an LP and featured the musician on multi-tracked guitars, keyboards, percussion and whistle.

It was dismissed as “unmarketable” by every record company Oldfield approached, until Richard Branson heard it and funded the album – which became the first release on his Virgin Records label.

The use of a section of the music in The Exorcist movie soundtrack ensured that British sales, which reached more than £2.5 million, were repeated worldwide.

Tubular Bells was the soundtrack of Aidan Roberts’ childhood. When his parents set off on car trips, one of the first items they packed was a tape of the album.

When it come to reproducing it, Aidan says he and Daniel were “very aware that we were in danger of treading on people’s feelings.”

Their original idea of using two guitars quickly expanded. “There’s no official score as such,” says Aidan. “So we kind of mapped out what happened when and had to figure out how we were going to change instruments and get sounds like the flute that appears at one point. Neither Danny nor I play flute but we could reproduce it on a keyboard. It was a lot of work because there’s a lot of detail in the music.”

The pair went on to play sell-out seasons at the Sydney Festival and the New Zealand International Arts Festival.

The show is described as “spectacularly visual” and almost as much about physical theatre as music, with Daniel and Aidan running from keyboard to drum kit to the tubular bells.

“At the Edinburgh Festival, where there are a lot of comedy shows, there was a danger that we might be mistaken for a spoof. The audiences were great though, and we got really good reviews.”

Although they secured permission from Oldfield’s publishers, they hadn’t heard anything from the man himself until they read in a magazine interview that the composer thought it was “cool” that two Australians were performing Tubular Bells.

“We never expected to be appearing in London right around the time of the 40th anniversary of the album’s release and the original Tubular Bells live concert, but we’re really pleased we can be a small part of that celebration,” says Aidan.

“I can’t think of many better jobs than touring around Europe playing music that you love.”

l Tubular Bells for Two is at St George’s Hall on Thursday, June 20. For tickets ring (01274) 432000.