To be honest, I'd never been to the Public in West Bromwich and I'd never heard of the people's orchestra either. On quickly checking their website, the concert programme was billed as an evening of sporting themes. I also noticed from twitter that their feed only had 599 followers so if I was quick, I could be a winner!
And so it turned out. We had a couple of choices, find a babysitter, one of us take one of the children or buy a couple of tickets for the children and take them as well. As the children's tickets were reasonably priced, we went for the last option (albeit with electronic gadgets just in case!)If you're a sports fan, there wasn't a tune you wouldn't have known:
Soul Limbo (BBC Cricket)Match of the Day
The Chain (BBC Formula One) - which I always forget is longer than just the bit you hear on the telly!
Musical Joke (BBC Horse of the Year Show)
Light and Tuneful (BBC Wimbledon)
Pavanne - Faure (1998 World Cup)
Chariots of Fire - Vangelis
After the interval there was
Grandstand
Pop looks Bach (BBC Ski Sunday)
Nessum Dorma - Puccini (1990 World Cup)
Swing Low Sweet Chariot (England Rugby)
Bolero - Ravel (Torvill & Dean's Routine at the 1984 Winter Olympics)
And for the encore, a taster of their next concert in September:
Medley from Les Misérables
Dambusters March.
Let's be clear - The People's Orchestra are not the London Symphony and to be fair they don't claim to be. There were the odd split/bum note here and there, however this didn't matter. This was a group of musicians who obviously enjoyed playing together and special mentions must go to the sax section, who I think got the 'Mr Bean' part in Chariots of Fire (which if you'll understand if you saw the Olympic opening ceremony and actually made me want to watch it again) and the drummer who had to do the same rhythm all the way through Bolero and did it flawlessly.
They must have inspired G as she found out her recorder before 8am the following morning, which is good news as Sarah and I would love her to pick up an instrument. Unfortunately, she has shown no interest in it so far, even when her best friend bought a euphonium home from school! Sarah, however was interested in signing up, so she may end up joining the orange t-shirt brigade (as each department has their own colour t-shirt with their instrument on it).
Regardless of whether she does or doesn't join the people's orchestra, I would definitely go and see them again.
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