Black Watch Pipes & Drums coming to SoCal

[Murray]

http://www.cerritoscenter.com/ticket...nSeasonId=4214

[BEEDEE]

Here's a link to their USA tour in 2013: http://www.theblackwatch.co.uk/index...nu.no/sec/home

Brian

[TheOfficialBren]

$45 for the cheap seats!? Yikes!?!?

[California Highlander]

In San Rafael, CA on Saturday, March 2, 2013 you can get cheap seats for $20, regular for $25, 40, and 50. http://www.marincounty.org/depts/cu/calendar#/?i=5

[MacGumerait]

Good show , I seen them two different times in Indianapolis on thier past USA tours , the Royal Marines Band was also with them both times .

[OC Richard]

I've been attending these tours since 1976.

Usually they're the same format, a pipes & drums and a regimental band (usually the Royal Marines or a Guards band) in full dress marching around.

But a few years ago there was a quite different sort of concert, the pipes & drums of The Royal Scots Dragoon Guards, at that same Cerritos hall.

No brass band, just the pipes & drums, and they weren't in full dress but in the civilian kit they wear to compete at Highland Games. (On the link above note that the pipes & drums of The Black Watch are likewise in civilian kit.)

And no marching! The drums were on stands, and it was a "concert" proper, just playing music.

They had an MC or "front man" with them, and a woman who sang Scottish songs.

EDIT: I now have the programme in front of me. I can't find a date anywhere. The "front man" was Billy Raymond, the singer Celine Toner. Strangely, though I saw this show here in California, the programme speaks of it as an Australian tour.

[Murray]

Lets hope that's not the case Richard. I am looking forward to them marching in just as any other Tattoo in full Highland Dress. Will you be attending this venue?

Tickets first came on sell several months ago. I ended up purchasing 2 tickets at the cost of $65 per. I was able to call in and request my own seat placement.

[seanachie]

Slightly off topic...but relevant. I live within a reasonable distance from the Cerritos Center and have attended many events there. It is a wonderful venue, but has historically relied on financial support from the city of Cerritos to remain solvent. The city in turn relies on the Cerritos Auto Square, a large area of car dealerships, for a good portion of their tax base. During the recession they got whacked and as a consequence the city coffers did as well. I am not conversant in all the specifics but I know it impacted the subsidy to the Cerritos Center. I do not know if this has impacted the prices on the tickets but agree it is steep. Last year I saw a concert at the venue, a birthday gift, and 1/2 full would have been a generous assessment of the audience.

[OC Richard]

Yes I intend to go, wearing a kilt of course!

I've not missed a single tour since my first in 1976.

[OC Richard]

Well I did go, yes $45 each for my wife and I, top level, but front row. Yes there were some empty seats up in the nosebleed section! They played Wednesday and Thursday and my understanding was that Thursday was better attended.

I love these shows! I love not only Pipes & Drums (having played in pipe bands for 35 years) but I also love British military bands. And I love the pageantry of the Full Dress and elaborate marching.

The stage was cramped but they did as much marching as the could. Back in the 1970s and 1980s these tours would fill huge areas like The Anaheim Convention Center, each show a sellout. In these large arenas the bands could do full Tattoo-style marching. I pulled out my programmes from earlier Black Watch tours, and back in the 1970s The Black Watch was touring with 18 pipers and a large drum section. On this tour a much smaller band, 10 pipers, 4 sides, 2 tenors, bass.

The music was fairly standard but there were some very interesting things. A couple times the arranger had the pipes hold a single note for a long time while the brass & woodwinds played shifting chords, some of them dissonant. My wife hated this effect but I thought it was daring and modern, though admittedly strange.

My favourite pieces were the march written by Henry VIII (who knew?) and an elaborate arrangement of a couple very old Scottish melodies, The Flowers of the Forest and The Piper O Dundee. This had a cool Renaissance feel. It began with a tinwhistle solo, then fife & percussion, then brass, eventually bringing in the pipes in a very effective tune that didn't sound like any pipe music we hear today.

There were a few kilties present! I wore my quasi-Edwardian look with Edwardian goathair sporran, full tartan hose with buckled shoes, and PC with high collar shirt and long tie

BTW I just pulled out all the programmes and I see that I've seen the Black Watch on tour in 1976, 1979, 1989, 2006, and now 2013. What's missing from this new programme, but featured on the old ones, was the tour itinerary and a full list of personnel.