Milnrow Band in concert

Milnrow Band

Milnrow Band treated the audience at Boarshurst Band Club to an excellent fare of brass band music on Sunday 28 June.

The concert was to help raise funds for Boarshurst Band's appearance in the British Brass Bands National Championships Third Section Finals at Cheltenham in September 2015, competing for the pride of North West Bands.

It was a total surprise when the band commenced with ‘All Night Long’ the upbeat Lionel Richie hit with a Caribbean feel from 1983.

Musical Director Mark Bentham explained that in an endeavour to present something a little different the programme would feature music of styles and groups from the ‘rock’ and ‘pop’ era of the past, thus the scene was set for an evening of surprises.

The first solo offering of the evening was The Police/Sting hit ‘Fields of Gold’ and featured the lovely silken tones of Hayley Moore on solo cornet.

Since her return to the band Hayley has successfully taken on the role of Principal Cornet and recently was adjudged best solo cornet at the Grotton Village Whit Friday contest 2015.

The band played the ‘Elephant Medley’ (ten items) from the feature film of 2001 ‘Moulin Rouge’ and the audience was invited to ‘name those tunes’.

Kenny Payne (Soprano Cornet) stepped up to take the stage and wowed with an arrangement of the Carpenters' hit ‘Solitaire’ from their 1975 album ‘Horizon’.

In 1975, Stevie Wonder produced his composition ‘Sir Duke’ which featured in his 1976 album ‘Songs in the Key of Life’ in which he paid tribute to greats of the big band era such as Duke Ellington, Glenn Miller, Louis Armstrong and Ella Fitzgerald; Milnrow Band continued its unique programme with this well received item.

‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ by Freddy Mercury (Queen) was next and it was explained that the first minute and a half was always sung by Mercury, so here was another surprise, the members of Milnrow Band laid down their instruments and regaled the audience with a beautiful acappella choral version of those first few minutes of the rhapsody before entering into the full version of this Queen favourite.

Final offering before the interval was a through the ages Beatles medley, after which the band retired for some well earned liquid refreshment.

Upon return Milnrow Band continued its homage to the past with ‘Ruby Tuesday.’ Recorded in 1966 and released in 1967 this was the band's tribute to Mick Jagger and the Rolling Stones.

Remembering the Carpenters and listening to their hit of 1972 ‘Goodbye to Love’ was easy especially when performed as a solo by 15-years-old Ellena Newton the bands' youngest player). This was a superb mature performance from the band's solo trombone player, who has taken over the top seat from Chris Binns, who has moved on to play with Black Dyke Band.

Then more than a ‘nod’ to Michael Jackson, Bernstein and producer Quincy Jones with a full blooded version of ‘Beat It’ from Jackson's 1982 album ‘Thriller’. Once again the band excelled with some choral accompaniment completed by a final solo shout of ‘Beat It’ rendered by Bbb player Stephen (Dillo) Armitage.

‘The Way We Were’, a Barbara Streisand hit of 1974 from the film of the same title, which featured Robert Redford, encouraged Mick Morris (solo euphonium) to show off his versatility and he received a standing ovation for his efforts.

After such a varied and listenable programme the Musical Director can be forgiven for including one of his own arrangements, and being a ‘Madness’ fan he had the band launch into a medley of Madness classics, ’It Must Be Love’, ‘Baggy Trousers’ and ‘House Of Fun’. ‘Complete Madness’ was a very apt title.

A Philip Sparke arrangement of ‘music’ by John Miles, a hit in 1976 from his album ‘Rebel’, was the final item but the audience coerced the band into a ‘curtain call’ and the band obliged with a version of hard rock ‘Final Countdown’, a hit in 1986 by Swedish group ‘Europe’

Thus ended a musical trip through the years with passing references to styles of music such as ska, rock, soul, big band and groups such as The Beatles, Rolling Stones, the Carpenters and solo artists such as Lionel Richie, Sting, Michael Jackson, Barbra Streisand, and Stevie Wonder.

Janet Payne, Secretary of Boarshurst Band, said: “The event raised £500 and I would like to thank Milnrow Band for giving its services.”

She also stressed how the friendship had grown between the two neighbouring bands, and emphasised how important it was for all good soloists to have a good band behind them and the audience agreed with her that Championship Milnrow Band had provided an excellent programme of a very interesting and listenable nature.