World famous Black Dyke Band pack out Champness Hall for Platinum Jubilee concert

Date published: 08 June 2022

One of the world's most famous brass bands returned to Rochdale for a sell-out show at Champness Hall in celebration of The Queen’s Platinum Jubilee.

The Black Dyke Band provided a scintillating evening of thrilling film scores, toe-tapping big band music and patriotic favourites to celebrate the reign of Her Majesty. They were joined on stage by Wardle Junior Blast, a youth band made up of young brass players from primary schools across Wardle and Littleborough, who opened the show.

The Black Dyke Band exceeded any expectations. They were captivating from start to finish, performing songs such as God Save the Queen, James Bond theme tune, Riverdance and many other intricate numbers.

The concert concluded with all the favourites from Last Night of the Proms. Guiding the packed-out hall through all the songs was Nick Watts, whose voice can only be described as powerful yet angelic.

The English tenor, trained at the Royal College of Music and graduated from the Benjamin Britten International Opera School. On the night, Nick also sang ‘Nessun Dorma’.

Founded in Yorkshire over 160 years ago, Black Dyke is the most recorded brass band with over 350 recordings, growing every year.

It is also the most successful contesting band in the world having won the European Championships thirteen times, most recently in 2015, the British Open no fewer than 30 times (most recently 2014) and the National Championships of Great Britain 23 times (most recently 2014). In 2009, and again in 2011, 2012 and 2013, the band became Champion Band at the English National Championships.

The band also secured an unprecedented hat trick of wins at the Yorkshire Regional Championships in 2016, 2017 and 2018, which they followed up with further wins in 2020 and 2022.

In demand all over the world, Black Dyke regularly tours Europe, Australia the USA and Japan and has performed with the likes of Elton John, Peter Gabriel, The Beatles and Tori Amos as well as being the first brass band to perform on the pyramid stage at Glastonbury in 2017.

The Black Dyke Band will be back at Champness Hall in 2023 and tickets are on sale now - www.rochdaleonline.co.uk/events/69763/the-black-dyke-band-in-concert