Leicestershire Co-operative (Snibston) Band

Conductor: Graham Jacklin
Soloist: David Thornton
The Palace
Ibstock
Saturday 8th October

It started with standing room only and finished with a standing ovation, after a concert fit for any venue bearing the title ‘Palace’.  

The Palace

In this case, ‘The Palace’, Ibstock, saw the Leicestershire Co-op (Snibston) Band and guest soloist David Thornton provide a concert of quality rarely seen in the locality.
 
David Thornton needed little introduction to the packed audience, whilst the band has been gaining a growing reputation for excellence, crowned by their recent runner up placing at the National Finals in Cheltenham.

Anniversary

The band was celebrating their 40th anniversary, and this concert had been specially arranged as the finale to a very busy and successful year.
 
The march ‘Ravenswood’ opened proceedings, before a fine performance of ‘Mars’ from ‘The Planets’ provided a purposeful introduction to David Thornton, who was in splendid form with ‘Neath the Dublin Skies’.
 
Different genres

Different genres were expertly delivered by the band.

That was shown in John Barry’s music from the feature film ‘Somewhere in Time’ and Michael Buble’s ‘Just Haven’t Met You Yet’, whilst David returned to deliver a subtle, engaging rendition of  ‘In Christ Alone’, a Salvation Army hymn and the third most popular hymn ever, according to a recent BBC poll.
 
Finale

The first half finale was to be a re-run of the contest performance from just two weeks ago, whilst the second half opened with a scintillating performance of ‘Summon the Dragon’ and James Raine taking the lead in James Blunt’s ‘You’re Beautiful’.
 
David Thornton returned with ‘Floating Dreams’, an original composition using a synthesised backing track, before a lightweight, ‘Pirates of the Caribbean’ was the prelude to a moving ‘Dear Lord and Father of Mankind’.
 
Memorable

David’s final solo item saw him provide wonderful playing once again, joined by the band’s own euphonium player Steve Barham, in, ‘Softly as I Leave You’ - a gesture which was undoubtedly enjoyed by Steve, the band and the audience alike.
 
‘The Dark Side of the Moon’ and the encore ‘Blaze Away’ rounded off a memorable evening. 

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