Grimethorpe’s final concert of what has been an exhausting, but highly successful Australian tour, saw the Brass in Concert champion on splendid form on a night when they had to compete against the media frenzy accompanying the local derby between the AFL giants of the West Coast Eagles and the Fremantle Dockers.

Persuading around 1500 people to pay a premium ticket price in a venue that holds around 1800 was therefore quite an achievement - with lots of proud local band ‘jerseys’ also on display in the auditorium. 

Revelled

Dr Robert Childs revelled in the welcoming atmosphere - keeping his band on a tight leash of precision and dynamic control that was immensely impressive. It was high class, highly professional playing from start to finish, delivered with an engaging touch of Yorkshire élan. 

The PLC openerg ‘Eventus’ was tasty lollipop, before a true gobstopper of a wizz-through ‘Ruslan and Ludmilla’ was the prelude to Iain Culross as a classy lead in ‘Carnival of Venice’, in what was to be his last concert performance with the band (not that anyone in the hall knew it!).

Slickly done

The obligatory ‘Brassed Off’ segment was also slickly done - with the march ‘Death or Glory’ played with a sumptuous swagger, ‘Londonderry Air’ tastefully refined and the flugel solo ‘Concerto de Aranjuez’ elegantly delivered by Will Norman.

Shaun Crowther’s humour was also expertly pitched (as was his playing and circular breathing) with ‘Bass in the Ball Room’, before a white knuckle ride through ‘William Tell’ rounded off a crowd pleasing first half.

Contrasts and nuance

The contrasts and musical nuance of the second half came as a welcome surprise.

‘Land of Hope and Glory’ got the ‘old country’ blood bubbling in the veins of the many ex-pats (who rather mumbled their way through the chorus it must be said), whilst the euphonium duet of ‘Brilliante’ featuring Michael Dodd and Philippe Schwartz was just that and more, with a crafty touch of ‘Advance Australia Fair' cleverly thrown in the mix for good measure.

Thoughtful

The final segment was thoughtful musicality. ‘The Peacemakers’, ‘Smile’ (featuring a wonderfully languid Chris Gomersall on trombone) and ‘For the Fallen’ - all played with emotional warmth and structured ensemble balance, although it did mean that the Glenn Miller set seemed curiously out of place. 

By now though the audience wanted full throttle playing, and they got just that with an ‘1812’ Overture that could have been heard by Russian ex-pats in Sydney.  It was glorious, eye popping stuff. 

All that was left was for the encores that rounded off a concert that more than held its own against anything the AFL stars down the road could dish up for their punters.

Anthony Banwell