Chalford Band

Conductor: Steve Tubb
Subscription Rooms
Stroud
Saturday July 4th

Steve Tubb’s paid job is as an expert on management systems and computers, but he spends as much if not more of his time as an unpaid conductor of Chalford Band.

Unique talent

And as such he has a pretty unique talent for putting on band concerts that are more like extraordinary stage shows that he could probably earn more money as a showbiz producer.

His latest offering - Chalford's sell-out annual summer concert at Stroud Subscription Rooms on Saturday night - was a good example. 

He chose all the music and arranged some of it himself on the theme of TV shows and adverts and, providing a riot of colour and ingenuity had all the players dressed up in character costumes.

Hands on

As a hands-on producer he led the way by conducting the music and wittily compering the show dressed as a green giant, the Incredible Hulk.

Highlight

One of the highlights was Steve's clever version of the Honda advert in which trombonist and resident comic Bill Williamson drove a mock-up car with sound effects provided by a choir, who also sang the AA song while a breakdown repair man (chairman Derrick Witts) did his job. It was hilarious.

Adverts

Brass bands can play anything so the senior, academy, youth and junior bands had no trouble in reminding us of theme tunes for TV favourites like the Simpsons, Dallas, The A team, The Apprentice, Scooby Doo, Z Cars, The Vicar of Dibley and Hawaii Five O (plus choreography) as well as several popular adverts, including Steve's own arrangement of the Take That hit, Let it Shine.

Chalford's musical nursery, the junior band trained and conducted by Bev Godwin, won a big approval rating as usual, their items being introduced in Top of the Pops fashion by Sir Jimmy Saville (Derrick Witts again).

Informal

The presentation was very informal and the audience - seated at tables with wine and cheese - loved it. 

On each table there were DIY kits to make puppets and the best three judged by soprano player Hannah Godwin were demonstrated on stage in time to the music of the Thunderbirds and Stingray. There were bottles of wine for the winners.

One of the outstanding pieces performance-wise was Gordon Langford's stirring arrangement of the American Trilogy, chosen by Steve as an encore as it was American Independence Day. But Chalford's army of fans demanded more so we had two more encores.

Sorry, Steve, you won't earn any big showbiz bucks for all this effort but you have the gratitude and admiration of hundreds of supporters as your only reward.  Bring it on again next year.

Ron Gardiner

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