One of
my favourite weekends of the year! No I didn't make it to Black Swan Jam
Session which you'll already have read about on BSH. Out of the many museums
and other venues open until 10.30pm(ish) I managed only the Grainger Market and
Newcastle Cathedral. But what a good time my friend and I had!
The Grainger Market was very busy from 6:00pm with three stages of activity, and plenty food and drink on offer. The best bit by far was the music of Ponteland Community Wind Band. I now know the difference between a wind band and a jazz big band. The wind band has no piano or guitar, but it does have drums, saxes, trumpets, trombones and maybe the occasional tuba or euphonium - two instruments that I wouldn't expect to find in a big band. I learnt something.
The band was
superb. They played film music from Top Gun and Shrek
2, and a medley from the music of Meatloaf and also Stevie
Wonder. Best of all was a selection of swing from Duke Ellington,
including Take the A Train and It Don't Mean a
Thing. We all shouted for an encore which was Human (Rag
‘n’ Bone Man) which included a baritone sax solo.
Further down the
aisles there was computer animation on a large screen, to illustrate what
happens when the market closes for the night. Apparently the food dances around
the alleys, large fish kiss each other, a computer woman tries on all the
clothes for sale and balloons and robots run about. Very amusing, I'd never
have dreamt it!
There was also a
woman singer who was not very good, to put it politely, and I hope she doesn't
read BSH. She actually had a good strong voice but I thought she was trying too
hard to sound modern, to sound like Billie Eilish. It provided some laughs
anyway.
Inside Newcastle
Cathedral the vibe was completely different, calm, peaceful, with special
lighting, choral music, and screens showing a brief history of
Newcastle. We could have had refreshments in the cafe and raffle tickets to win
entry to future events but by then we were tired.
An evening well spent. Recommended for next year. Ann Alex
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