We all love lots of SAX!
This year (2019), Rob got all 3 bands together – for the very first time – with an invite for us to play the first night of Henley-On-Thames Living Advent Calendar, in which different acts do their thing in venues around the town. Our venue was Falaise Square, in front of the town hall. It was our debut event and around 60 Sax Bandits played to an audience of 250 to 300 people, including the Mayor.
The audience were mainly families with lots of young children smiling and singing along to Christmas tunes such as Santa Tell Me by Ariana Grande, Merry Christmas Everyone by Shakin’ Stevens, Wonderful Christmastime by Paul McCartney and a great medley including Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, Jingle Bell Rock and Rockin’ Around The Christmas Tree. These were supplemented with Heaven In My Hands, All About That Bari (Bass) and Ghostbusters, with Rob getting the crowd to yell “GHOSTBUSTERS” at the appropriate times.
We had a real-life drummer to help us keep good time!
The weather was very kind to us Bandits and our audience who were able to enjoy mince pies and mulled wine, and we raised £719 for the Royal British Legion – a record amount raised in a single night in the 9 years of this Henley event. We even got a mention in the local paper, which was fantastic (read the article)!
As a tenor sax player in the Bandits – I also play in a fabulous Soul/Motown Band with some amazing pro and semi-pro musicians – the busking bash at Henley this year was truly spine-tingling. Playing with 60 + fabulous musicians, who are also lovely people, and under the conductorship of the brilliant Rob was a unique experience for me and it was all over too quickly – I could have played to this lovely, engaged audience for hours. These people, who gave up their evening to come and see us were extra special; chatting to us between songs and after we finished, and seeing the lovely smiles on the faces of many young girls and boys just made my evening.
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