UniBrass 2024 review: Outstanding return visit for Warwickshire and Coventry Youth (WACY) Brass Band

WACY made an outstanding return visit to UniBrass at the weekend, thanks to the tireless efforts of Simon Hogg and his team. Facing the raucous noise of eight hundred excited musicians from competing universities nation-wide, WACY’s “graveyard” slot - that slot before the results ceremony - demanded much patience, understanding and tolerance to perform as effectively as they did. Simon’s confidence in his young charges to announce each item with such authority is admirable, four very young and tiny members facing the increasingly excitable eight hundred older colleagues without a hint of nerves. Soon the audience was clapping along with the band as first, Eye of the Tiger from the 1982 film Rock IV and then a very lively version of Bert Kaempfert’s 1962 A Swinging Safari encouraged a most moving display of hundreds of mobile ‘phone lights waving in time with the music. Quite a sight, quite a moment. The band’s final offering, Can’t Stop the Beat from the 2007 film Hairspray, was rewarded with the noisiest of standing ovations probably ever heard at the Butterworth Hall! Within minutes the stage was cleared for the Results Ceremony.

Two sections of competition had begun at 10:30 - Trophy and Shield with a total of 21 universities being represented. Lancaster scooped the top spot in the Shield section plus the section award as the Most Entertaining Band. The hotly contested Trophy section placed Chichester third, Huddersfield second grabbing the award as this section’s Most Entertaining Band. By tradition, huge supportive abuse was levelled at Royal Birmingham Conservatoire Brass Band (RBCBB) as they held on to top spot for the second year running!! Adding insult to injury, they also scooped the section’s Best Percussion and Best Conductor awards – a great day for RBCBB!

Euphonium playing is not plain sailing; it is difficult! Hearing the instrument played brilliantly was a highlight of the Leeds University contribution with Chiron Leather’s rendition of Geoffrey Bland’s arrangement of Herman Bellstedt’s Napoli the outstanding memory of a very long but very rewarding day. Goodness knows where those eight hundred musicians spent the night!

Review by Clive Peacock