Off to Lorient

July 29, 2009 on 3:38 pm by Michael Grey | In Stories | Comments Off on Off to Lorient

The band’s away to France tomorrow evening and we’re all pretty much set for nine days of music and, we expect, a lot of fun. Most of you will know the Festival Interceltique in Lorient is our final destination. This year marks the 39th year of the festival, and with attendance figures topping over 650,000, the “FIL” has become one of Europe’s largest music festivals.

The band (and me, for that matter) has a pretty busy schedule to deal with. Lots of playing, performing, piping – maybe even a bit of time for partying. I’ve commited to myself to record some of the more noteworthy moments and observations. I’ll post them here. I attended the Lorient festival three years ago and know that if there are half as many “noteworthy moments” as that trip then I’ll be assured of lots to write about.

As of today this is what our schedule looks like:

Friday, 31 July
10:30 am – arrive, Paris – coach to Lorient
10:00 pm – Rehearsal for the Nuit Magique

Saturday, 01 August
10:00 am – Breton National Bagad Championships (observers)
10:30 pm – Opening Night: Nuit Magique

Sunday, 02 August
10:00 am – Grande Parade.
2:30 pm – McCrimmon Trophy Solo Piping (Part 1)
8:30 pm – McCrimmon Tropy Solo Piping (Part 2)
10:30 pm – Nuit Magique

Monday, 03 August
2:00 pm – Pibroch Competition

Tuesday, 04 August
2:00 pm – “Kitchen Musique” Solo Piping Competition
10:30 pm – Nuit Magique

Wednesday, 05 August
10:30 pm – Nuit Magique

Thursday, 06 August
10:30 am – 12.30 pm – sound check at Espace Marine in preparation for afternoon concert and recording.
2:30 pm – concert and CD recording at Espace Marine.
10:30 pm – Nuit Magique

Saturday, 08 August
3.00 pm – International Pipe Band Competition (medley and set)

Sunday, 09 August
9:30 am – depart Lorient and travel by coach to Paris

No rest for the wicked!

Until the next time,

à bientôt.

M.