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Week 1 - Sunday 8th January - Saturday 14th January
Writtten by LSgt Michael Hernandez.
Refreshed from its Christmas leave, the Band eagerly joined together with the Pipes, Drums and Dancers of 1st Battalion The Black Watch at London's Heathrow airport. This was to be its most extensive tour for almost eight years.
A seven and a half hour flight into New York's JFK airport proved thankfully uneventful as Representatives Chris Burrell and Diane Daubert from Columbia Artists greeted the somewhat excited cast.
Speeding through the enchanting outer suburbs of New York City, the band was able to gaze across from the freeway and marvel at the world’s most famous skyline. The Empire State Building and the Statue of Liberty were clearly visible and associated districts such as Queens, Manhattan and The Bronx eventually gave way to plainer, more open space as the journey commenced. Isolated piles of snow and bare forests revealed the first intensity of the East Coast’s winter.
A four hour journey, westwards on ‘Interstate 80’ also foretold of the gruelling programme that lay ahead.
The Atherton Hotel, State College, Pennsylvania will house the groups for the next three days incorporating two days of rehearsals and the Premiere on Wednesday 14th Jan at the Eisenhower Auditorium.
The town of State College houses the revered Penn State University with over 40,000 students. Entire buildings are dedicated to specific disciplines such as the ‘Chemistry Building’. Worth a visit was ‘The Creamery’, serving specialist milkshakes and ice creams including Peanut Butter and Strawberry jam flavour! Downtown featured a number of eateries .Particular favourites were ‘The Corner’ and ‘The College Diner’, both open 24 hours a day. Salvationist David ‘Dolly’ Lockwood acquired a particularly amusing souvenir t-shirt declaring (in the best sense of humour) “Jesus is my homie”!
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Wednesday’s performance met rave reviews with CD’s, programmes and t-shirts selling vigorously. A visual delight……………”You guy’s were just great” was one enthusiastic patron’s comment.
Bolstered by their success, the tour departed at 10.45 the next morning under clear skies; the 180 mile journey set to take them to Bethlehem, PA.
Rehearsals at the Stabler Arena acclimatised the artists to their first performance in a large auditorium. Preceding the show proper was an outstanding display of marching and music by the Liberty High School Band. It has an affiliation with The Coldstream Guards Band and several members of The Welsh Guards Band were astonished to see former Band Sergeant Major Kevin Coates in attendance.
The Relatively short journey the following morning delivered the show to Hershey, PA. The ‘Giant Arena’ certainly lived up to its name. Essentially an ice hockey arena the show took place on floor boards with the ice still intact beneath. Happily there were no slip ups on the night (c’mon it wasn’t that bad!) and the 9700+ capacity stadium reverberated to enthusiastic applause and cheers of “Scotland Forever” from one particular section. The Ceol Neamh Pipe Band provided entertainment before the show proper.
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The welcome return to New York City the following day had many on the tour excited at the prospect of exploring this magnificent city. The familiar pattern of lone farmsteads followed by hamlets of brightly coloured wooden construction town houses in the suburbs gave way to ‘high rises’ at the outskirts of the city. Past the ‘Giants’ stadium and down a sweeping freeway, the view across the bay revealed a skyline greeted by applause from the band. The journey through the Lincoln Tunnel beneath the Hudson River took almost five minutes before the coach emerged into the heart of Manhattan………again, rapturous applause!
Arriving at the Skyline Hotel at 11.30am time was at a premium and the band set to utilising it to the maximum. Several people visited Times Square, the Chrysler and Empire State Buildings and some even ventured as far as Central Park. Departure for the venue at 3.30pm was hampered by heavy rain. Fortunately, earlier reports of tornado watches did not come into fruition.
The Tilles Centre for Performing Arts within long Island has played host to many great names including The New York Philharmonic; indeed our very own Royal Philharmonic Orchestra are performing here on the 22nd January. This, the second theatre performance, was sold twice over the initial pre-sales ticket amount. Despite the inhospitable weather conditions the crowd’s enthusiasm was far from dampened!
The early departure the following morning wasn’t to deter many of the band from picking up where they had left off earlier in the day. Many hit the city again after the concert to visit Jazz clubs and another walk around Times Square, here they were met with the first snowfall of the tour.
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