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The Simon Fraser University Pipe Band marched into George Square in downtown Glasgow to a thunderous applause from an enthusiastic crowd on Aug. 11.

The band was one of six to perform hourly concerts in the square as part of the city’s Piping Up celebration, a week of festivities leading up to the world championships on Aug. 14.

The defending world champion SFU band was warmly welcomed and drew an overwhelming response after each tune. 

“The concert here went well, the weather held off and we had half an hour to do the show, so we went out and played a number of pieces – crowd pleasers – that included Pacabellas Canon, which we like to play a lot, and the Drum Salute.

“Our Drum Major Jason Pagiou joined us as well and marched back and forth putting on a combination of displays. It felt like the crowd was very much with us.”

The band also wowed Scottish media. The BBC interviewed Pipe Major Terry Lee and Scotland’s STV News covered the performance (see video clip at http://bit.ly/ddI09S).

The STV story describes how “their precision and detail is impeccable, even to the untrained ear, and their slick performance delighted everyone, from hardcore piping fans to novice passers by.”

When asked how it would feel to win three in a row, Pipe Sergeant Jack Lee told STV: “We’d be a very happy group of Canadians.”

The band, dressed in their old kilts to preserve their new ones for the Worlds, has played in George Square previously and was invited back this year. “It’s a good warm-up and it gets us out of Stirling, which is just a little remote,” he adds.

“It gets us into the city and gives us a chance to play for a crowd of people before the world championships.”

The band also managed a quick warm-up. “That’s important, because if you get the pipes out and it starts raining, and you play for more than 30 minutes, you’re finished, the pipes will be soaking wet and you’ll get out of tune.

“You need the ability to get the band ready in short order. Today we did it in 20 minutes.”

The band later went to Glasgow Green, site of Saturday’s Worlds, intending to have a brief rehearsal near the Grade 1 area. Instead they opted for a brief walk as the wind picked up and rain threatened, and watched as city workers set up the seating areas.

Looking over the venue, Lee seemed satisfied: “We’re going into this playing with confidence, we played well today, and we’ll do our best playing on the field.”

Meanwhile back home, fans of another sort tuned in last Saturday to watch the band in a new documentary. The CBC reports more than 52,000 viewers watched Battle of the Bagpipes, A Journey to the World Championship, filmed on location in Scotland in 2009 by SFU cameraman Thomas Buchan.

And viewers can tune in on Saturday to watch the Worlds via live stream from BBC Scotland, by way of bbc.co.uk/worlds. Glasgow time is eight hours later than Vancouver time.

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