Top brass bands are set to go head to head as they party in the parks of County Durham.
BRASS Festival favourites New York Brass Band and Oompah Brass will lead five nights of free evening entertainment, with ten acts performing 10 concerts from Monday 11 to Friday 15 July.
Cllr Neil Foster, the cabinet member for economic regeneration, arts and culture at Durham County Council, which develops and delivers the annual celebration of the county’s musical traditions, said: “Once again our Big BRASS Bash tour will be a high-energy highlight of the festival.
“It’s a fantastic opportunity for us to take incredibly talented bands from the county, the UK, and beyond and bring them to towns and villages in Durham that wouldn’t ordinarily have such events on their doorstep.”
Each weekday evening there will be two concerts, with four bands at each from a pool of performers that also includes Les Traine-Savates, Beat ’n’ Blow, German Trombone Vibration, Always Drinking Marching Band, Funky Style Brass, Mr Wilson’s Second Liners, Xaral’s Dixie, and the Rajasthan Heritage Brass Band.
The shows are at major attractions like Bowes Museum and Locomotion; at parks, including Jubilee Park in Spennymoor, Glenholme Park in Crook, Town Park in Newton Aycliffe and Hackworth Park in Shildon; at Seascape Primary School in Peterlee, on the High Street in Stanley, at Park View Pavillion in Murton and at Steam Machine Brewery in Aycliffe.
On Saturday 16 July, bands will then come together in Durham City for a free “grand finale” in the recently re-opened Wharton Park.
Between 6pm and 9.30pm they will be joined Durham “pit-pop” performers Dennis, and indie rockers Hope and Social, who will look to reprise their fabulous collaboration with New York Brass Band that wowed audiences last year.
For more information about the Big BRASS Bash tour, or to book tickets for other events at the festival – which is put on with support from Arts Council England’s National Portfolio – visit www.brassfestival.co.uk.