Close after a very successful tour of the USA, culminating in a superb performance in New York's Carnegie Hall, the band were off again, this time to Jonkoping, Sweden for 3 days to perform a one off concert as part of the Svensk Blasmusikfestival.

There are many attractions at the festival with Grimethorpe playing at the Gala Concert at the culmination of proceedings.

The band flew out early Thursday morning after a stop over Wednesday night in Stanstead. All the percussion and big instruments were being driven over by the bands 2nd man and 2nd Euphonium players, John and Shaun Hudson, which would take a lot of pressure off us at the airport.

Our performance was to take place on the Friday evening, but earlier in the day, players from various Swedish bands took the opportunity to sit in with the band at an open rehearsal / masterclass, then afterwards there was a photograph with everyone involved.

It was a quick meal and spruce up before the band had to be back to the venue. The Swedish band players who took part in the open rehearsal were to give a concert at 8:30 for an hour before our concert started, that's right our concert was to START at 9:30 in the evening, a time when we are usually getting off the stage for that well earned pint.

The capacity audience were buzzing and ready to be entertained - Grimethorpe Style, and considering their reaction, they were more than satisfied with the soloists and band being on top-notch form. We gave the usual three encores that the audience demanded, then the band walked off the stage to a rapturous standing ovation which kept going and going. After what must have been five minutes and with half the lads changed it was decided that this audience weren't going to leave until they got that extra piece they wanted.

The band were frantically got back together and returned back on stage, some of them in Jeans and T shirts, but the audience weren't bothered. Dave, the librarian, had brought one extra piece and Ray Farr's Toccata was belted out with Mark Landon (guesting on percussion) sounding like he was trying to break the xylophone. The audience burst into another, and final standing ovation, but now, fulfilled and with the time knocking on midnight, the audience let the band go.

The evening ended very very late, a little too late for some as it turned out, which didn't help for the early start and the Ryanair flight back home.

Thanks to the organisers for keeping the band fed and watered and for a well organised festival, thanks for the players guesting with the band and finally a big thanks to John and Shaun Hudson for driving all the gear for us.

Written by Mark Arnold