Ken tells us of the origins of the show, how it was organised and how the band impressed so many people with their playing only a few days before they lifted the World Champion crown, the first overseas band ever to do so.
The concert will be commemorated in a special evening at the Celtic Connections Festival on January 30th. The blurb reads:
‘Back in August 1987, Canada’s 78th Fraser Highlanders Pipe Band performed what would come to be known as a landmark concert in Ballymena, Co. Antrim – just a few days before they became the first ever non-Scottish band to win the Grade 1 title at that year’s World Pipe Band Championships. Nearly three decades on, the recording of that concert, Live in Ireland ’87, remains one of the best-selling pipe-band albums ever, with its innovative repertoire – including Don Thompson’s ‘Journey to Skye’, the first ever musical suite composed for pipe band – establishing it as a pivotal milestone in its field.
