BAGPIPE band Red Hot Chilli Pipers are postponing their April and May tour under the Coronavirus shutdown, but don’t be too deflated. The Celtic rock band’s dates are being rearranged for next spring.
The 2020 tour would have opened at the Royal Hall, Harrogate, on April 24, a show now re-scheduled for April 10 2021.
Tickets remain valid for the new date, but anyone unable to attend the revised gig – although who can predict anything in their diary for a year’s time?! – should claim a refund from the original point of purchase by Friday, April 10.
Formed in Scotland in 2002, Red Hot Chilli Pipers made a cameo appearance at the T In The Park festival with The Darkness in 2004 and won the BBC talent show When Will I Be Famous? in 2007.
Bringing together musicians, dancers and singers from Scotland and further afield, many holding world championship titles, they specialise in “Bagrock”, a groundbreaking fusion of traditional Scottish music and rock/pop anthems.
In 2014, the Pipers released the Live At The Lake DVD and CD, recorded at the Milwaukee Irish Fest, their American spiritual home by the shores of Lake Michigan, when they brought 16 musicians and dancers across the Atlantic.
The set that night took in Insomnia, Gimme All Your Lovin’, Thunderstruck, Everybody Dance Now, Amazing Grace, Fix You, Chasing Cars, Wake Me Up, Don’t Stop Believin’ and We Will Rock You.
In February 2019, the Pipers and Tom Walker released a new version of his 2018 hit Leave A Light On in aid of Nordoff Robbins, the music therapy charity. Earlier Walker and the band performed at Murrayfield before the Scotland versus Italy Six Nations rugby match.
In a new departure for the Pipers, last June’s studio album of new songs and covers, Fresh Air, featured lead vocals on many tracks, such as Walker on Leave The Light On and Chris Judge on the American band Walk The Moon’s Shut Up And Dance and Leonard Cohen’s Hallelujah.
Next on the horizon in Yorkshire for Red Hot Chilli Pipers is a July 11 appearance at Pocklington Arts Centre’s Platform Festival at the Old Station, Pocklington. Watch this space for news of whether the festival will go ahead or not as the Coronavirus pandemic’s progress unfurls.