A Truly Memorable Proms

There were some truly memorable events at the Proms this year. The top one, and probably the most anticipated, was 90’s Radio One DJ Dave Pearce arriving in his silver Merc and doing a club set at the Ibiza on Stour dance night at the Hub. It was a classic dance evening with a pulsating 700+ audience; red, white and green glow sticks aloft, and lights strobing to the anthems of Faithless, Chemical Brothers and many more.

The ethos of the Proms is to provide a platform for performers who would like to get their music out to a wider audience. At the Shipston Introducing event, sixteenyear-old Grace Rushbrooke won the soloist category, having rushed straight over from her Grade 8 singing exam. Teenage local and very much up-and-coming four-piece group Mad Thingz impressed and won the band category. Last year’s solo winner Honor Gerard Pickering returned to do a set at the end and showed us just how much she had blossomed into a confident and poised young singer.

Illness caused some unforeseen changes in the programme, for example when the Jolly Rogers, an act at the Coach and Horses during the infamous pub trail, were without their lead singer but encouraged budding vocalists in the audience to fill in instead. When our wonderful local opera singers succumbed to covid, RSC soprano Alexandra Ferrari and tenor Dominic Bevan stepped in at the Townsend Hall to provide another amazing opera night, with Dominic giving an encore of the famous and powerful Nessun Dorma. The Cotswold Choir stepped in to fill a gap after the Astwood Bank Operatic Society were forced to cancel their show.

As usual, Final Night brought Shipstonians out in their hundreds to the High St for another legendary night thanks to the sheer quality of the acts including the two competition winners.

Barney Porter of headline band Wired attributed the amazing atmosphere not only to the great supportive spirit of Shipston residents but also to England having just won the penalty shootout!