Seeing as the festival was just this past weekend I thought I’ share with you one of my favourite memories of T in the Parks from the past. 6 years ago in 2009 the mighty New York rockers The Yeah Yeah Yeahs played the main stage of T in the Park and brought with them the East Kilbride Pipe Band to help in there rendition of ‘Skeletons.’
That’s right, pretty much at their peak Karen O and friends played one of their best songs with a pipe accompaniment! It was a pretty cool moment from one of the coolest live acts I’ve ever seen and the crowd went mad for it!
I did a wee google search and was able to find the performance in question which you can watch below. It’s pretty crazy to me that it was 6 years ago, the landscape of popular music has changed pretty dramatically in that time. I had a look at the line up for this years T in the Park and barely saw anyone I’d be interested in seeing, although based on reports of the state of the new site i’d say I dodged a bullet not going this year.
What are your favourite T in the Park moments? Any of them involving bagpipes? Share in the comments below!
People may just think booking a piper is just booking a piper, however there are more options than you might realise. If you are in the market for something a little different to a classic piper here are a few options you could take into consideration.
If you are looking for a little showmanship how about the self proclaimed “Badpiper?” This flame throwing, tattooed punk looks like he wandered off the set of Mad Max and has been delighting crowds around the world for over 15 years. He’s just maybe not one for your granny. Search YouTube and you’ll find The Badpiper performing his take on rock standards by AC/DC and Queen as well as his own signature tunes. His bagpipes spit fire in the process, resulting in some awesome visuals that your guests wouldn’t be forgetting anytime soon.
Looking for something a little more surreal? Portland’s Unipiper is the guy that looked at The Badpipers flaming bagpipes and said “I can do more with this.” This video of a man, dressed in Darth Vader cosplay, a kilt, on a unicycle playing the Star Wars theme on his set of fire spitting bagpipes is probably the best thing you’ll see on the internet today….
….unless that is, you’re more of a Game of Thrones fan.
Not sure if he’s available for bookings but he’d certainly bring a memorable amount of of weirdness to the day. Altthough, again, maybe not one for your gran.
Closer to home when speaking about pipers its hard not to mention The Red Hot Chilli Pipers, one of the highest profile pipe bands in the world. They made their name performing a combination of traditional pipe tunes and contemporary pieces, covering music an eclectic mix of music from Deep Purple to Snow Patrol to Gangnam Style (!?)
Would they play at your wedding? You never know, but you’d have to book early. These guys are in high demand having played around the world not to mention a few times at T in the Park too.
Of course if these ideas aren’t for you theres always Elite Bands’ handpicked piper, Stuart looks the part and is one of the best Scottish wedding pipers out there.
Stuart is the pipe major of the elite pipe band, the best sounding pipe band on the planet (if we do say so ourselves!) Depending on what you’re looking for the company Elite Bands can provide you a solo piper or the full pipe band, that will keep you (and your granny) happy. Head here for more details: http://elitebands.co.uk/band/elite-piper
Wedding Piper Scotland 