Page 143 - Bugle Autumn 2014

0830 start and just after midnight finish.
Rehearsals continued until the Friday night which, although billed
as a dress rehearsal, was opened up to the public. Marching out to a packed arena for the first time was a real buzz. Sadly, not everything went according to plan for some acts with a member of the Conscript Band of the Swiss Armed Forces unexpectedly catching a member of the parachute team in his arms during their excellent display!
On the Sunday morning some of the Band and Bugles felt the urge to cool down and took a swim in the river Rhine, which flows through the centre of Basel. Unfortunately the good weather did not continue across the day and that evening we had a very wet couple of performances. The rain stayed with us into Monday evening and the first of the televised performances; however, the weather did not dampen the audience’s enthusiasm for our display, which of course included ‘Zorba the Greek’. However, the following night’s televised performance remained dry which was a relief.
On the Thursday in addition to the usual two evening performances the band got up bright and early to travel to Freiburg, Germany, to perform a reduced version of the tattoo for their
residents. This included a street march down to the venue, which at Rifles pace took no time at all!
Sadly, our time in Basel came to an end, but not without a Saturday finale. This began with all the acts marching through the streets of Basel to the arena, with what seemed like the entire population of the city out in force to cheer us on. The final
performance of the night had extra smoke, extra fireworks and a lot of extra enthusiasm from the band!
THE RIFLES
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