Concert in Bridgewater

The Bridgewater Salvation Army featured the Gloucester Salvation Army Band (Bandmaster Clifford Matthews) in concert on Saturday, 23 February 2008. The concert was a part of Bridgewater’s Band Weekend.

The evening concert began with the fanfare St. Francis and the reflective prayer song Channels Only presented as a vocal solo by Phil Webb, followed by an invocation given by Kim Whyard. Bandmaster Matthews shared how happy the Gloucester Band was to be at the event and his hopes that the message given through music, entertainment and the lyrics of the songs would have an impact on the audience.

The concert continued with an opportunity for the congregation to sing “Praise My Soul, the King of Heaven”. The band played William Himes’ exciting march Motivation followed by a trip to the world of opera with the cornet solo Rodrigo Concierto de Aranjuez.

Magician and all-around entertainer Tom Elliott entertained the audience, performing some interactive Christian magic featuring a large amount of audience participation, accompanied by a great deal of applause and laughter. Elliott concluded his set by highlighting John 3:17, “For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.” The band followed the set with a transcription of Mozart’s aptly-named Overture to “The Magic Flute”.

As the evening took a more devotional turn, Bandmaster Matthews continued Elliott’s theme by bringing a few thoughts based on the familiar passage John 3:16-21. The band followed with two thought-provoking items, Such Love and When I Survey.

Following this reflective time, Bandmaster Matthews asked the congregation to think about their faith as the band played a lively piece, based on the familiar hymn “Amazing Grace’, entitled Amazing Race. After vocal soloist Yvonne West sang Pour on the Power, the audience was asked to imagine that they had traveled to Spain as the band played an arrangement of the contemporary gospel song “He Is the Lord” in a Latin style, entitled El es el Señor.

As the concert came to its end, the bandmaster asked those gathered to sit back, relax and think about Jesus and the grace he brings as the band played the festival march Fanfare of Praise. A Bridgewater local officer said a word of thanks to the Gloucester Band for the music and message that had been given and the band concluded the evening with the classic march Torchbearers.