Piping Live! Day 3 – a piob crawl

Here comes the rain again, falling on my head like a memory. Wasn’t it Wet Wet Wet that sang that? No, it was Eurhythmics, and it was all about rhythmical memories in and out of the wet on the third day of the Piping Live! Glasgow International Piping Festival, where crowds seemed to thin a bit due to the changed conditions.

While the first two days were mostly blessed sunshine, familiar weather set in a bit, but never dampened the spirits of all the pipers and drummers going round and about the toon, checking out the many options for listening pleasure.

Things overall, at least during the day, felt a bit more classic, starting with the sultry sounds of Bourdon Collecteif, a five-piece from Belgium playing original Flemish music from the 16th and 17th centuries. Complete with harpsichord and two sets of Belgian smallpipes, the group put on a very much unplugged show at the Street Café to interested listeners who left a bit more enlightened.

(Here’s a video of a few highlights from the day.)

Next on was the David Shedden Trio, part of the “Emerging Talent” section of Piping Live! Armed with Highland pipes, smallpipes and whistles, Shedden reeled off an hour’s worth of stuff, including many of his own very fine compositions.

The rain kept at it in a consistently dreachy way. There are plenty of sounds at Piping Live! of course, but there is a certain smell that has become unmistakably connected to the festival: the smoky hamburger grill in front of the National Piping Centre. It . . .