It’s all been happening today… Exeter Chiefs playing a semi final, some wedding somewhere, a football match somewhere else, a large shop selling furniture kits is open, but most importantly, it was DYJO at the Devon County Show.
I’m not sure what’s gone wrong with the weather this year, but after all the snow in Devon earlier in the year (“pah, it’ll never settle here, it never does!”), we’ve had three days of good weather for the County Show. Maybe we’ve gone through a portal into a parallel universe. Anyway, unbroken sun warmed our arrival at the revamped venue, the ‘Watering Hole’. Instead of an open-air stage, the stage is now in an enormous marquee, with a bar attached where patrons could sample fine local ales (we didn’t.)
This year we had just one performance slot (to make way for the wedding and rugby on the big screen), and DYJO2 (with a few extras from DYJO1) did a thoroughly professional job of getting the stage set up in about ten minutes after the Devon Youth Wind Orchestra’s set, and performing to their normal high standard to an enthusiastic audience. It’s the time of the season when soloists really start growing into their solos and exploring possibilities: that’s what jazz is all about.
If you want to hear even more adventure, do come to hear both bands at Seaton Gateway on Saturday 9th June! We promise you won’t be sitting on straw bales.