Sunday is supposed to be a day of rest, but other than a tardy start the Renegade Brass Band were anything but sleepy for this finale of the first full Norfolk & Norwich Festival week.
Their lively mix of horns, percussion, rapping, and sampling had the crowd dancing from the off.
The Sheffield 12-piece released their first album five years ago and that experience showed, with a tight performance that hit all the right notes. The saxophonist and trumpet trio get most of the attention, but it’s the sousaphone loitering at the back that provides the real backbone.
The rapping and DJing felt secondary to the instruments, with the vocals a little indistinct at times, but for me that was the right balance: what is special about this outfit is that big brassy sound, not the words.
Putting aside the 35-minute wait to begin, it was a perfect Speigeltent gig: energetic, fun, and something just that little bit different.
