The Woodcroft: Carols by the Lake event was the last event of the year and was an event that required a large amount of prep work from the band due to 2 major factors. Firstly this would be our longest gig out of isolation requiring us to perform once during the day and once during the night for the main Christmas event. Secondly, at this event, we were going to manage a food stand to raise funds for the band’s future.
This wasn’t the first time the band had run a food stall for an event, however, it had been at least 3 years since the last one. Due to this a whole month of prep work was required from planning the layout of the stall, deciding what food was going to be sold, testing the food, and finally buying all the necessary items. The month had quickly passed by and the band was thankfully able to complete all the necessary preparations in time with extra work being put in by Geli, Sophia, and Raelene who all deserve praise due to the extra work they put in throughout the entire preparation period.
On the day the band had called on a few extra people to help run the stall smoother who we would also like to thank. Thanks to everyone’s hard work, we were able to sell all of our food items leading to the band breaking even and turning over a profit.
On the gig side of things, the first performance was a solo vocal rendition of the Australian National Anthem to start the entire day of festivities. Shortly after was the band’s first stage performance, a 30 minute set with the band’s classic jazz and pop tunes being performed such as “Fly Me to the Moon”, “Treasure”, “Man in the Mirror”, and more. Later on, towards the afternoon was a short impromptu singing set by Geli performing a short set of acoustic pop songs to keep up high moods of the festival before the day of festivities had ended and moved on to the carols by the lake event. The band performed a 30-minute set reminiscent of November’s Christmas gigs, as a lead-up to the main carols event, ending their set with a mashup of Justin Bieber’s “Mistletoe”, Drummer Boy and Ariana Grande’s “Santa Tell Me”. Finally, the event ended with 30 minutes of carols with Geli and Sophia helping out “Living Bread Ministries” to close the day.
Despite the circumstances, the past 3 Christmas gigs have gone quite well for the band and hopefully, the band will continue to grow and recover from the lockdown and be able to bring the community a great set of performances throughout the next year.
BCCB 