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Ron

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Saw Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain for the first time in Nelson, New Zealand, last night.
Fantastic show.
Clever, funny, iconoclastic, talented....and big hands! Most of them have big hands! So encouraging ;-)

The blokme in the middle of The Ukes of Hazartd (who turned up to the gig in their uniforms geeks that they art - is Dave from UOGB)
 

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Thanks for the pic! Thems some big dudes. I'd love to see them too.
DAP
 
Thanks for introducing them. I gotta check into them.
 
Thanks for introducing them. I gotta check into them.

g'day Uncle, you won't be disappointed.

Checkout their two DVD's: "Anarchy in the Ukulele" and "Live at the Royal Albert hall".

Mindblowing stuff. Unbelievable arrangements. Quirky as anything and very humble. Just amazing players.
 
I love the way they close their shows doing six or seven different popular songs with the same chord progression - simultaneously. Would love to see them live.

Most of them have been at it quite a while too, there are videos of them from almost twenty years ago and about half of them them are the same folks as the current group. Their bass player went from a stand-up bass to an acoustic bass guitar - I'm wondering when he's going to get a Kala UBASS?

John
 
the "youngest" member has been with them for 18 years.

I New Zealand they ended their encore with Now is the Hour which is a stroke of gnious. It's a song very dear to our hearts - oftn sung at school graduations and the end of events. Thy learnd it especially for the tour..
 
the "youngest" member has been with them for 18 years.

I New Zealand they ended their encore with Now is the Hour which is a stroke of gnious. It's a song very dear to our hearts - oftn sung at school graduations and the end of events. Thy learnd it especially for the tour..
http://folksong.org.nz/poatarau/index.html
 
New Zealand sounds like Uke heaven- what with these guys popping in and Wellington International Ukulele Orchestra, who I think are hilarious.
 
Aloha Ron,
Thanks for sharing the information and the picture....I haven't seen them yet...and I have a feeling I will soon from a Secret Santa...Looks like a happy bunch of ukers....
I like their aloha shirts and how it was designed...they have each other matching sides on the shirts....came out good for the photo.....Happy strummings!! MM stan...
 
Aloha Ron,
Thanks for sharing the information and the picture....I haven't seen them yet...and I have a feeling I will soon from a Secret Santa...Looks like a happy bunch of ukers....
I like their aloha shirts and how it was designed...they have each other matching sides on the shirts....came out good for the photo.....Happy strummings!! MM stan...

I should label my pictures properly! The guys in the shirts are me and terry - the Ukes of hazard, from Nelson. Th guy in the middle is Dave from UOGB - amazing soprano player and all round funny guy!
THEY play in tuxedos - they ARE an orchestra after all. And well worth the price of a ticket - vry clvr and entertaining.
 
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Yeah, I love watching Dave when he gets into his headbanging groove. There is a YouTube video of a couple of the UOGB guys playing rock in a little bar somewhere. Great video and contrast with UOGB.

Must be nice to live where you can see acts like that regularly - we get Billy Bob's... :(

John
 
Oo - oo - I get to see them in March! I'm so excited. Oh, and Jake somebody is going to be there too... We're actually flying to Orange County from Oakland to see this performance and I have to say I am at least as excited to see UOGB as I am to see Jake. I have both the UOGB DVDs and they're great! Wish I was in NZ so I could see them sooner. Plus, it's summer there! Warm weather and great music - what a combo.
 
well, it is certainly hot here, by our standards. A drought even. And - yes - plenty of good music. We are a hell of a long way from anywhere so getting UOGB touring to our little city was a treat. They really are very good. Good entertainers as well as superb musicians.

But if you came here any other time you'd have to settle for the Ukes of Hazard - which isn't saying we're not good ;-)
 
New Zealand sounds like Uke heaven- what with these guys popping in and Wellington International Ukulele Orchestra, who I think are hilarious.

The two Orchestras were actually playing in neighbouring buildings the night that I saw the UOGB here in Wellington (WIOU were doing a charity concert for our local Free Ambulance service). During their in-between-song-banter they mentioned "after this we're going to have some drinks with our good friends from the Wellington International Ukulele Orchestra." The crowd reaction was awesome. Then they went on to say "... and we were talking to Gemma (one of the ladies from WIUO) and we came to the conclusion that if we're to be called 'orchestras' then we better 'orchestrate' something"

Then they proceeded to play an arrangement of Danse macabre (Saint-Saëns) that was several minutes of absolute unadultered ukulele bliss. The crowd was completely captivated.

Low point of the night - trying to play along with them on Ode To Joy on my backpacker. The strange woman sitting next to me practically rested her head on my shoulder and was breathing heavily in my ear... ew.
 
That Saint-Saens piece WAS awesomeness, wasn't it? I tried to get the Ode to Joy right, too. Not many ukes at our giog and very spread out in a big space so I don't know how much they could hear of us on stage, at all.

I got really annoyed with several comments during the tour - some from reviewers - that the WIUO "isn't as good as the UOGB". Silly to even compare I reckon and not fair, either. UOGB has been doing this for 25 years. WIUO has a a different style to WIUO. Also it's not very "uke" to compare, I don't reckon. Uke groups don't compare like that. They just get on doing their thing and loving it and I've yet to meet one that doesn't welcome visitors no matter what their ability level.
 
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