Glasgow Police working to sparkle in and out of the rain in August

The keyboardist who co-wrote and played on “Alive and Kicking” and many other hits with the 1980s Scottish pop group Simple Minds will put words into action with the Greater Glasgow Police Pipe Band at their “Ceolry” concert just before the 2014 World Pipe Band Championships.

The band has announced that former Simple Minds member Mick MacNeil will join them on the final segment of the first half of the Glasgow Royal Concert Hall concert on August 13th when together they plan to perform renditions of “Belfast Child” (adapted from the traditional air, “She Moves Through the Fair”) and the reels “The Lads of Mull” and “Ridhle Mo Nighean Donn” from the band’s “Dolina MacKay” medley. MacNeil has strong family ties with the Isle of Barra in Scotland’s outer Hebrides.

“Hopefully, this will add something a little different to the concert to go along with the MSR, medley, drum fanfare, etc.,” said Pipe-Major Duncan Nicholson, who  added that “preparation for the concert is going well and we hope to have something for everyone coming along.”

Earlier in the year the Greater Glasgow Police Pipe Band announced the addition of award winning Gaelic singer Rachel Walker to the bill.

With Walker and MacNeil on board, and Nicholson with Hebridean roots, the concert continues to round out a strong Highland flavour to the event. MacNeil co-wrote several song that reached number-one status in the UK and around the world, and individually has recorded more than 15 albums, mostly with in a Scottish traditional vein, but with a heavy digital influence.

In addition to MacNeil’s predilection for number-one hits, he also has a penchant for number-one pipe band tunics.