Piping Live! Day 4 – Brown reigns at Pipe Idol; that’s the rain on

The fourth day of the Piping Live! Glasgow International Piping Festival came with sun, clouds, wind, drizzle and a 15-minute torrential downpour that turned the Buchanan Street pedestrian walk into a cascading river.

With the qualifying round of the Grade 1 contest on the Friday, the Thursday seemed like the Friday, the Northern Ireland and Ireland bands arriving and circulating around. Field Marshal Montgomery timed their outdoor practice perfectly in terms of missing the rain, and large crowds gathered to see them do their FMM thing at Kelvingrove Park.

The final qualifying round of Pipe Idol saw James Dyson of Nova Scotia make the final, held later in the day in the auditorium of the National Piping Centre. Dyson joined other qualifiers Calum Ian Brown, Ben Murray and Calum Watson, and it was Brown who was named 2014 Pipe Idol winner, taking home a bunch of prizes, including a set of Fred Morrison Reelpipes.

The pipes|drums “Little Supper” was scarfed up quickly by hungry festival-goers, who munched and swilled to the sound of the Grade 2 Portland Metro Pipe Band, practicing/performing in the usual spot outside the NPC.

The day wrapped with a great performance by Calum MacCrimmon’s band Boraraig, who split the bill with Rakish Paddy at the New Athenaeum theatre at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland.

An early night for the sensible, who hit the hay comforted at least by a decent forecast for Friday . . . but the biggest day, Saturday, looking a bit darker with rain predicted for at least part of it.

Rein in the rain, and let the bands reign, we say, as pipes|drums wraps up our daily coverage of Piping Live! and now puts attention on the World Pipe Band Championships.

Stay tuned!