Charity Rock

This year, House and Charity Rock came back bigger and better than ever before. With a night jam-packed with guitar shredding and crowd surfing, the night was certainly not one to miss.

The event kicked off with the house rock competition, judged by none other than Mr Gallop and Mr Davies. Ancaster, Brazenose, Exeter and Radcliffe all ignited the crowd with their renditions of absolute classics, including ‘Feeling Good’, ‘Sugar We’re Going Down’ and Chelsea Dagger. Rousing vocals from Hal York-Forward, Patrick Delaney, Asa Monahan and ‘Ben Richards’, accompanied by the excellent instrumental performances from their fellow house members, were the perfect combination for some outstanding acts and a challenge for the judges to select just one winning house. In the end, it was the mighty red army of Ancaster who claimed the victory.

Then commenced the main event. All earnings throughout the evening were dedicated to the Tom Billington Foundation, a cause so close to many of our hearts. With a turnout of nearly 200 people, this Charity Rock had the greatest attendance ever, and it was so great to see everyone rocking out in the support of a great cause. Some familiar faces returned to the stage, as well as many new ones. Asa, Patrick and Hal continued to fire up the crowd, while Mr Mills unleashed his inner youth in his band’s performance of ‘Teenagers’. Each and every band electrified the audience and with each song they grew louder and louder. A special mention goes to Ryan Jones and Lochlan Dudley for being able to tame the crowd, as well as for doing an excellent job as compères for the event.

A slight complication arose as the bands had all finished their chosen songs quicker than expected, and therefore the event was due to end early. However, the SES musicians would not allow it, and what followed was thirty minutes of pure excellence. The bands all improvised, playing a variety of songs that had mostly been prepared in a couple minutes backstage. The event appeared to be coming to a close as Isaac Bachl strummed the final chord to ‘Teenage Dirtbag’, and just as the performers were leaving the stage, Joe Jones spontaneously played the first chords of Cee Lo Green’s ‘Forget You’, to which each and every musician ran back onto the stage to contribute. The night eventually drew to an end, but not without a final performance of a great classic, “Wonderwall’. With Asa mounted on Lochlan’s shoulders and all the other performers surrounding them, it was a truly heartfelt closure to such an amazing night.

Many thanks are owed to Miss Halliday, Miss Allan, Kier and Crew Club for all their help in making the event possible. But most of all, thank you to all those who performed and attended, making Charity Rock 2018 such a memorable experience for all and a great way to share our support for Tom.

Written by Alessio Rossetti