BoxSet band entertains shoppers
INTERNATIONAL touring pop/ folk duo BoxSet and other musicians have entertained shoppers with their pavement concerts outside a supermarket, writes Sue Corcoran
The duo, Tony Lyons of Twyford and former Theale Green School student George Whitfield, born and bred in Reading, were outside Waitrose in Twyford last month.
It was their third and final session in the Twyford Together spring concert series organised by borough councillor for Twyford, Stephen Conway.
Professional musicians BoxSet pay tribute to the role of busking in their lives, at the start and much more recently.
George said: “I learned to play the accordion by busking, outside Heelas in Reading in the mid-80s.”
Tony said their careers didn’t suddenly take off: “We’ve busked in the streets together in Brighton, we’ve played at the 3Bs at Reading Town Hall, at Reading pubs, then we got a record deal.
“We played in Germany where we got signed up to play in the US. We’re just back from a Belgium tour and we’re off to the US again this summer.”
In Germany, BoxSet busked to tell more people about their evening gig.
“We’ve never got above our station,” Tony joked.
For their Twyford performance, BoxSet were joined by young singer and songwriter Chloe Roberts, 13, a student at The Piggott School, Twyford, and the Drum Club including Colleton and Piggott School students.
A crowd of 120 cheered them on in the sunshine.
The previous week BoxSet were playing with the Guitar Club from Colleton and Piggott schools and earlier with Twyford Glee Club Choir and Twyford Ukelele Collective.