It’s not Christmas until the choir sings, and Devizes Chamber Choir intend to do precisely this by announcing their Christmas Concert, as they have done since they were founded in 1978…..
Devizes Chamber Choir is a group of around thirty singers, with a broad repertoire from acapella, through chamber works to major choral masterpieces including The Creation and Elijah. Their programme comprises of three seasonal concerts annually, a spring concert of standard classical works, a summer concert of lighter music and a seasonal Christmas concert of carols, and obviously it’s the latter which is coming up next; deck the halls!
The Devizes Chamber Choir’s Christmas Concert of Seasonal Carols and Songs will be held on Saturday 6th December 2025 at St. Andrew’s Church, Long Street, Devizes, with Music Director and Conductor, Shaun Holley.
They are a non-auditioned choir, so there is no singing test, but they do expect an ability to read music and of course an enthusiasm to sing. If you are interested in joining the choir, come along to a rehearsal to meet them. Look at them on the featured photo, it doesn’t look like they bite, (though Devizine cannot be held responsible if I’m wrong!) They rehearse on Tuesday evenings between 7:30pm and 9:30pm, at St. Andrew’s Church, Long Street, Devizes.
It’s only rock n roll, but if you like it, why not break out the lycra and jog over to the Corn Exchange on Friday 29th of December, where you’ll find Mick Jogger & The Stones Experience bringing you all the classics from the wildmen of the sixties? A Christmas Cracker to work off those turkey sandwiches and Quality Street……
I’ve yet to witness this local phenomenon personally, but popular party-function band Purple Fish have donned the outfits of Britain’s most famous and timeless blues rock band ever, The Rolling Stones, for many years now, so it’s a safe bet they know which buttons to press.
Chatting with Aaron Potter, the Ronnie Wood of Mick Jogger & The Stones Experience, I bent his ear about the time I got “owned” by a Little Mix tribute on social media, arguing a tribute act should be of a past act rather than one currently in their prime. Those even littler mixers responded, “but we provide a safe and affordable environment for youngsters who otherwise wouldn’t be able to see the real thing,” or words to this effect. Had to confess, they made a valid point. Boy, did I hide my head in shame!
I suppose, a Rolling Stones tribute is similar, being the originals seem to be as immortal as Chrispher Lambert on steroids. Still Mick Jagger is eighty, you cannot expect an eighty year old to perform with the zest and vigour of their youth, can you? Okay, perhaps he’s the exception to the rule, but, just like Little Mix, you’re gonna fork out a small mortgage for the pleasure, and the Stones ain’t rolling into Devizes anytime soon!
Aaron replied in agreeance, supposing the Stones are past their prime, and I backed my thoughts with this video (below) of them doing their thing in Hyde Park way back when. You see, the “being in your prime argument” is only a part of a wider doubt I have with any tribute act, the other is unavoidable because you cannot turn back the hands of time, it’s recapturing the atmosphere of the era, the setting.
So, if you watch this video, note the Corn Exchange would be unable to replicate this precisely, health and safety will not permit a mass of gyrating hippies standing on the speaker boxes, neither will the aroma of exotic herbs I strongly imagine would’ve been smelt at this concert be permitted by the town council venue. You could try whipping off your kit and dancing with only flowers in your hair, I’m not going to stop you, but Wiltshire Police have enough on their hands already on a Friday night this close to Christmas without having to find a blanket to cover your wobbly bits with!
But you cannot live in the past, my once playful banter with the worth of tribute acts has been turned on its head this year, and I’ve bore witness to some incredible ones. All we can do is be rest assured satisfaction is guaranteed, Mick Jogger & The Stones Experience will put their all into this and bring the party with them. Please, I asked Aaron after reliving this monumental video of the Stones in action, tell me you do Sympathy for the Devil?!!
“Yes,” he affirmed, “you will hear Sympathy for the Devil.” Pleased to meet you, guys, I didn’t have to guess your names, they’re listed on your website; ah, that’s progress for you!! Tickets are a purple one, from HERE.
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