What are your Worlds plans?

The World Pipe Band Championship is just a week away! A few weeks ago the BBC announced that they would be streaming the Grade 1 competition from the Worlds live over the internet. Coverage includes the qualifier and both rounds of the final, and starts at 9 a.m. BST, which is the wonderfully early time of 4 a.m. where I live here on the east coast of the U.S.

Last year’s coverage included an excellent commentary on each band’s performance by Bob Worrall, a judge and instructor from Canada. According to an article on pipes|drums he’ll be doing the same thing this year, which I’m looking forward to hearing again.

This marks the third year the BBC has offered streaming coverage, and it’s been quite a hit in the piping community. Last year the BBC encouraged people to send photos of their Worlds parties, and some of them were featured on the BBC website. I’m planning to get together with a few folks from the band to watch the event in its entirety (yes, that means I will be up at 4 a.m. to watch every band).

What are your plans for watching the Worlds?

P.S.- If you’re not able to catch the event live (or even if you are), on-demand videos of every band will be available on the same website. Videos from last year are still up, with the commentary from Bob Worrall.