It’s all gone rather meta at the Royal Albert Hall as Brassed Off Live celebrates its 30th anniversary. The film focuses on the Grimley Colliery Band, who are made up of local miners in a small town in Yorkshire. With the mine facing closure and jobs on the line, they invest their efforts into the National Brass Band Championships, which culminate at this very venue.
The 1996 picture, penned and directed by Mark Herman, starred the late Pete Postlethwaite as bandleader Danny. The actor is joined by the likes of Ewan McGregor, Sue Johnston and Tara Fitzgerald. Character actors Stephen Tompkinson, Jim Carter and Philip Jackson also make up an engaging ensemble in this much-loved, innately British drama.
The subject matter is inescapably bleak. The bubbling anger aimed at Thatcher threatens to boil over at any moment. The austerity which permeated the nation through the 80s and into the 90s, when the film is set, is placed front and centre. Alongside all that, though, is some character-driven comedy deployed by a cast of fine actors and then there is, of course, the music.
The Grimethorpe Colliery Band were the real-life inspiration for the film and provided the soundtrack. Tonight, they are joined by the Academy of St Martin in the Fields under the baton of Ben Palmer. The score is then performed live to picture.
Prior to the main event, star and host for the first part of the evening, Jim Carter arrives on stage to enthusiastic applause. A natural raconteur, Carter commands some laughs before introducing several cast members. Herman and producer Steve Abbott also regale us with stories surrounding the making of the film, providing ardent fans with some titbits while whetting our appetites for what lies ahead.
The close to two-hour film plays without interruption, save for the hearty response that follows each musical piece. There is nothing quite like hearing a brass band play live. Not only does it serve to enhance the experience of watching the film, but it adds a further layer of poignancy. A great many people in this country lost their jobs and, with those, their communities. Once the mines were cemented over, nothing was lined up to take their place.
With the mindset that activity dispels gloom, Postlethwaite’s Danny rallies his troops, determined that their music will not only act as a distraction from their ongoing situation and uncertainty, but as a symbol of hope and the fighting spirit humans are able to summon even during the darkest of times.
‘The Floral Dance’ embodies this with its up-tempo cheeriness, while the film’s famous flugelhorn solo on ‘Concierto de Aranjuez’ brims with stirring emotion. An impassioned ‘Land of Hope and Glory ’sees the patriotism for which it is usually associated replaced with a deep sense of irony and defiance as Herman and the band deliver their final blow. An emotive evening for an important film deserving of its grand birthday revival.
Review by Jonathan Marshall
This 1996 bittersweet comedy-drama, written and directed by Mark Herman, stars Pete Postlethwaite as Danny, the devoted leader of the Grimley Colliery Band, who is determined to show the Tories ‘we are not defeated’. Ewan McGregor, Stephen Tompkinson and Tara Fitzgerald are just some of the stand-outs in an impressive ensemble cast.
BRASSED OFF LIVE
Royal Albert Hall
2 October 2026
