Not in a million years..

..did I expect half of the Philly crowd at the Rebirth Brass Band showlast nite to be Mummers! But that's the way it went down . My wife and I got there early and as people started coming in we noticed groups- mainly guys- wearing various jackets or sweatshirts with names I recognized as mummer organizations. We ended up standing nxt to a group of guys who were part of the Woodland String Band - who it turns out were the 2012 String Band Champs. As we talked w these guys it started to make sense. Some of the mummers groups have over the years hired NO Brass Bands to play w their groups in the parade and they've gotten friendly withthem. These guys were also musicians themselves & appreciate the brass bands musicianship and then there is the whole Mummer-Mardi Gras-Secondline connection so now this was starting to make perfect sense. Finally there turned out to be one more piece to the puzzle- the unannounced opening act was a brass band made up of an amalgam of players from the various mummer marching bands so this helped to create this wild New Orleans-Philly Mummer mix in the music and the audience . The mummer band had 8 trombones, 1 sax, a mini tuba , a regular tuba, bass & snare drum and a percussionist. They got the crowd warmed up and as they started to play a handful of guys came out on dance floor in full Mummer wench regalia- jumping and dancing to the music while waving their decorated umbrellas. As the show continued more and more umbrellas- both NO and Mummer style - literally popped up in the crowd and were waved around. What a trip! When Rebirth came on the crowd was primed & ready. The band was its usual powerful self- these guys are at the top of their game. At one point the band gave a shout out to the Mummer group they had marched w in the past - think it was the Pirates- and noted that they don't do The Mummers Parade no more because the parade is too (expletive expletive ) cold. Anyway, the band played a great set featuring some new songs from their current Grammy nominated album and then some instrumentals and greatest hits. All in all have to say I got my 20 dollars worth and seeing the energy created by the Philly Mummer- NO Brass Band was in a word priceless. Only in Philly, only in Philly.