Bradford Christmas Lights Switch On

Bradford Christmas Lights Switch On
Saturday 17th November 2012

This weekend I chose to stay around in Bradford for a handful of reasons. Firstly to catch up on some personal business I’d not yet got round to doing; secondly to see Aardman’s excellent Claymation film ‘The Pirates’ at the National Media Museum in 3D as part of the Bradford Animation Festival (I’d not caught it in the third medium on the original showing and was worth seeing again on the big screen even if the 3D wasn’t anything incredible); and, to cement how Bradford has improved over the last few years with lots happening in it, the switching on of the Christmas Lights with an event in the City Park.

Now I’m a big supporter of the City Park. It might have cost plenty of money (money, you could argue, that could have been spent on revitalising the city centre shops or on youth projects or on revitalising the Odeon) but it’s a beautiful piece of design and a great central focus for the city and never have I seen one location in Bradford bring so many people together in one place for key events. I’ve been in the park for the Olympic Torch Relay; the outdoor showing of Coraline; and the opening event of the Park, all great events and worth seeing, alongside the regular water and light feature that I walk home through most nights, so it was natural to expect big things for the switching on of the Christmas lights. Unfortunately, this wasn’t the most exciting of the dates they’ve schedule on the park and was a little bit of a disappointment after such excellent gigs held in the Park recently.

Leaving Pictureville as the credits of ‘The Pirates’ rolled we got to the City Park to hear the first of two choirs we saw, positioned on a stage on top of the “visitor’s centre”. Sadly, without a big screen or a better vantage point in the absolutely rammed City Park, it was difficult to see the choir but the sound was great in compensation, with the children’s choir moving through some great versions of songs including Snow Patrol’s ‘Chasing Cars’ and McFly’s ‘Star Girl’, ticking the boxes for all ages. They were followed by another choir, doing a mixture of more festive-themed tunes, which were also well sung and composed, but equally not as visible. The weather helped though with only a little bit of drizzle and it didn’t feel as cold as events have been there.

There had also been other attractions throughout the day including some street theatre Santas, but it was just before 5pm that the main event began.

The main attraction for the Christmas switch-on, in the lieu of an expensive b-celebrity switching them on and no surprise appearance of the rumoured Zak from One Direction, regularly denied in the week leading up to the event by the council, was a French trapeze troupe called Trans Express. There was a large, impressive construction in the middle of the drained mirror pool, held up by an equally large crane. The members of the troupe came out and started performing on smaller mini-stages dotted around the pool, lighting up beacons and speaking but it was impossible, unless you were near them, to hear what they were saying. They then proceeded to continue dancing and make their way to the central construction, a trapeze and performance structure that slowly raised up into the air with the group making music on drums and other instruments, creating an ethereal soundtrack that echoed around the park. Several trapeze artists also did some mid-air acrobatics and a counterweight-like device at the bottom set alight with red flame as the music continued and the structure returned to the ground where there was a bit more dancing.

The display was amazing and the skill on show was great and to see it happening in front of you was exciting. Or at least it would have been compressed into twenty minutes instead of the forty-five minutes it was dragged out for with awkward pauses where nothing would happen with no music or commentary to fill the gap or at least to put the action into context. At times it felt more like an intimate performance playing to a larger crowd with only those nearer to the performers getting the full impact. It was a shame when, attractions such as the large balloons at the City Park opening were so successful, that these dragged on. Unlike those balloons, which were up and demonstrated and then wrapped up, this performance just seemed stretched out.

Thankfully, the end of the event was rounded off nicely with the Lord Mayor – looking distinctly pirate-y in his red coat, or maybe the film was still with me – leading a countdown to the lights switching on and an impressive double-location firework display which included a neatly put together festive-based soundtrack that was the best bit of the whole thing. It was just a shame that someone hadn’t got the memo and switched on the city centre Christmas lights a good ten minutes before the countdown took place, with only the tree lights switching on as the countdown hit zero.

Overall the acrobatics on display were impressive and the fireworks and choir nicely rounding off the attractions, but it felt like what could have been an impactful thirty minute performance piece and switch-on was dragged out for three times that long. A rare misfire after the excellent 'Garden of Light' last month in what has been an impressive set of City Park attractions so far and hopefully next year we get more things like the choir and fireworks and something a little sparkier between.