Before concert-goers enjoy Rod’s concert in Toronto tonight, they will be treated to a performance by the Hamilton Police Pipe Band.
Fifty bagpipers and percussionists will line the aisles at the Molson Amphitheatre and play 30 minutes of Scottish tunes before Rod takes the stage.
It will be the third time the band have opened for Rod who first requested a pipe band for his last Hamilton concert at Copps Coliseum in 2007 and again for a Toronto show at the Air Canada Centre.
Rod’s request “Was kind of a shocker,” said the band’s senior pipe major, police officer Don Forgan. “A pipe band at a rock concert is unheard of.”
Five members of the band are police officers; the rest are civilians, including a large number of children.