A young Oban piper stepped in to save the day at a Red Hot Chilli Pipers gig after a mix-up led to their front man’s pipes being left behind in Ireland.
Kevin MacDonald, who runs the pipers’ section of the Celtic rock band, was meant to be playing at a concert in Dublin last weekend but took ill with the flu and was unable to travel.
But his bagpipes were sent across the Irish Sea anyway – and somehow didn’t make it home again.
On Saturday he arrived in Oban for the group’s next gig at Corran Halls to discover his pipes were missing from the van which transports the band’s instruments from place to place.
After a stressful time, however, the word went out and a new set of bagpipes was found.
Niall Jordan, 25, said he received a message on Facebook from a friend of one of the band members asking for a spare set of pipes. Mr Jordan added: “I said, ‘yeah, no problem, I can’t let that happen.”
Mr Jordan, who played in the school pipe band and is now with the Grade 2 pipe band in Oban, said he went along with his bagpipes 10 to 15 minutes later and arrived at the Coran Halls by about 6.20pm.
He added: “They were due to play at 8pm so I just handed over my pipes and the guy had a spare chanter which fitted.
“He (Kevin MacDonald) was really grateful when I agreed to let him use the pipes for the gig. The gig went on into the later hours on Saturday night and I decided to swing by the place he was staying at on Sunday to pick them up.”
During the gig on Saturday, Mr MacDonald relayed the story to the crowd of about 800 people as he led the performance which included pipers, guitars, percussion, drums and dancers.
It is understood Mr MacDonald’s pipes, thought to be worth about £20,000, have been tracked down in Dublin and will be returned shortly.
