WESTFIELD – The 64th Annual POPS Concert, featuring the Westfield High School band, jazz band, junior varsity jazz band and jazz combo will be held on Friday and Saturday, March 3 and 4 at 7:30 in the Westfield High School gymnasium. Tickets are $10 for adults, and $5 for senior citizens and students.
Appropriately entitled “When We’re 64,” a good part of the music will be centered around the Beatles, said WHS instrumental music director Patrick Kennedy. There will be three featured medleys recognizing different musical periods, including the early Beatles, Beatles Love, featuring pieces from the Cirque de Soleil soundtrack; and Abbey Road, a symphonic portrait with music from the end of the band’s career.
Some of the highlights of the concert will include the JV jazz band performing “I want to hold your hand,” Twist and Shout,” and “Hey, Jude.” The jazz ensemble will play the Buddy Rich version of “Norwegian Wood,” plus Paul McCartney’s “Live and Let Die” and “Something,” by George Harrison. The jazz combo and vocal combo will perform “In my Life,” and “Let it Be.”
Other music at the concert will include songs from the movie “Beetlejuice,” and the concert will end with its classic closer, “Sentimental Journey” by the Dixieland band.
Earlier on Friday, March 3, will be the Senior Citizen Lunch and Concert, with lunch at 11:15 a.m. followed by an abbreviated concert at 11:45 a.m. The event is funded by a grant from the Sarah Gillett Services for the Elderly, Inc. A limited number of tickets for the lunch and concert are still available at the Council on Aging. Lunch will be provided by family consumer science teacher Margeret Toomey and her culinary students.
Kennedy said this will be one of the best POPS concerts in recent years, and he hopes to see a packed audience. “I’m proud of the way the kids are working. They are a special group of students,” Kennedy said.
