A very classic review of the Leeds Uni carol service

Thursday, as it so happens, was the 1st of December, and with it came the University Carol Service in the Great Hall. A fancy affair, or so it sounds, but did it live up to what one was hoping for…? Not as much as it should have.

I started the day on a positive note, having opened the first window on my advent calendar revealing the well known line “the people that have walked in darkness have seen a great light”- of course as we all know, the first line of Isiah 9: 2-7. I was awash with the feeling of ‘hurrah, the Christmas season is upon us’ and couldn’t wait to attend the well-advertised Carol Service in the Great Hall later in the evening, because who doesn’t love to blast out some belters? Ever since I was a boy, I would attend no less than three cracking Carol Services during December.

At 4.45pm, the time was nigh. I left in good time to arrive at the Great Hall a good while before the evening began. My mood, merry, but slightly apprehensive about being one of very few people in the room. I was twenty-five minutes early, so it was hardly surprising, but as time ticked on, the people processed in until the Hall was full.

A quick flick through the service sheet to see what carols was on the agenda was necessary, and it contained some absolute bangers, not to mention ‘Gaudete’, that would only be sung by the choir. I could see the Brass Band led by Lewis Hammond eager to begin their triumphant playing, and the excitement built within me.

The Reverend Matt Ward opened with a jolly welcome and you could tell, the crowd was eager to start singing. O Come, O Come Emmanuel began, and yes, I may have been the first person to be upstanding, but it was worth it. As the carol went on, I noticed that it was going a tad too fast between the first and second line line of each verse, but this was’t a problem, just a slight shock to the old system that knew the carol so well.

And then, the first reading- Isiah as I read in my advent calendar that very morning…or was it? It was indeed, but different. “What was wrong?” I asked myself, and then it clicked. This, what they were reading, was not the normal, classic, traditional, King James version I was so used to. Oh no, far from it. This was some modern version, where the ‘hath’s had been changed to ‘have’s’, and the ‘thou’s’ to ‘you’s’. Not at all what one associates with a true Bible reading, especially concerning the Christmas story. I even heard a man behind me, who clearly shared my disappointment, mutter “sore afraid” when the word ‘terrified’ was used as replacement during Luke 2:9. This was a real blow to the so far, not-so-bad carol service.

Not the actual Leeds uni carol singers

But hey ho, we journeyed on. With this slight hiccup, I knew from then on that the service would not reach my high expectations. The choir sang Gaudete, an all time favourite, in a bold and authoritative way, exactly how it should be, and then we came to Once In Royal- ultimately the most important carol of all time. Half way through the third verse, it was in full throng, and I was getting ready for the descant that was about to come. I was ready to join in, getting my voice in gear for billowing out what would be, an incredible verse. But it never came… I, only naturally, continued to sing the descant on my own, which did attract a variety of confused looks, but it didn’t matter, I knew that I had to do this. Proud and not quite perfect in pitch, I ploughed through the rest of the hymn.

O Come All Ye Faithful was the next belter, and it surely couldn’t disappoint. “If there was any carol to have a stonking descant, it was this” I thought to myself with smug look on my face, knowing that it would happen.

But alas, it did not. Once again, I was left with dampened spirits. My hopes diminished and my dreams shattered. This really was the final nail in the coffin, but one final thing was the second anthem sung by the choir- El December Congelat. Throughout, some choir members sang “trumpa pa pa trump pa pa”, which did seem odd considering the extreme similarity in words sung, and the recent presidential election- did they really have to rub this in even more? Perhaps so.  Saddened by the lack of descants and failure to follow the King James Version of Bible readings,

I left once it was over, sipped on my mulled wine, and chomped on an alright mince pie hoping it may perk me up, but it wasn’t enough. Thankfully, the Brass Band, choir, and uplifting reflection from the Vicar made it worthwhile, but needless to say, I still walked home disheartened by the first day of December, knowing that others who attended, would be sharing my grief until next year.