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1 hour

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The Riot Band - Ceilidh Band - Tottington

About The Riot Band

The Riot Band is an experienced ceilidh band that plays festivals, parties, wedding receptions, and social events .

Ceilidh band

Bolton

Public liability insurance of £5 million

The Riot Band are an experienced Bury and Bolton based ceilidh band who play venues in Lancashire, Cheshire, Greater Manchester, Yorkshire and throughout the North of England and North Wales. We play at folk festivals, parties, wedding receptions and social events. If you choose The Riot Band for your Ceilidh, Barn Dance, Festival, or celebration, or for your wedding band you can be assured of a very memorable evening. The Riot Band has its origins way back in the nineteen sixties. Peter Lewis on fiddle, Peter Fox on piano accordion, Brian Platt on percussion and Bob Duckworth on tenor banjo, all members of the now defunct Bury Folk Club, formed The Fiery Clockface Ceilidh Band. In the mid 70s, the band re-formed as Chatterton Riot, with Francis Roe and John Hemmingway joining Bob and Pete Lewis. In 1978 (or thereabouts), Ed McGurk joined the band on bass guitar. Shortly after, the name was changed to The Riot Band. The Riot Band went from strength to strength and with Bob’s son; Neil on drums, took on an electric ceilidh band style, still playing folk music for ceilidh’s, Barn Dances or Hoe Downs. Whatever name you choose, the music and format of the evening are the same, dancing to the instructions of a caller, it takes the caller a few minutes to explain the dances, which usually last around ten minutes, that equates to about four dances per hour, so we strongly recommend that you book your Ceilidh band for at least two hours with The Riot Band the cost is the same for up to four hours. Our past performances have included folk festivals, weddings, special birthdays and social events for clubs, student unions and many other gatherings. Our callers/MC’s are carefully chosen, highly experienced and entertaining. They’ll keep you on your toes, walk you through each dance before the music starts and call the steps whilst in full flow. You can’t go wrong!!!

The Riot Band

5 out of 5

8 verified reviews

Satisfaction

5.0

Professionalism

5.0

Communication

4.9

Punctuality

5.0

The Riot Band's Reviews

5 out of 5

The band were excellent. Great musicians, great caller. Very professional and obviously know their stuff so they're able to be flexible. Good selection of music and dances. And they seemed to be enjoying themselves too, which makes a difference! Everybody had a blast. Would absolutely recommend.

5 out of 5

The Riot Band played at our wedding and wow what a wonderful evening we all had! The music was fantastic and the caller was great. We had some guests who had never heard of a ceilidh before and they made sure that everything was very easy to follow. All of our guests commented on how much fun they had and how great the band and their music was. I would definitely recommend booking The Riot Band to anyone who is considering having a ceilidh for their celebrations. Thank you very much for an amazing evening.

Reply from The Riot Band

1 year ago

Hello Katie, many thanks for this review, I will forward it to the rest of the band. Best Wishes, Bob.

5 out of 5

I had the pleasure of having the Riot band perform at our wedding and it was a fantastic experience. They were punctual and engaging right from the start. The Ceilidh dance was something new for many of our guests, but they made sure everyone felt included and comfortable. One thing I particularly appreciated about the band was their choice of the first round of dance. It allowed us to dance with all of our guests in a fun and interactive way. The band was also very considerate of the hot weather and gave plenty of breaks for everyone to cool down and rehydrate. Overall, I highly recommend this Ceilidh band for any occasion. They are skilled musicians who know how to create a lively and enjoyable atmosphere, and they were one of the highlights of our wedding day.

Reply from The Riot Band

1 year ago

Hello Karen, many thanks for this review, I will forward it to the rest of the band, I'm sure they'll appreciate it. Thanks again, Bob.

5 out of 5

Couldn't have been better! The caller, who was in addition to,the 4 piece band explained everything very clearly for the newbies but also briefly so we could get on with the dance. They were happy to 'fall in' with exactly what we wanted and chose dances appropriate to our age and skill levels. Really good

Reply from The Riot Band

1 year ago

Hello John, thanks for the review, I will forward it to the rest of the reprobates. Best Wishes, Bob.

Read all 8 reviews

Just a note to thank you and the band for providing us with great music and instructions on Saturday. Your caller did a fantastic job in guiding us novices through the dances, for many of our guests this was their first experience of Ceilidh dancing, so it must have been like herding cats!! Thanks again to you all, I would not hesitate to recommend The Riot Band to anyone.

I just want to thank you and the band for a fantastic evening at Bury Parish Church, everyone had a really good time the music was excellent as was the calling. We received so many compliments and requests for your contact details, which we willingly passed on Please give our thanks to the rest of the band.

Read all 4 reviews

Encore badges

10 gigs

Experienced: 10 bookings through Encore

Saved the day!

Booked for an Encore gig with less than 24 hours’ notice

2nd Anniversary

This act has been working with Encore for over 2 years

The Riot Band's Song list

Keswick Lasses.

Ashokan Farwell.

The Alewife

.The French Taptoo

Banish Misfortune

Henry McDermott

Lord Inchquin

Michael Turner's Waltz

Margaret's Waltz

Pretty Maggie

The dead Cow etc etc etc

The Riot Band's Prices

Note: prices may vary based on travel distance. For an exact quote, click “Check availability”.

Performance duration	Price
Up to 1 hour	£750
Up to 2 hours	£750
Up to 3 hours	£750

Musicianship

Genres:

Ceilidh, Traditional Scottish folk, Folk, Folk rock

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Types:

Ceilidh band, Folk band, Celtic folk band

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Event types:

Wedding, Corporate event, Private event, Bar / Club / Venue event, Hotel / Restaurant event, Funeral / Memorial service, Church service, Charity event, Concert, Theatre / Show, Cruise, Burns night, Birthday party, Christmas party, New Year's Eve, Recording session, Wedding proposal

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