Proms Lite

I just returned from quite an interesting concert.

By way of explanation: the BBC Proms is a series of concerts given every summer, primarily in London. They are generally intended to bring classical music to a wider audience. As such the performances are more informal than your typical concert, and (as seems to be a recurring pattern in this country) a number of odd traditions are involved.

One of the Oxford student orchestras decided to hold their own smaller version of the Last Night of the Proms. This turned out to include:

• mostly British music (Elgar, Vaughan Williams, etc.)
  
• a corresponding display of patriotism, something that I really haven't seen here before; most of the musicians wore something with a Union Jack on it (including a few bowties and one cummerbund), and most people in the audience were waving flags
  
• silliness in the orchestra; the conductor took a break for tea during one rather long clarinet solo
  
• audience participation: singing along, stomping, clapping, blowing noisemakers, and the previously mentioned flag-waving

This all made for a hilariously fun evening, which only improved when we got to sing "God Save the Queen." You quite possibly know the first verse:

God save our gracious Queen,
Long live our noble Queen,
God save the Queen;
Send her victorious,
Happy and glorious,
Long to reign over us;
God save the Queen.

However, you are less likely to have heard the second verse, which is:

O Lord, our God, arise,
Scatter thine enemies,
And make them fall;
Confound their politics,
Frustrate their knavish tricks,
On thee our hopes we fix;
God save us all.