The "Christmas in Fall River" concert, held on December 4, 2021, was a festive community event sponsored by Bristol County Savings Bank. Mayor Coogan welcomed attendees, reminding them to keep masks on due to COVID-19 concerns. Dennis Leahy, CFO of Bristol County Savings Bank, highlighted the bank's 175th anniversary and its charitable foundation's 25th anniversary, noting over $26 million in community contributions. The concert featured three musical acts: the Durfee Chorus, the Brown University a cappella group The Jabberwocks, and the headlining act, Sons of Serendip. Sons of Serendip, known from America's Got Talent, performed a variety of Christmas songs including "Let It Snow," "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas," "This Christmas," "The Christmas Song," "Mary Did You Know," their original "Miss You Most," "The First Noel," "O Holy Night," and Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah." Lead vocalist Micah Christian shared personal ties to Fall River, including his wife's grandmother attending Durfee High School, and introduced family members and his former chorus teacher present. Harpist Mason Morton offered a reflection on balancing holiday grief with gratitude. The event concluded with thanks to sponsors, city departments, and the audience, with Sons of Serendip expressing hope to continue the tradition.
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well this has been a big christmas day in fall river and we really appreciate you all coming out tonight you're going to see something very very special and you know we hope you enjoy it some people i guess might have got nervous from covid and uh decided not to use their tickets but we'll find a way to fix that in the future but i don't blame them so we're asking you to keep
0:29your masks on and work with us on this we have three um three little acts playing tonight the durfee chorus will open the show up with a couple of songs and then uh an acapella group from brown and then a short intermission and the sons of serendip but none of this would be possible without the bristol county savings bank who was kind enough to sponsor the show and i'm going to bring up right now a
0:52good friend to the city of fall river the chief financial officer for bristol county savings dennis leary to say a few words dennis leahy thank you mayor coogan good evening good evening everybody on behalf of bristol county savings bank i want to welcome you all to this fantastic christmas and fall river concert we are so proud to support this community event and we are especially excited to be together in
1:23person to be able to see a lot of familiar faces here again bristol county savings bank has another reason to celebrate this year our 175th anniversary since our founding in 1846 we have worked hard to actively be involved in our community and we take this community this commitment very seriously whether it's financial support like we are providing this evening at this concert tonight
1:47or uh or working uh in person in the community uh with our volunteer hours of our employees we truly strive to make our communities to be a better place to live and work i'd especially like to thank our employees who are here this is at this evening's concert including senior vice president of residential lending nelson braga and vice president head of small business lending and government partnerships joan medeiros
2:12thank you guys bristol county savings bank support of christmas and fall river is just one example of how we've successfully partnered with the city and the greater fall river community this also happens to be the 25th anniversary of the bristol county savings charitable foundation since its founding contributions to all the communities that we serve including the city of fall river have exceeded 26 million dollars
2:42but more importantly the foundation has helped assist literally hundreds of different not-for-profit community organizations and impacted hundreds of thousands of individuals throughout the community again something we take very seriously we're very proud of again thank you so much for allowing us to be part of this event and we hope that you will enjoy tonight's performance by the sons of serendip and
3:03jabra walks on behalf of the employees of bristol county savings bank from our family to yours we wish you all a safe and happy holiday season and enjoy the show thank you okay we do have to do a couple of quick thank yous the city of fall river the farva school department and the people that worked all day headed by gary bigelow and his crew to make sure that tonight's show is top shelf
3:32but right now i'm gonna we're gonna open this show up with something very very special i want to introduce and hope you give them a warm welcome the durfee chorus
4:16um
4:38again
4:53this very minute
5:03it hasn't snowed a single flirty santa
5:22on
5:47is pull up the holly put up the tinsel before my spirit falls again fill up the stocking slice up the fruitcake
6:49now
7:21this is what it's all about the fire is warm the angels are a singing thing don't wanna put an end to all this cheer but as long as you're with me it's always a time of the year you make every day feel like it's christmas never want to stop feeling like the first thing on your wish list right up at the top i can't deny what i'm feeling inside nothing fake about
8:00the way you bring me to life you make every day feel like it's christmas every day that i'm with you look at the lights twinkling bright 24 7.
8:17every inch of central park is covered in white this could be heaven and i don't want to miss a single thing don't wanna put an end to all this cheer but as long as you're with me it's always the time of the year you make every day feel like it's christmas never want to stop feeling like the first thing on your wish list right about the top i can't deny what i'm feeling inside nothing think about
8:56the way you bring me to life you make every day feel like it's christmas every day that i'm with you every day that i'm with you you make every day feel like it's christmas never want to stop feeling like the first thing on your wish list right up at the top i can't deny what i'm feeling inside not to you make every day feel like it's christmas every day that i'm with you every day
9:57i can't deny what i'm feeling inside no matter the reason no matter the season my heart will keep getting a better belief you make every day feel like it's christmas every day that i'm with you oh every day that i'm with you oh everyday that i'm with you
11:02and now ladies and gentlemen let's give a warm welcome to our brown university students a cappella group the jabberwax
12:14do
12:27listen to my story every word is true i'll tell you how it comes together it was faith it was great we didn't hesitate we were all words of a feather until we started something party started jumping jump into the joyful noise where we come from we were born to run born to run like nylons me and the watch me and the wives
13:29beneath the skies
13:39me
13:55now i come from carolina and i land away with a suitcase full of rhythm and blues you know i love you baby but i just can't stay cause i got all my traveling shoes well i'm gonna do it now try my best to settle down but i never could endure straight and simple life never did seem right that's why i'm here tonight
14:52all i want to do me
15:12oh
15:38thank you all hello hello we are the jabberwocks of brown university we're so excited to be with you tonight here in this beautiful new space thank you all for having us we're so excited to celebrate the holidays with you all we have a few songs to share with you and we hope you enjoy thanks again
16:20dawn we
16:33you'll be for us
16:47la
17:12heedless of the wind you
17:44oh
18:26that
18:34is
18:59um
19:28oh
19:52yes
20:19to
21:16man
21:35um
21:44um
21:58ah
22:21i can't stop the rain when the shore i'll is by your side and when the storms arise i will shelter you and when your sky is grey i will give you blue i can't move i'm just a man
23:33but i'll do what i
23:45i will give you blue
24:02but i will wipe and make it disappear and when your skies break
24:53i will give you is
25:27huh
25:50tell me
26:00oh
26:32is peace
27:22peace
28:00you know it's not too late oh it gets me on the playground i'll ask for that to lay down and assess what i'd seen
29:24i'm is
29:53was
30:33space and time so
30:48and i saw an angel come down onto me and in her hand she had the very keys speaking words of compassion words of peace and in the distance i see an army's marching feet but behold
31:10and we lay down on the sand of the sea but forest animosity will stand and decree that we speaking out of love only last for me and in the distance six others will curse me but that's all right for i will watch them fall
31:42no one in the whole universe will ever come back
32:20we will still be here sings a song sing it while we
32:50watch them
33:09i
33:36oh
34:04to at your feet
34:25to you
35:00is how shall i win back your heart which was mine i have broken walls
35:23i'll run
35:51i will break down a thousand angels stand waiting for me
36:18to set me free
36:30oh
36:54to you
37:24thank you all so much for joining us it's been a pleasure singing with you all if you're liking what you hear you can follow us on instagram at the jabberwocks thank you so much again for having us happy holidays we have one last song to sing for you and we hope you enjoy thank you
37:53huh
38:09angels we have heard on high sweetly singing or the plains and the mountains in reply echoing their joyous strains
38:44echoing they're brave
39:23is
39:44is
39:57come to bethlehem and see it whose birth the angels sing come adore unbended me christ the lord
40:31is
40:45is
41:05on angels angels we have heard
41:50all right again we want to thank everybody for coming out tonight um after the performance by the sons of serendip right in the lobby out there they'll be selling cd cds and mementos if you want to see their little booth you'll see it on the way out we can't thank everyone for coming enough uh coming tonight it's a great opportunity to see our new auditorium at turf here's some different acts but the
42:12next act is like a regular performance in fall river now we can't thank them enough for coming back and i'm sure everybody is going to really enjoy the show let's put our hands together and give a warm welcome to the sons of serendip thank you
44:34hmm
44:44do
45:46oh
46:03so
46:44oh the weather outside is frightful but the fire is so delightful and since we've no place to go let it snow let it snow let it snow it doesn't show signs of stopping and i've won some corn
47:31let it snow and let it snow let it snow
47:44when we finally kiss good night how i'll hate going out in the storm but if you really hold me tight all the way home i'll be
48:17but as long as you love me so let it snow let it snow let it snow
49:41oh
49:52but as long as you love me so let it snow let it snow let it snow let it snow let it snow let it snow
51:22thank you thank you all so much we are sons of serendip finalists on season nine of america's got talent and contestants on the first season of america's got talent the champions and i have a question for you all are you guys ready to rock we all came to the wrong show i don't know why you're ready to rock but it's all right it's all right we have some music for you some beautiful
51:49music for you guys um and we're really grateful for every opportunity this is our third time performing in fall river and this is becoming a tradition so we're hoping that this tradition can continue for years to come and yeah so we're grateful to uh mayor coogan and the the city of fall river for having us here tonight and uh thank you also to the durfee high school select chorus as
52:20well as the jabberwocks for opening this night up beautifully thank you and um yeah fall river is a very special place for us not only is it you know becoming a tradition that we come here and um and celebrate the holidays with you all but as many of you know uh my family on my wife's side is from fall river my grandmother on my wife's side was born and raised in fall river went to
52:54durfee high school and and so i'm really grateful for every chance that um we get to perform here and so every time that i come here i always meet new cousins i think that's better than meeting new siblings but still i meet new cousins and it's always wonderful hey cousin awesome yeah and my grandmother's here as well as my parents are also here my mom and my dad they're here
53:25my dad and i look a lot alike but he's not me so yes people have confused us and he's taken full advantage of that um but anyways so another person that's here that's very special is my chorus teacher from middle school all the way through high school mrs danino who also got me started in singing she's here as well i don't know exactly where she is but i'm grateful that she's here
53:56my mother-in-law and father-in-law are here my um best friend from elementary school is also here um what's your name sir jeremy's here so let's just give it up forever for you guys all just showing up tonight thank you um one thing that that we like to do uh well a couple of things during the holiday season we put up a tree at the front of the auditorium during our concerts and as many of you
54:31saw i put up an ornament in memory of someone or for someone that i miss or which was here with me this holiday season i'm not we would invite you all if at any point during the concert that you want to put up an ornament in memory of someone or for someone that you wish were here during this holiday season feel free um at any point so and one other thing that we
54:53would love for you to do is just take a look at the people around you and tell the people around you that it is so good to see you here tonight
55:15perfect because every moment that we have to share with one another is a gift and we don't take that for granted are you guys ready are you ready awesome this next song is one of my personal favorites have yourself a merry little christmas
56:02have yourself a merry little christmas let your heart from now on our troubles
56:36have yourself a merry little christmas
56:56trouble away
57:10here we are as in olden days happy golden days of yours faithful friends who are dear to us gather near to us once more through the years we all will be together
58:06up
58:21a merry little christmas now
58:54so
59:09someday soon we all will be together if the faith's allowed but till then we'll have to
59:41so have yourself a merry little christmas now
1:00:00yourself a merry little christmas now
1:00:29thank you
1:00:39oh yeah yeah
1:00:54hang all the mistletoe i wanna get to know you better this christmas and as we trim the tree how much fun it's gonna be together this christmas will be a very special christmas for me oh this christmas will be a very special christmas for me presence and cards are here my world is filled with cheering you this christmas and as i look around your eyes don't shine the town they do
1:02:09this christmas fireside's blazing bright and we're caroline through the night and this christmas will be a very special christmas for me oh this christmas will be a very special christmas for me oh yeah yeah all this christmas will be a very special christmas for me oh this christmas will be a very special christmas for me all this christmas
1:03:27all right i'm gonna tell you a little bit about the group first off our name sons of serenity we've been called every name in the book sons of serendo sons of honey dip sons of champagne sons of chardonnay somebody came up to us and he's like hey you guys are the sons of serengeti and we're like no we're not sir so i need to hear you guys sons of serendip oh a little louder sons of serendip
1:03:51there it is perfect we met at boston university while in graduate school after we graduated we went our separate ways we're doing different things with our lives and then came back together in 2014 and on a whim we auditioned for america's got talent and our lives completely changed i'm just going to introduce you to the different members of the group and just tell you just a little bit about what
1:04:11each member did before we came together as sons of serendip first off on the harp we have mason morton mason is originally from atlanta georgia he's been influenced by the music of ha no of not han zimmer of revell and the harpist and hopson pilot and mason has his masters in heart performance and before becoming a part of sons of serendip mason was a middle school teacher and he performed
1:04:41with orchestras let's give that for mason on the cello we have kendall ramseur kendall is originally from charlotte north carolina he has his masters in cello performance he's been influenced by the music of hans zimmer john williams yo-yo ma and before becoming a part of sons of serendip kendall was a solo performer and a teacher let's get over kindle on the keyboard we have cordero rodriguez
1:05:26cordero was also from charlotte north carolina these guys actually grew up on the same block and were good friends growing up and used to compete against each other in music and then reunited serendipitously at boston university cordero has a law degree he's been influenced by the music of han zimmer the composer yani and gospel music and before becoming a part of sons of serenade cordero was a lawyer let's get
1:05:49rid of cordero
1:05:56my name is micah christian i am from randolph massachusetts thank you i've been influenced by bobby mcferrin india re and karen carpenter and before becoming a part of sons of serendip i was an english teacher so as i mentioned in 2014 we sent in an audition tape on a whim and our lives completely changed we ended up placing fourth that season and since then we have been traveling all
1:06:29over the country performing for all kinds of wonderful audiences not as awesome as you guys but for all kinds of wonderful audiences and so every moment that we have to share the music that we love with audiences like you we don't take that for granted so thank you so much for having us here and thank each and every one of you for showing up thank you
1:07:35um
1:07:55um
1:08:36um
1:09:04hmm
1:09:23so
1:09:38oh me
1:10:35um
1:11:27so
1:12:13hey
1:12:26is
1:13:04i'll tell you a quick story about my mom since she's here why not um so i remember growing up my mom used to sing to us all the time and every morning we wake up to her beautiful voice singing good morning to you good morning to you we're all in our places with sunshining faces this is the way we start our new day every morning and i used to love hearing my mom sing that song
1:13:49every single morning and when we were in church she would get up there and just let out this angelic voice where people would just be lifted by her voice and it was almost like she had wings i thought my mom was an angel because of the way that she sang but that changed one night we were at a campground in maine and we were with some family friends and i
1:14:23was allowed to bring one of my best friends brandon and brandon was normally a good influence on me but that night it was a little different so my parents they're going to go out and hang out with with their friends that night and they're like guys we need you to stay home we need you to stay on the campsite all right i'm 12 years old at the time and we're like okay you had no problem mom
1:14:50and dad no problem about a half hour in brandon who's normally a good influence on me just puts this little question in my head do you wonder what they're doing right now so it's like yeah sure i i definitely do want to know what they're doing he's like let's go find out so we went searching for my parents and just we just wanted to see where they were we heard this loud ruckus coming from this lounge
1:15:21on the campsite so we're like oh it's got to be over there let's go check out no brandon said oh yeah it's got to be at that lounge i'm like no my mom wouldn't be over there with that ruckus as we get closer we hear next up ladonna christian and i was like oh my gosh what's about to happen so we run over to the lounge and we get up to the to the front of the
1:15:52door to the front door and there's a bouncer there and he's like sorry guys you have to be 18 and older you can't be or 21 older you can't be in here and we're like yeah but that was my mom that just got called like can i please just at least find out what's gonna go what's gonna happen and he's like oh your mom's about to sing and i was like yeah please
1:16:09can we just go see it and he's like yeah sure but only for this one song we get in there i'm in the back about six foot two twelve twelve-year-old anyways but i'm in the back and i see my mom up in the front with the mic and i'm like ah brandon what do you think she's gonna sing amazing grace how sweet the sound his eye is on the sparrow those are some of my personal favorites
1:16:40what i heard that night changed everything for me the music started
1:16:55and i was like what is this and she's moving her body and her hips and going across the stage singing her heart out by memory she didn't use those lyrics she sang her heart out by memory and i sat there like what is happening to my angel mother at the end of the song the audience loses it they just ah yeah yeah and i'm like in the back but she
1:17:24and i as they're standing up she and i catch eyes my mouth dropped her mouth dropped and i don't remember much else after that but obviously i survived and i saved that moment for the next time that i got grounded micah you're grounded oh mom do i need to tell pastor about gichi gichi yaya dada and i survived that night too but it was horrible absolutely horrible but i'm really glad that she's here
1:18:01in this next song
1:18:09so i got confused the next song i thought was about to be about mary about baby jesus's mother but it's not so whatever this next song is is the christmas song hope you enjoy it
1:18:45ah
1:18:55chestnuts roasting on an open fire jack frost nipping at your
1:19:20folks dressed up like eskimos everybody knows a turkey and some mistletoe help to make the season bright tiny tots tonight you know that's he's loaded lots of toys and goodies on his every mother's child is gonna spy to see you for reindeer really know how to fly and so i'm offering this simple phrase two kids from one to ninety-two although it's been said many times in many ways you know that's on his way
1:21:28he's loaded lots of toys and goodies on his legs
1:21:47really know how
1:22:0692 although it's been said many times many ways merry christmas christmas merry christmas to
1:22:39hearts
1:22:54thank you this next song is mary did you know and it's going to be released um in a week so be on the lookout
1:23:20kendall can you do that on your own time oh stop it
1:23:42mary did you know that your baby boy one day walk on water mary did you know that your baby boy would save our sons and daughters did you know that your baby boy has come to make you new this child that you delivered will soon deliver you mary did you know
1:24:39your baby boy with his hand did you know that your baby boy has walked with angel's trunk asleep is
1:25:24the blind will see the death will hear the dead will live again the lame will lead will speak praises of the land
1:26:02did you know that your baby boy was lord of all creation mary did you know that your baby boy would one day rule the nations did you know that your baby boy is heaven's perfect lamb sleeping child is
1:27:03thank you thank you this next song um there's an interesting story or reflection that mason's going to share with you
1:27:20oh good evening ladies and gentlemen y'all having a good time ah you can do better than that you're having a good time right there we go well listen it's that holiday season once again and for some of us that means lots of presents family food and gifts and that's what it meant for me too for quite some time but starting about my late teen years throughout the majority of my 20s i actually began to dread christmas
1:27:54after losing my mom grandparents and an aunt i naturally began to associate christmas with more sorrow than joy a little bit more pain than glee and to be completely honest i felt completely dead inside instead of alive but as i reached that wise old age of 30 i learned that there is a time to be sad and then there's a time to heal no i'm not saying that we shouldn't miss or grieve our loved ones but
1:28:38ruminating over loss will never bring them back and it only causes us to lose time with our loved ones that are here and with friends we haven't even met yet so one thing i started doing to balance my feelings of loss with gaining the courage to try new things and gain new perspectives is to listen to a song from the past that reminds me of good times with my family then i come back to the present
1:29:08where i aim to be mindful of it to enjoy it and to most importantly find things to be grateful for and now we invite each of you to try that now if you would please with us as we perform for you and sos christmas original miss you most thank you
1:30:16all this talk about a reindeer the anticipation of snow but all i want for christmas is for you to be
1:30:47i closed this year is for you to be near i miss you most you most at christmastime christmas trees the light shine bright season's greetings but i can't seem to get in line with the holiday cheer at christmas time cause all i want this year is for you to be near i miss miss you most at christmas time foreign i wish you were here i wish you i wish christmas time
1:33:56ah ah
1:34:20oh
1:35:09the first now the angels did say was to certain porsche birds in fields as they lay in fields where they lay keeping their sheep on a cold winter's night that was
1:36:03is shining in
1:37:04these it gave great light and so it continued
1:37:27know is
1:38:26oh
1:38:38is
1:39:09is the
1:39:38thank you thank you all so much um so we have one more song left for you but we wanted to thank you say thank you again um to mayor coogan and the city of fall river for having us here tonight thank you to the sound engineers the lighting crew to everyone that helped to create this beautiful set thank you thank you to durfee high school for hosting this and um just
1:40:05thank you every last one of you for showing up thank you we're on social media we're on facebook on twitter on instagram if you're interested in following our journey you can follow us there and you know just so that we know that you all made it home safely as soon as you get on as soon as you get home just go on facebook and make sure that the post is public and just say
1:40:37i made it home safely will you do that for us awesome um and as i mentioned before we have uh a single that's coming out next week married at you know so we would love for you all to check that out and we have albums we've recorded four albums our latest is mosaic which was released last year during the pandemic and and we also have a christmas album as well christmas beyond the lights we hope
1:41:07you'll check those out and yeah and we hope we we can make continue this tradition we would love to see you all again um this has been really really beautiful
1:41:26this last song is it is about hope and i'm just going to share a quick reflection on hope and then we're going to go into the last song hope hope is like lighting a candle on a dark road it won't show you what lies too far ahead but it casts just enough light for you to see your way out of the present darkness what's beautiful about this image is that when two or more come together
1:41:59holding their candles of hope they dispel more of the darkness and they're able to see further ahead and they become beacons for others to find their way have hope
1:42:40my oh holy night the stars are brightly shining it is lay the world in sin and a thrill of
1:43:33our new and glorious
1:43:46oh all night divine when christ was born divine
1:45:19surely he taught us to love one another his is love and his gospel is peace chain shall he break for the slaves shall cease sweet hymns of joy in grateful
1:46:11his chorus name christ is the lord let us we know nowhere
1:46:44when christ was born
1:47:04says when christ was born nowhere nowhere
1:47:36night or night all night hmm ah
1:49:20oh
1:49:34oh
1:50:07thank you you guys want one more song all right we'll do one more wonderful thank you thank you so much paul river thank you thank you thank you um oh yes this is a great start to our holiday tour and we're just so grateful for this opportunity to be with you all we also want to say thank you to the bristol county bank for host for sponsoring tonight so
1:50:49and this last song is going to be leonard cohen's hallelujah and we would love for you all to sing along during the chorus thank you again for being a beautiful audience and we hope we see you again in the future thank you
1:51:29i heard there was a secret god david played and it pleased the lord but you don't really care for music do it goes like this
1:52:02baffled king composing holloway hallelujah hallelujah hallelujah
1:52:41baby i've been here before i know this room i've walked this far used to live alone before i knew
1:53:06love is not a victory much
1:53:20hallelujah
1:53:48maybe there's a god above was how to shoot
1:54:07it's somebody a cry you can hear at night it's not somebody who's seen hallelujah
1:54:52i did my best it wasn't much i couldn't feel it so i tried to touch i told the truth
1:55:16stand before the lord
1:55:39hallelujah hallelujah hallelujah
1:56:53team merry christmas happy holidays love you guys
1:57:16you