If you think that physically signing and setting up a concert with a world famous name is a coup, try transporting Liverpool’s biggest band a few thousand miles for a single gig.

That’s 75 players plus 20 tons of instruments.

The Liverpool Philhar-monic is one of the giants of the city’s cultural exports.

When the orchestra went to Malta last week, wrote Joe Riley in the Liverpool Echo, only the harp could not be fitted on to the plane. A replacement was hired on site.

There have been many films made about what happens when an orchestra relocates. Musicians aren’t like sedate bank managers. Being artists from infancy (school, college, orchestra), many retain the characteristics of naughty school kids.

They like to party. It was suggested by one senior string player as they flew over Sardinia that the plane landed to take on more tonic for the gins. There’s tuning up, and there’s warming up.

Once landed, in 35-degree heat, the true spirit of adventure emerged. Golf or a dip in the hotel pool were the most popular options.

But two violinists capsized in a boat and a bass player nearly drowned before promptly arranging to go climbing 500-metre high cliffs.

The apres-concert was also marked by a mass march to a good watering hole.