Orchestral manoeuvres

Grrrr. Email this morning:

Firstly just to say thank you to everyone who came to the last rehearsal. We really made some fantastic progress and I think that we can all look forward to an excellent concert. However, there are very few rehearsals left - the concert is this week! So please make sure that you come to the rehearsal today (Monday 2nd June). There will also be a rehearsal this Thursday (5th June) and a rehearsal on the day of the concert (Saturday 7th June). It is essential that everyone attends these final few rehearsals.

Is this a different sort of "essential" from all the previous rehearsals, I wonder? Also, I think they must have been at a different "last rehearsal" from me; and/or perhaps they're going to a different concert. I mean, there probably are some excellent concerts coming up in Oxford.

Also, no, I can't do an extra mid-week rehearsal with three days' notice, but at least I have a cast-iron excuse.