Mrs Ackroyd's Band - Parkgate Folk Club 15/12/2005

There are some acts that come into a certain category that is probably politely labelled "Mediocre." I can't really describe just what it is, but this is another of those acts, perhaps along with Jez Lowe, who you read about here.

Mrs Ackroyd's Band is led by Les Barker - a "performance poet" who looks to me a little like Benny Hill got a bit old, sporting a rather dreadful cardigan that has a hint of being an old friend rather than a stage prop. Poor Les was full of cold, which probably didn't help much, and he seemed to be rather bent and insipid. All that aside, I have no doubt that Les has an acid wit that reveals itself in some of the excellent lyrics he produces, notably for me the bang up to date political satire that makes up his best work, eg "Tony Blair's Picnic" and he no doubt has his serious side too - he clearly has a good heart.

Les is accompanied by a band: Chris Harvey on a keyboard/synth that mostly sounds like a 1970's sci-fi movie soundtrack that also provides karioke style backing tracks. Alison Younger on vocals and Hillary Spencer also on vocals. I think I should just say that despite Les' writing talents, this band is just "not my cup of tea" and I was disappointed - having said that, most of the audience seemed to love it, many seemed familiar with the material too, confirming a long running affection for this act.

Not for me though, I'll be passing on this one in future.

John O'Connell - Eastham Ferry Tap - 13/12/2005

Now here's a bloke who just seems to love playing - once he gets going! John sat in his corner in the narrow confines of the Tap's bar, waiting until he was well and truly ready before launching into his more than competent set, and then with just pauses between numbers and an occasional quip, he played and he played and he played. In the end we had to tell him it was time to go home, and he still played 2 more!

I like John's style, he's got a great voice, fantastic guitar skills, uses his own amp and desk and has Jimmy play bass alongside him some of the time. His rendition of Marc Almond's "Say hello, wave goodbye" is extraordinary (spot the pun) and his fingerwork in his own version of "moondance" is just phenomenal

A good crowd turned out to hear him, and they were not disappointed. Catch him live if you can, his CD's of original material contain good songs, but the production is nothing like as good as the live act.

Robert Plant & The Strange Sensation - Wolverhampton Civic Hall 12/12/2005

"Welcome home!" Robert Plant's evocation from the stage on the first of 2 sold out dates in his home town was made with a wry smile on his face and a sparkle is his eye. After 96 dates in the last 12 months, this long tour was finally reaching its climatic end and the crowd sounded keen to celebrate.

We were ready! After the very real disappointment felt following WOMAD (see earlier), Gill and I really wanted this to be a good'un, so we were ready and eager when the support came on, hoping that they would get things going in fine style. The "Those Legendary Shack Shakers" came on, turned everything up to number 12, and then forced the knobs around to 13 launching into a fast, loud and virtually un-listen-able-to set that might be described as punk-rock-a-billy, with a great double-bass and drum rhythm section, a clearly talented guitarist with a nice looking white (Gretsch?) instrument, they could have been fantastic, but the distortion caused by the volume made it a chore and the act's aggressive and provocative gesturing alienated themselves even more. It was a relief once they had finished and we will leave it at that.

Maybe there was a silver lining though, because any lingering blockages in the ears had now been well and truely disintegrated and after a seemingly interminable wait, the joss sticks finally arrived on-stage and the Strange Sensation led Robert onto the stage and into "Freedom Fries." At last, we felt, there was life in this band after all - the worries of WOMAD were shook off and we were treated to a real concert - one in which we could hear the separate instruments and appreciate the superb music that the band were making. The crowd too seemed to be enjoying it - Early on a fan roared out between songs: "We love you Robert!" earning himself the slightly coy response: "I love me too...!"

Some of the old stuff "still fits" said Robert, offering "Black Dog" from his previous life, and later "Going to California" more acoustically, but not without the ever present and most impressive electronics and keyboards from Portishead's John Baggot, and some nice mandolin from Justin Adams, who later produced some amazing sound from a gimbri - a kind of African Lute. Still in semi-acoustic mode, we got "Another Tribe" with its Eastern keyboard washes and driving rhythm. Skin Tyson is the Sensation's
lead guitar - a master of his art he wrung the neck of his instruments at times, shaking the last decibel of feedback out, or flicking the thing at his amps to produce a surge.

"The Mighty Re-Arranger" album ("we've been nominated for 2 GRAMMY Awards, maybe the 'Express and Star' will get round to an article about it eventually") naturally featured heavily, with "Shine it all Around" and "Tin Play Alley" - a song which lopes along quietly then suddenly bursts out with an energy-laden explosion not unlike Led Zep might have done long ago, "The Enchanter", "Let the 4 winds Blow", "Takamba" and the title track. I'm impressed, listening now to the album, how well they managed to transfer the complex sound from the studio into the live environment, no mean feat, but helped along by the high calibre musicians Plant has chosen to play with him. They band seem to be able to handle both the old and the new, switching from the new album to go back to the 1970's again to play a tribute to "the song that all the psychedelic bands covered back then" - "Hey Joe" which was on Plant's previous "Dreamland" album. How does all this work? Well Alexis Petridis summed it up very well in his Guardian review of the "Mighty Re-arranger" album: "none of it sounds like pastiche, possibly because these nods to the past are surrounded by music that fixes its gaze firmly forward."

They wrapped the night up with a quiet boogie doodle which I suddenly remembered from the previous gig would lead into "Whole Lotta Love" and when it came, the whole audience roared with appreciation and the place rocked out to a rip-snorting version of this Zeppelin standard that was just magic, lead and driven by Clive Deamer's impeccable drumming which had been present throughout the night.

So Plant's homecoming was a great success - and for Robert there was a great line during the usual call and response stuff - winding the crowd up he shouted out- "Come on you lot - I've come a long way for this!" So had we – so glad we made the trip.

Neither the Old Rope String Band, nor the Doghouse Skiffle Band - The New Vic Theatre, Newcastle-under-Lyme - 16/12/2005

It was the night for being late - the Doghouse, as were to discover later, were late for the afternoon rehearsal, Mrs something-or-other who had met up with them, managed to miss the first 10 minutes - and Gill & I managed to miss - well, the whole set! I have to put my hand up here and admit that setting off down the wrong road didn't help, but it was always going to be close, but I reckoned we would see the second half of the DHS set. I had phoned the Theatre in advance and was told that there was only the DHS playing, so it was a real shock to discover that once we finally managed to gain entry, Garry was just coming from back-stage to flog their CDs - and they were done for the night. Woe, woe and thrice woe! We retired hurt and sought solace in a cup of coffee before seeking out the band in the foyer and trying to decide what to do. Thank goodness we did! We were soon to discover that, as suspected, the Old Rope String Band would not be appearing, but that tonight was the WORLD PREMIER of the New Rope String Band! The Doghouse were keen to see them, so we sorted out a ticket and were led to a pair of box seats in the rather cosy New Vic Theatre.

In case this is all new to you, the Old Rope String Band was devastated when Joe Skurfield was killed by a drunk-driver earlier in the year, leaving the remaining members, Pete and Tim to ponder on how best to proceed. We witnessed one of their moving tributes to Joe at the Bridgnorth Folk Festival in the summer, and there they announced that they would be seeking to move on in some form or other. We had, as I mentioned checked with the theatre because there was no mention of tonight's gig on the band's website, hence the expectation of a long DHS set - but enough rambling, what of the performance????

We were still in a bit of a confused state when we sat down, and when we did, the 4 members of the NRSB were just getting going - Pete and Tim have recruited Vera and Jock to bolster the line up, and they were quickly into their stride with their new act. Its pretty much more of the same thing, but with new options, new songs, new moves and perhaps even new jokes. It would be harsh to judge them against the Old Rope String Band - the dynamic is different without Joe Scurfield, so the comparison is hardly fair, although it might be true to say that it needs at least 2 people to take his place, and talking to Pete Challoner later, we learnt of many "dark moments" in rehearsals and of their sense of relief at finally getting their act together and out into the world again.

Their work has certainly been worthwhile. The audience was in pleats, there was slapstick, pathos, a great new angle on the old "lets-play-the-accordion-standing-on-my-head-upside-down-in-a-fishtank-full-of-water" routine, some fantastic knot dances and one standout routine which involved a game of musical catch in which Tim gets to play piggy in the middle while the other 3 hurl an invisible musical note around using their violins like tennis rackets - brilliantly timed and very funny. Its good family entertainment too - no strong language and only one lavatorial moment which is so funny nobody would mind. The music is folk - violin, guitar mandolin from the new Dutch recruit - Vera, accordion and, er, horns - no not that kind, rubber bulbed horns from old cars - you'll just have to go see them to find out.

The New Rope String Band are setting out on a brave venture. It will be a hard to leave Joe behind, but even though they are keeping to the tried and trusted format, these 4 will succeed in building on the Old and create a New act in their own way - a way which is professional, well timed, well executed and lots of fun. I wish them well.

Fiddlestone - Great Sutton Scout Hut - 19/12/2005

I'm not going to say too much about this one because it felt more like a gathering of friends than a concert. Fiddlestone play each year to raise funds for the local Scouts, not least because most of them were Scouts and the band first met at this hut. They played a full set of favourites and Mal sang a couple at the start of the second half, although "Crying in the Rain" was a very late change and wasn't really suited to Mal's voice.This as a shame because Mal adds a certain something to Fidddlestone that they don't have without him. There were a couple of other late changes to the running order that also seemed to temporarily jar an otherwise smooth evening. Fiddlestone on form are really good, a joy to listen to - and thats precisely how most of it was. I want to make particular mention of "Deep in the Darkest Night" where the accordian and melodian are used together to provide a very nice sound, and to Fiddlestone's fine close harmonies which are an integral part of the band's performances.

John Dowling - Bromborough Folk Club - 14/12/2005

A banjo player extraordinaire! John is a world champion, having taken on the best of America and beat them hands down in a blind competition, he was playing for us in order to "raise a few bob" so he can go back and defend his title in 2006. He deserves the accolade too, his playing sounds so unlike that of any ordinary banjo player, his instrument sings to his touch - he played carols and christmas songs, demonstrated traditional playing techniques and them brought on local legend Russ Williams (slap-bass) and Jimmy? on guitar and they became foot-stompin' good old boys for a few numbers, including the over-played Duelling Banjos, but this one featured the Eastenders Theme... Its hard to see how John could be successful in the pop music sense, but he should go far and wide with his playing, and it has been an absolute pleasure to see him play.

The John Wright Band at Parkgate Folk Club - 24/11/2005

John Wright? What's he like then? "Well, he used to be a shepherd..." was the only answer I got whenever I asked, so it was some relief to learn that John Wright is now a professional musician and boy can he sing!

This, by the way marks the return to "almost on time" blogging - I hope to go back and fill in the gaps, but I will now try and report just after the event rather than trying to cram in 4 festivals before I go any further! So look out for Fiddlestone on Sunday if all goes to plan.

Eddie warmed us all up with his own wonderful brand of enthusiasm, fun and songs, managing to get through them all without cracking up this month!

The John Wright Band then are John on vocals, local hero Joe Topping on guitar and vocals, Joe Wright on guitar, violin and vocals, and for a limited time only, Chris Parkinson on accordion, harmonica and percussion. John is a big bloke and his (new - from George - Asda) dark suit and black t-shirt set him off well, his slightly long hair and silver hoop earring adding to the image, which, every now and then, reminded me of Tindersticks' Stuart Staples, especially when he cradled a glass in his hands.

We were treated to a set of 14 songs from 14 different song writers - John interprets others' songs rather than writing his own, and every one was performed with a real spirit of feeling. Opening with "Past the point of rescue" by Mick Hanly, John made good use of his expressive face and mannerisms, making lots of eye-contact with the sell-out audience, and continued in this manner for the whole night, drawing us in to his songs with his eyes and his hands.

Continuing with Dave Mallett's "You say the battle is over" the band switched from guitar and fiddle to two guitar mode, giving a rich sound with some very skilful interplays. John describes this song as saying things "the way I feel" made his point but let the song do most of the talking.

Next up was "Time to Learn" from Tim O'Brien and Pat Alger with some lovely washes from Chris' accordian with some great guitar work over. At the end of this song there was just the briefest of a flicker of pain on John's face before his almost ever-present smile returned, a small chink in the mask revealing some of the real man behind? "Close to the edge" by Alan Taylor provided some close vocal harmonies, followed by Pete Abbott's "Windy Harbour" and then Dougie Maclean's devestatingly heartfelt song "Down too deep" closed the first half with Joe Wright providing sparkling violin passage for the bridge.

The second half was to have a "Scottish Lilt" and started with "The Old Boys" from Runrig's Rory and Calum MacDonald with very fine vocal harmonies, a very tight band this, well used to the material, but never seemingly bored of it, "Come By" from Steve Knightly revealed a whiff of Peter Gabriel in John's voice as he sang this song that he inspired from Steve, complete with authentic commands to the shepherd's dog. Don Henley and Bruce Hornsby's "The end of innocence" woke us all up as the band moved up a notch, the 2 Joe's being allowed a couple of solo lines each on vocals - John's obviously not about to let anybody steal his show!

More close harmonies on "Eldorado" by Graham Miles (no web site?) reminded me how clear John's diction is, and his voice is so powerful when he opens it up, rising on his toes towards the mike, adding a couple of extra inches to his already impressive hight. Robin Laine's "Black Clothes" closed the set with John sidling off to let the band play out to a climatic close, and we called them back to do one more - "Whatever goes around" by Chris Jones (no web site?) before we all went home happy and impressed.

"Would you come again?" John asked us afterwards? Too right we would!

Ewen Carruthers at Bromborough Folk Club

John at Bromborough has a habit of providing acts still new to me that delight me with their performances Ewen Carruthers was one of these - I had absolutely no prior knowledge of either him or his material other than that he was from the North East but had moved out to the States some years ago.

Ewen turned out to be older than I'd pre-conceived, but nonetheless impressive for all that - in fact his mellowed out songs had a ring of experience that made them a pleasure to listen to - the product of a man that had been around a bit, but who wasn't frightened to write about what he had found and how he felt about it.

Opening with "In the Course of Bassano" - a World War One song, he soon got diverted from his intended set and was persuaded to re-discover some of his older songs, "Traveler" for example. Ewen played his guitar (he only needed one) with a seemingly easy style that managed to hide the amount of picking that must of been going on, and I later heard that his right hand had been operated on to relieve some problems. This makes his sound even more impressive, because you just can't see how he does it, because his fingers seem to cover each other as he plays. He moved on to "Little White Fluffy Clouds" and the fab ""Little Bit of Me", completing the first half with "Was it You?", a song about Scott of the Antarctic.

Part 2 kicked off with "Old Dog Blues" which contained the line "I don't do fetch, somebody pass me that ball" but got a bit more serious with his "On the Mission", "One More Story" and "The Marriage" which cover the American Goldrush, his first grandchild and a black and white dream.

By the time he'd finished is was so dark that my notes are now unreadable, but he'd done more than enough to sell his CD and book his place in our list of names to watch out for - hope he comes back soon.

Who have I missed this year?

As November draws to a close and I get around to catching up on some of the gigs we have been to this year, I took to thinking about the ones that got away and the others that didn't even come by...

Liza Carthy and the Ratcatchers are near the top of the list, I love the "Rice" CD and they have been to so many festivals and played so many gigs, but not anywhere I've been! Not too worry, the next tour has just kicked off so there is still hope.

Steve Earle - got away when we decided not to go to Cheltenham for the new Wychwood Fesival.

Peter Gabriel - still havn't seen him play.

Queen with Freddie - never did, never will.

Missing Dougie Maclean playing Pertshire Amber at Pitlochrey was sad but we just couldn't get there....

E.S.T. at Brecon - well we were enjoying Cropredy...

No doubt there are more to add - hopes for next year?

Neil Young?
David Sylvian?

Keep music alive!

Bridgnorth Folk Festival 26-29 August 2005

Bridgnorth is one of our favourite English towns, so we were looking forward to this festival just for the venue, never mind the attractions of Eric Bibb and Bellowhead. (There - a whole sentence and no mention of the railway!)

Friday night we settled for whatever the main stage had to offer, namely The Badgers, The Witches of Elswick and then Derrin Nauendorf. Lets stop there - I don't think we saw The Badgers, the Witches were not memorable, but Derrin Nauendorf was the first of several acts that Bridgnorth put on and completely blew us away with the quality and intensity of their music. Derrin hails from Australia and he has developed a guitar technique that requires two pickups - one for the strings and one for the body/neck - and which, according to the program, takes the instrument to the very edge of the possible. Using the body precusively and the strings playing through what I assume are an assortment of effects boxes, Derrin produces a noise that is almost primeval - similar to a didgeridoo, but electronic, and involving a rather risky looking warping of the guitar neck. That woke up our listening appetite and we were ready for more...

I should add that all of this is being written without recourse to any notes, because I didn't make any, so if I remember things now, several months on, they have really stuck!

So bring on Bellowhead and round of the first night - Bellowhead are a much-hyped (by folk standards) big band, led by the energetic Spiers & Boden and featuring far too many other people. I was hoping for great things, but the we only got grey sound - there is just far, far too much going on with so many people playing, seemingly, several different styles at once, and the traditional English folk songs loose out to the cacophony coming from behind. Never mind, it wasn't bad, just not as good as I'd hoped, and as Mal has said, it is helping get some younger people involved.

So a mixed bag for the first day, but our heads were full of the possibilities that must exist - just think that somebody as good and as different as Derrin Nauendorf can almost pass you by, and reflect on how much other excellent music there must be "out there", just waiting to be found.

Day 2, Saturday and the enormity that is Bridgnorth is beginning to dawn on us. There is soooo much to choose from, and a lot of it is scattered across the town, never mind the site. We settled for trying to get to see The Wilsons - a famous North Eastern family unit who were singing in the "Bell and Talbot" - we were a little late and ende dup cramming into the semi-tropical conservatory at the back were we heard some of the act, but not much. We fared better with Joe Stead back in the school (the main site) where we perched on a table and enjoyed an illustrated voyage of song using sea shanties from Liverpool's sailing fleet of the 1860's: "Valparaiso Around the Horn" It was a lovely hot day and the room was hot and stuffy, but we were treated to an authoritive and sometimes moving account of life under sail, interspersed with songs from Joe's 2 companions. One of the highlights of this was the incredible story and song relating the loss of the Penlee Lifeboat near Lamorna Cove in Cornwall, a place we know and love, and hardly seems able to cause such sorrow.

The evening had only one decision - Eric Bibb or the Folk Train? Eric Bibb - no competition really - though we've seen Eric several times this year even, he is such a consumate performer that we decided to get in early and we queued for front row seats, bagging the very middle and settling down for a full programme.

Starting up tonight Imbongi -with Albert Nyathi - once seen, never forgotten, Imbongi are a Zimbabwean song and dance troupe, with expert assistance from their South African lead guitarist, their act laced with Zulu stories, dances and folksongs. I'm sure we've seen them before - probably at Africa Oye! and we did just what they ask of their audiences - just have fun.

From Imbongi's fun, fun, fun to one of the most moving occasions I've witnessed on stage - "The Old Rope String Band" paying tribute to their much missed Joe Scurfield. Surviving members Tim & Peter were joined by Joe's long term partner in music and life, Rianne from Holland, in a sometimes funny, sometimes heart wrenching celebration of a man they all clearly loved and missed in their own different ways. Most of the audience were familiar with the Band and it was very touching that there were so many present to honour Joe's memory. The highlight of the thing for Gill and I was the way that Pete and Tim retired to the back of the stage when "not in this bit" and picked up their knitting (to greater or lesser degrees of success!) - a common thread in our lives too. Joe is very much missed and it is doubly sad that such a bright star was extinguished by one thoughtless act.

Kieran Halpin kept his date with Bridgenorth despite the very recent birth of a son and was well received, but the memory has faded somewhat in amongst all this high emotion! I will definately look out for him in the future.

And so to the moment we had been waiting for - The Eric Bibb Band. Eric Bibb is one cool performer - he stands there with his trademark hat, baggies and a cool shirt, slings any one of several guitars over his head, never knocking his hat off in the process, and plays the blues in his own passionate way. We've seen Eric several times, but this was the first time I've seen him with a regular band and it was very effective indeed, featuring all our favourites -"For You", "In My Father's House","Right On Time". Particularly noteworthy was Eric's drummer who was gentle yet firm where it mattered! I have to confess that I can't seem to find any mention of the band out on the web, but if I do manage to find any, they will get the credit here! Gill was particularly delighted when Eric stood in front of us on the edge of the stage and looked down to see Gill clapping away to the beat: "I hear you clapping sister!" her said with a smile - but nothing like the one that was on Gill's face for the rest of the night!!! Eric feeds on audience reaction and he was certainly getting it at Bridgnorth, and we were rewarded with yet another magnificent performance . Later we managed to shake his hand through the fence before he rushed off.

Day 3, Sunday - We managed to miss most of our friends Brass Tacks playing in the Shakespeare Skittle Alley, and found it all a bit too cramped to stay for The Wilsons, so we set off for the High Street where a stage had been set up for some free gigs and witnessed another high energy set from Imbongi, and some of the Dhol Blasters who are an up and coming band of young people playing Asian precussion.

The rest of the afternoon was spent chewing finger nails while we listened to the climax of one of the Ashes Test's, England scraping victory at the close, much to the delight of the small crowd of fans that had gathered around our radio!

We started the evening with Cloudstreet - a rather sacherin (for me) duo from Australia, but followed by Kristina Olsen - a women like no other that stood there in her fantastic red shoes and blew us away with her songs, made us howl at her tales and brought us down again with her mellow "Darkened Rooms"- a major gem amongst a veritable collection of jewels. At the end, we bumbled out and bought one of Kristina's CD's and gained an unexpected but delightful personal message from our new favourite. I have since heard Bob Harris singing Kristina's praises too, and she deserves to be better known.

Across the site then to the main marquee and to one of the defining moments of the festival - arriving several songs into Gjallarhorn's set, we met a tide of folk leaving the marquee, a mixed blessing as it meant we could get right up to the front, and settled down to be enchanted by the most beguiling sound I have heard all year. Gjallarhorn are a Swedish/Finnish outfit consisting of 4 members playing music inpired by traditional Scandanavian music, but given a rather unique twist. Led by diminutive Jenny Wilhelms, whose voice seems to be far bigger than the vessel it appears to eminate from, the band relies heavily on Viola and Hardanger fiddles played by Jenny and Adrian Jones, backed by Petter Berndalen, percussion and this relatively ordinary lineup is twisted, supplemented and generally stranged-up by Göran Månsson playing what looks like a piece of 3x3 wood, but is in fact an extremely complex wind instrument with built in electronics, known as a sub contrabass recorder! The effect is stunning - we sat transfixed and soaked in this fantastic stuff, wondering at the vocal accrobatics that Jenny performs and delighting in the rythmn and drive. The traditional base is blended with Eastern and Western sounds, rythmns and scales, mixed with "Throat music" and, well you can tell how much we enjoyed it! Amazingly, the place was only one third full at the end, which was a real shame, we really couldn't understand why such good music was rejected by so many - all it needed was an open mind - no matter - we enjoyed it and hope to see much much more of them in the future.


Not listed in any programmes were the late night sessions around (in our case) candle-arberas - or camp fires - where folk played music as they always have done - in groups of friends, passing on new songs, remembering old ones and generally chilling out. So it was that we enjoyed 2 or 3 nights of these gatherings, and I was pleased to see that people wandering around the site came and sat in with us , then came back the following night. A great tradition.

Day 4, Monday - The weekend rounded off with an afternoon concert in the Marquee which included a further set from Kristina Olsen, different, but just as good, and as previously, using the duo Cloudstreet to bolster the sound on some songs.The very late news that Shooglenifty could not attend due to one of the members being stranded in Scandanavia led to an extended set by The Doonans whose mix of Irish jigs and polkas is intersperced with humour, including a pair panto style dames taking on the roles of Irish Dance tutors, and a further appearance from Kristina Olsen (hurrah!).

We finished our weekend sat in the sun with Katie and Graham, listening to steam trains in the nearby station and reflecting on an excelent weekend of music - next year the festival moves to Shrewsbury, a move I for one am not entirely happy with having just enjoyed such a fine time in one of my favourite English towns. Special mention to the Cinnamon Coffee and Meeting House whose terrace looks out over the river, and where we met several really nice people - the food is good too!

Cropredy Festival - 11th to 13th August 2005

For the last 30 or so years, fans of Fairport Convention have gathered in Cropredy to celebrate their love for the band and for music in general, meet up with old friends, drink a lot and generally have a jolly good time. And so it was this year with 20-odd thousand of us turning up to enjoy the festival. First time for Gill and I (as so much has been this year) and much to learn.

We had travelled down the night before, staying in the car park of a hostelry in Highley, between the railway and the river. It's a nice spot, but the pub seems to exist in a 1970's timewarp, with no customers except us, and a landlord who told us the same highwaymen story twice in the same evening.... a few customers did arrive eventually, but its hard to see how the place keeps going.

We met up with Fiddlestone at the RDV and travelled in convoy down the last few miles of motorway - our VW Caravanette on the back of a string of cars, before joining the long queue that led to the village and the campsite beyond. We quickly had the camp set up, Gill and I marveling at some of the enormous cathedrals that were errected around us, and we set off to have a look at the stage. On of Cropredy's great advantages, to my mind anyway, is that there is only one stage - thereby removing the great amount of stress caused when you have to decide between 2 (or more sometimes!) acts at every turn. Another plus point is the natural amphtheatre in which the stage is placed - and it really is too - the sound was fantastic no matter where you stood, all the way to the very back, which was also the very top....

Rather than detail everything that happened in chronological order, let me outline some of the many highlights of this supurb festival:

Firstly, the end - an amazing and emotional occasion not witnessed at any other festival I've been to. The audience take to their feet as,at just on midnight, Fairport gather up their set and get as many contibutors as will fit onto the stage to play "Meet on the Ledge" - Richard Thompson's evocative anthem of hope that the entire audience hold hands to and joins in with.

This follows the other traditional occasion at Cropredy - the very long set from Fairport themselves - a drawn out affair that has tongues wagging for months beforehand as to who will be there, whether Dave Swarbrick will be fit enough to play, and so on. That said, once it arrives, it is stupendous and Fairport feed on the obvious love of their public and seem to be able to up the ante that extra bit more at such times. This year was no exception.


Earlier in the programme there was one of the highlights of my year, never mind the festival - The Muffinmen! The Muffinmen are a Liverpool band who play the music of Frank Zappa and Captain Beefheart as it should be played - loud and live! Featuring vocals from original-"Mother of Invention" Jimmy Carl Black, they rock through lots of favourites, including "Flower Punk" - a kind of "Hey Joe.." and a "Drive My Car/Come Together" Beatle medley. They are all fine players, but the lead guitarist Carl Bowry earned major credit from Fiddlestone's Les who knows a thing or two about guitarists himself.... playing sometimes with a tiny bow and seemed to me not to be emulating Jimmy Page (my baseline guitar hero), but taking things on a stage or two from there. The Muffinmen also use brass to the fore and I was completely taken with them.

It only rained for a few hours during the whole weekend, and that put a bit of a damper on The Hampsters who rocked their way through the range of classics in fine style and made the sunshine reggae of T & LaTouche seem a bit out of place, but they spread their own brand of sunshine anyway. The sun returned about the same time as Beth Nielsen Chapman appeared on stage and played a powerful and moving set.


Interesting, but less shining was the attempt by Jah Wobble to jazz up Traditional English Folk - I admire the man's music and I think I could see what he was trying to do, but it didn't seem to gell very well in the live environment, not helped perhaps by the lead vocalists' apparant shyness. Good to see Jean-Paul blowing away on his pipes again anyway.

Richard Thompson is a god in some circles - and I have been looking forward to seeing him perform for some years. Cropredy finaly gave me my chance and I ende dup having to concur with Gill (not for the first time!) that he is not everything he's cracked up to be. A good song writer and brilliant guitarist maybe, but he seems to lack a little when singing solo - (listen to me Mr Superstar Singer!!!) - but I was pleased to see him and was delighted to be able to sing along to "Wall of Death". Richard was backed by the legendary (and also godlike) Danny Thompson on bass - don't start me on him - he really is the business!

Thanks to Leon's for the catering (again!) and to the man from the Hand Made Soap Stall who introduced us to the great sport of coat hanger throwing late one night when everyone else had gone to bed!

Its a fine festival Cropredy, but it seemed a little less social than some of the others we've been to - no sitting round playing until the wee small hours here, and not one of Floppy's natural environments either. It seems that 2006 will see Steeleye Span on stage, and we'll be there too all being well.

WOMAD

We rolled into WOMAD at Reading wondering how on earth a festival that carries such a great reputation for atmosphere could possibly work set as it is in a field accessed from an edge of town retail park and municipal swimming pool complex. We parked up inside the ring of steel block and mesh fencing and headed for the huge wooden fence that formed the event horizon of the WOMAD singularity. Step over the boundary and you enter a world of sound and colour that is so powerful that the retail park soon gets left behind as your brain struggles to deal with all this new data. With so much to see and only the one day (for us) to do it, we quickly found a programme of events and set about trying to plan our campaign.

Priority was given to Robert Plant's main stage gig in the evening, and we noted that Kiki Dee was due to give an acoustic concert around dinner time.

There's been quite some time between WOMAD and my writing this, so what follows has been rather well distilled, but I can still recall quite vividly the sea of colour, people, tastes, smells and sounds that we tried to take in all at once. WOMAD is a large village of stalls, interspersed with several stages and all centered on one main green by the main stage, with a mass of silk flags flying from the clusters of flagpoles, offering not only a visual impact, but a good deal of pleasant shade too. The first thing we saw was a large traditional and steam powered fairground, but we passed this by as a distraction and set about orientating ourselves within the site. It felt like it went on forever, and my belly was wondering how on earth I was going to find the time to sample all these many and various food stalls, even allowing for just the vegetarian options it was clear that some hard choices would have to be made! The good news was that Floppy was not only going to enjoy the event, but the event took on Floppy as its own and welcomed him with open arms - he hasn't been the same since!

We'd had an early start and while Gill meandered around the various boutiques, I collapsed in a heap under a small clump of flagpoles and enjoyed some coffee. It was about now that I was passed by a large, er, lump of poo on legs, complete with flies etc. and several ballet dancers in tutu's and at least one fairy - welcome indeed to WOMAD!

One of the hard things to do at WOMAD is to get from A to B without being distracted by C,D or even E - there is so much going on and so, after a while of wondering, we both felt like we needed a cuppa and a sit down and headed for the Tiny Tea Tent, only to get sucked into the gig on the main stage - "Les Yeux Noir" - a dynamic French band with 2 young men playing fiddle, a bassist, a guitarist, a drummer and old uncle Albert on hammered dulcimer looking for all the world like he'd just got up from his armchair to play along. What a show! The crowd grew ever larger as the band turned up the ante, getting more and more frenetic as they built towards the grand finale - both fiddle players dueling, joking, and ultimately both playing the one fiddle at the same time - both bows and both fingers - absolutely incredible. We roared and clapped and, finally, made it to the Tiny Tea Tent - a haven of real tea and real cake and .... seats.

While we were busy supping and meeting some lovely people - hello Yogi if you ever read this - we overheard a steel band who went down well and went on to encounter the WOMAD toilets with a rather worrying lack of water for so early in a 3 day festival. Moving swiftly on - the best course of action really - we next encounter Leon's - a legend in his own lunchtent, Leon has been providing high quality veggie food to the masses for many many years, so we are delighted to find him and even more pleased that he can provide Gill with a large and varied plateful of food that is all safe to eat. Even better news is that leon will, as usual, be at Cropredy. We enjoy this meal sat at the back of the large crowd enjoying Kiki Dee who delivered a good acoustic set, backed by Carmelo Luggeri on guitar. By the time we had eaten, the set was drawing to a close and we snuck in to the front and joined in the cheers for the last couple of songs by this fine performer.

More stalls followed, Floppy made some new friends, bought a bandana and was given a new pair of trousers, though he later said he doesn't really like them, but didn't want to upset one of his new friends by refusing them! Then we set off to get a good spot at the front ready for Robert Plant and the Strange Sensation.
The best we could get was just in front of the speaker stack to the right of the stage, but it was close enough and so we waited for the big moment. Neither of us have ever seen Robert Plant live before and we had great expectations, and when the band came on to huge applause we were ready to enjoy a great set.

We were sadly disappointed, they started with the Led Zep classic – “No Quarter” - which is a slow mover anyway and then got into the new material from "The Mighty Re-arranger" CD and whilst it looked like the band were playing their hearts out, the sound coming over the speakers wasn't doing it for us. We waited a while but it got no better, so we moved back towards the mixing desk to see if it was a balance problem, but to no avail. The noise was coming out ok, but it just had no life to it, the was certainly no bass feeling, so maybe the volume was being kept low for political reasons, who knows? Maybe there was a little too much Led Zeppelin in the set too. The end result was that the set was not the crackerjack we had hoped for and it fell a little flat for us, and a few others we have since encountered. Now I can't say that they played badly, because it seemed to be all there, I'm as sure as I can be that the sound let the band down. We are going to Wolverhampton in December to give him a second chance!

Afterwards we wandered into the big blue tent and came across Mahmoud Ahmed in full flood and he played a great soulful set with his band which finished off the evening's musical entertainment very nicely indeed.

More tea and cakes followed as the Tiny Tea Tent crew stuck it out and kept on serving tea, loud music, dancing and fun until the dance-police arrived and made them switch the music off, even at WOMAD the fun has to end sometime it seems.

It had been a really good day and we reckon we made a good job of trying to cram as much as we could into it - next year we'll be there for the whole thing.

Postscript: We were later delighted to learn that Gill had been awarded a prize for her "notable entry" in the BBC Radio 3 Colour Quest Competition -look for the tea pot - nice one Gilly!

Jethro Tull & Roger Chapman at the Summer Pops, Liverpool

Gill had, rightly, reproached me a couple of times when I'd said to people that I wanted to go to see Jethro Tull while they were still alive, and I was worried that we may be disappointed by a pale version of the mighty Tull that I only know from vinyl records of yore.

Roger Chapman

It was a bit of a shock then, that my first glimpse of support man Roger Chapman was a ghostly looking figure in pale clothes, lit by white light, but as soon as he opened his mouth it was clear that Roger Chapman was very much alive and well. Gill was far more familiar with his work than I, but the whole audience was treated to a varied set of covers and originals, ending up with a couple of Family favourites. Highlight for me was Dylan's "Ballad of Blind..." but the whole set was full of energy and those who sat it out missed out on a good one.

For the three of us (Andy was along too), a bonus appeared when we were asked if we would like to vacate our (cheap) restricted view seats for a better view and were led willingly to the front row! This gave us a grandstand view for the last few songs from Roger Chapman, and as the rest of the band slunk off at the end, he launched into a solo version of another song for a few bars before turning away with a muttered comment, something about "... enough ... " Roger Chapman, despite my initial shock, still very much alive!

Jethro Tull

A few minutes to wait before the lights dimmed again and the unmistakable flute and vocals of one I Anderson emerged from the speakers and the piratatic leader immediately set about proving that fears of his demise are very much exaggerated. Anderson led a brilliant and powerful set, rightly recognising that 99% of this middle aged audience had come to hear their old favourites, and he gave us what we wanted, so much so that I recognised many of the songs despite not having listened to a Tull recording since, well not long after CDs came out. "Thick as a Brick, Jack in the Green", "Aqualung". "Locomotive Breath" were all in there, as were the quirky little introductions and the slightly embarassed retort to the roar that greeted the end of "Thick as Brick", "careful now, at your age you shouldn't get so excited!"

It was great to be able to see Martin Barre in action on guitar from right under his nose, and you could see the concentration that went into making the sounds, my only minor complaint of the whole set was that when he had finished his instrumental solo, Anderson was back on so fast that he had barely time to wave his thanks for the applause before the rest of the band were off into the next song. Otherwise all I can say is what a great set, and I wish I had made the effort earlier in their career.

A final word for Jonathon Noyce the bassist whose demeanor is rather laid back anyway (as I have since learnt by watching films of other performances), who managed to look like he had just left his job in a bank and come on stage still wearing his suit and tie and rather trendy specs - too cool for comment really.

Tanglefoot at Parkgate Folk Club

I've no notes from this gig, it was highly anticipated having enjoyed Tanglefoot's recent performance in Vale Park and since played their live CD many times, and I had wondered out loud how this Big Folk act would fit into the confines of the Boathouse's Function Room. The answer was "Just fine" - the lads lined up along the wall, backs to the sun, and we all squeezed into a sold out gig and had a jolly good time. This was no acoustic quieted down Tanglefoot, they just used a slightly smaller sound system and played full on all night, to the obvious delight of the audience, many of whom could be seen singing along, even to the French song!

Suffice to say is was a great night, the band were on top form, having a whale of a time, and when, at the death there was a single, but very obvious bum note, there were smiles and apologies, but nobody cared, we just asked for, and got, MORE!

Afterwards we were able to talk to a very hot and sweaty Al Parrish, their Canadian bass player and shared our delight with him and the band - it was typical that they found the time to chat for some time afterwards, helped perhaps by having dedicated merchandise sellers! The other good news is that the Boathouse survived un-scathed.....

Guardian writer's take on song lyrics

This article in The Guardian caught my attention on Friday, John Harris as a few interesting things to say about song lyics too: read the article.

Coldplay fans may find this a little disturbing.....

Africa Oye! Sefton Park, Liverpool - Day 2

"Lost my Soul,Down by the Sea, Living Free", played out over the PA as we set up camp for day 2. We chose a site to the left of the mixing desk tent figuring that it would offer some shade if the sun was as hot as it had been the day before, clever us eh?

Kinobe Herbert kicked off the day with his calm vocals and lyrical playing of traditional Ugandan instruments. The sound was so delicate that it was slightly upstaged by the drummers in the workshop who were really rocking, but the PA boosted the delicate sounds well enough. Part way into his set, I was pleased to see two elderly ladies arrive by bicycles and obviously up for a day out at Oye! Kinobe also utilised the handheld box of tricks that we had noticed yesterday. What is it???

Samson Mthombeni came on second with his horn trumpets - "The horns say Hello! to Liverpool" - dressed in even more colour he entertained us with his songs and dancing a his repeated exhortations that inter-racial marriage was ok now that Nelson Mandela had approved it! Maybe this is a bit of a theme with Samson? Anyway his short set was more confident than it had been yesterday, and it went down well.


Hohodza Band are in forced exile from the vile regime of Robert Mugabe's Zimbabwe and we were all up and dancing along with the band and enjoying the spirit and the joy when the sky opened up and it rained, not just a shower but gallons and gallons of the stuff, perhaps just sent to remind us that you can never really plan for the weather, however clever you may think you have been! It was a huge shame because 95% of the crowd ran for cover, mostly in their cars, and it was left to the handfull of us that didn't care to dance on and just enjoy the rain, and the band played on! The crew got the mikes in out of the rain and the monitors covered up, the show must go on, and so it did, and we had a ball. There's no notes to help me remember the music, but there are images and memories of sheer joy as we danced and danced in the rain while Sefton Park became one big puddle.

The rain stayed on for Dobet Gnahore's set too, which was really good and she deserved a bigger crowd. Playing more or less the same set as the previous day, she seemed even more lively and her voice is so powerful.


To end the day we have Ba Cissoko kora player extraordinaire! What a sound. It was still raining, but not nearly so much and a fairly decent crowd regrouped to hear these 2 guys rocking out on koras with huge African percussion to match. It was too wet to write anything down, and it doesn't really matter, they are fantastic and there will be other opportunities to write more about them I have no doubt.

A huge thanks to Paul, Kenny and the Oye! crew for their hard work - lets hope we can keep the funding going for next year too!

Africa Oye! Sefton Park, Liverpool - Day 1

We worry for Africa Oye! on an annual basis. As June arrives and the website starts to leak bits of information, but little or no publicity appears. This year was no exception, in fact it was by sheer chance that I saw 2 people talking in Castle Street and noticed that one of them had a brochure in his hand, I barged in and struck lucky - the other guy had a box full so I walked off with half a dozen. Another annual tradition is that are always lots of other events going on at the same time, and its very hard to convince friends and relatives of just how good this event can be. So it was that we packed our picnic, chairs, rain coats and sun cream and set off for Sefton Park.

En route we had a bit of an epithany - we had been sent a CD of English Traditional Music from Songlines, actually its a Rough Guides production, and as we neared Aigburth, June Tabor sang "The Baker" and Gill was just knocked out by it - we played it again, and later again and again. There will be more about this in the future....

So we set up camp having parked right by the site, the sun was out and the field was, well almost empty. There were more stalls and food outlets than previously, and for a while I wondered to myself if it was going to be a waste of effort. Gill took the opportunity to join a drum workshop and had a great time, I sat and watched the first act play to a small crowd. As I watched though, the sun broke out of the clouds and what had been a humid and overcast morning turned into a hot, sunny blue sky day with a little breeze, and the crowds came, and they came. Windbreaks, umbrella, tents, picnic tables, blankets, dogs, footballs, groundsheets, barbecues, and people everywhere - a huge crowd, especially by Oye! standards. Whatever publicity had been put out had obviously worked, or is it just word of mouth? Perhaps Oye! doesn't need any, people just know, as we do, that it's due, and to look out for the date and venue and just turn up. Turn up they certainly did.

It was most pleasing to see such a diverse crowd too - all races and religions mixed in together in peace, dancing and sharing the music.

First up then was Solane Mthombeni - not in the program so there's no background, but my copy of the running order says he's from South Africa. He came in a very colourful garb, himself and a drummer both blowing long animal horn trumpets, and both wearing feathered headgear. Mthombenii wore a silver and white striped shirt and a bright purplish sarong arrangement and he looked fab. This duo played typical African guitar music on acoustic guitar with percusion backing and vocals, the music was lovely, a gentle introduction to the day, and by the time he had finished, there was a good crowd enjoying his dancing, which was a very energetic crouch with high kicking and clapping.

The compere for the weekend was somebody called Spycatcher from Radio City, and I was not at all impressed with his very short introductions and announcements, I felt he was only there because he was a local "name" rather than someone who was enthusiastic about the festival and the music, I may be wrong, but that's how it came over to me.

Haja followed - a trio from Madagascar who soon had the crowd dancing. Featuring a bare chested young man in white face and body markings on vocals and guitar, a guy called Lever (I think) who is a star accordion player, but using the synth rather than a squeezebox,who also plays electric bass, and a drummer, Haja gave us lots of African guitar and bass interwoven rhythms and melodies, and when the singer wasn't otherwise engaged, he also had a mini drum and percussion setup that he played very enthusiastically. The crowd loved it and it was all too soon that the band walked off stage one at a time leaving the drummer looking rather shy and exposed in the end! They got an encore and were obviously un-prepared as they played a song they had already used in the set. Haja were due to appear the next day too, and we looked forward to it.


Dobet Gnahore hails from the Ivory Coast and she continued the trend set by Haja by starting the performance off stage and having the band come on one by one! Dobet is a small striking character with a great voice and lots of energy, backed by a white band with some interesting accents she sang her way through her set with some very impressive dance moves, one, notably, was a sudden stop during a fast routine which left her eyes wide in a mock startled manner while she waited for the band to start up again a moment later, then continuing on as before, perfectly timed. The group supported her well with a good range of songs including some reggae, some beautiful acoustic guitar from a young man with a Shumacher smile, and some really subtle percussion. Dobet herself played a small handheld instrument which looked for all the world like a wooden games console controller, especially with the pickup wire. Her thumbs seemed to work a number of buttons or levers which produced an interesting sound.


Kinobe Herbert played a gentle set with delicate, plucked strings, and some percussion. The songs were all rooted in tradition and were often introduced with a story from a culture were kings can't be seen to cry, so when a baby is crowned king, a team of courtiers dance in front of the throne for years on end to shield the people from seeing any royal tears.

That is all I wrote down, because by now it was definitely TOO HOT and we were flagging a bit, the occasional cloud or breeze being welcomed with enthusiasm. Fickle aren't we when it comes to weather, but it was so hot, I got burnt in several places where I missed with the cream!


And so to the last act - the Gangbe Brass Band - a rare returning act - Oye! is not known for getting repeat acts. A big band - 10 of them in fact, many swapping instruments and sharing the vocal duties, this was Big Band meets Africa and they played everything as if they were having a great time - Great Stuff I wrote down afterwards, too busy dancing to take notes.

After we chilled out and finished our picnic while the sun set behind the trees through a mist of barbecue smoke as many of the crowd stayed to enjoy the cooler evening. Gill was asked if she would take Mthombeni as a husband while I was away, and my shirt was recognised by the guy that sold it to me last year - "hey! That's my shirt!" he hollered - I promised to seek him out the next day.

We had a great day and wished we could have shared it with others, but we had already begun to make new friends, dancing with strangers, so we went home looking forward to tomorrow and more of the same, little knowing how different tomorrow can be sometimes.....

Wirral Folk on the Coast - Tanglefoot and Baker's Fabulous Boys

Tanglefoot - Vale Park, New Brighton - Afternoon

We arrived at Vale Park at the appointed hour and had the chance to hear Tanglefoot's sound check. There was lots of stopping and starting and "Can I have more of his guitar in my wedge please Dave?", but what we heard was enough to whet our appetite for later. Tanglefoot are 5 Canadians - most of them BIG Canadians with long hair, beards, big boots, billowing shirts, colourful jackets and waistcoats. They start with a big song and carry on in the same vein, using vocal harmony to good effect. But this is BIG music - the harmonies are powerful and the instruments played with vigour - guitar, mandolin, bass, keyboards, and whistles occasionally.


They played 2 sets with most songs getting some introduction and explanation by way of an amusing anecdote. The songs covered a wide range of topics, from hockey to war via love and wireless repairs(!).

The second set looked likely to be foreshortened by rain, but as the "last song" came to an end the sun came out again and we were treated to 3 more, which went down very well. This is a very competant act and they seem to enjoy playing - certainly there is lots of jumping about and there are lots of almost rock-band like poses, not least the bass being played Pete Townsend style and finally being held over the guy's head, to be brought down (more carefully than it looked!) at the last "blam!" It made me feel a little like we were watching a bit of an act rather than, say Bakers Fabulous Boys who were clearly having a ball, but its a very good act, and we shall be seeing them again soon at Parkgate, in the upper room at the Boathouse (30th June) - it will be interesting to see how they cram into that tiny space, and how the act changes to fit in.

Fiddlestone played in between the 2 sets by Tanglefoot and sadly the set was let down by the sound system, which was not set up to deal with the band's more subtle style. Mal reckoned that it was mainly down to them not using their own mikes. So it was a bit of a strain to hear them sometimes, but it was obvious that behind the nervous vocals and the hesitancy because of the sound, there were some nice delicate sounds coming out of the instruments, and the vocals often produced the traditional English folk style harmonies that I like so much.

They deserved to be heard, and they can be at the Old Manor Folk Club on Sunday 19th June.

These 2 acts were supported by a good assortment of folk from the local clubs, and one song for the children to join in, which they did, I even saw 2 of them jostlig for position on the mike!

It was a nice afternoon, with the weather just managing to stay dry (mostly), and we even had some sunshine. Our only complaint might have been the lack of toilets, the queues for those in the Vale Cafe being too long.

Baker's Fabulous Boys - Old Manor FC - Evening

After being fed and watered (half and a curry), we came to the last event of the Folk on the Coast Festival. The room was jammed with every ticket being used, and there was a sense of excitement building as Frank, the host, led out with a few very well executed songs, including my favourite blues "Down and Out."

Bakers Fabulous Boys are a young, vibrant and very, very good band. Featuring Russ and Stuart Williams from the Helsby Bluegrass enclave on Mandolin and guitar, Lorraine Baker on electric double bass and John from Manchester on Banjo, all 4 singing and all 4 gathered around one mike in the old style, they started high and finished higher! This was a great way to send off the festival, we had old country, bluegrass, celtic reels,blues and "fiddle tunes" all played out in frenetic style with the band clearly having so much fun together and sharing it with the audience.

I was so full of music (and a little Black Sheep), that I was temporarily phased when they launched into Aerosmith's "Walk This Way" and followed with an Otis Redding number, but I quickly recovered in time to enjoy this fine performance. The band were worn out having played in a cave in Cornwall the previous night, and had drove down on Saturday, played, then drove back in time to play for us, so I suspect they were secretly pleased that the club has to stop by 11pm, becasue we were all hungry for more, and the bar staff (retiring after tonight) might have let us carry on, but it was not to be and the applause at the end was full and well meant.

It was a musically well fed audience that went home after that, for many of us it was the 5th consecutive night of free music - how good is that? - and we were feeling the pace, but equally, many of us knew that we would be in The Farmers on monday for the 6th night, because its the friendships made that continue in these sessions and the music brings us all together and fuels our lives.

Wirral Folk on the Coast - Sad Pig and Sea Shanties

Me, John O and Mal singing along to Sad Pig. (Photo: Gilly)

Just for a change I'm doing this one in reverse chronological order, starting with the early hours of Sunday morning where you find us all ensconced in the cellar of Fort Perch Rock having a heavenly session. It took a bit of persuading to get Mal to come along because he had to up early the next day, but come along he did, and what a warm welcome we were given. I'm going to harp on for a moment here because this needs saying - I have never felt so welcome in a group as when I arrive at some of these sessions, and many of those there don't even know me. It's a fine feeling, and its led to us making many new friends, and it felt like they were all there this night!

We nearly didn't get in, the Fort's gates were locked and we had to make a bit of a din to attract anybody's attention, but it was worth waiting.

We enjoyed the usual round of songs and tunes, a great mixture with added spice from Ginger, Ian, Bob and the cajon crew, Alison with her 3rd Men, Brass Tacks, Shay, Mal etc etc. Gill and Jim made session debuts with the Bodhram, Gill getting a few encouraging nods from Shay. We had more from Jerry Lee's niece and we could have stayed forever. Thank you all.


Sea Shanties at the Baltic Fleet

Photo: Gilly Farrie
A mad night of music mixed in with crowds and noise as the Liverpool River Festival Sea Shanty Festival drew to a close. Many of the acts dropped in to give a few songs, and some of them were outstanding - Four'n'Aft, Portsmouth Shantymen, and the Norwegians in particular. With this heady mix and the Wapping Ale, it was good fun, if a little cramped.

We were a little tired o "Bound for South Australia" by the 5th time (no kidding), but there were some other old favourites in there, some of which I recall being taught at Primary School from the BBC Schools Radio "Singing Together" series.

A side mention for the spring that seems to have chosen the basement toilets to rise in, something to do with the adjacent building works.

On the way out we witnessed a cameo that will remain with me for some time, the fiddle player from Cream of the Barley was giving a fiddle workshop to two or three others round a table in the street outside, with the backdrop of a large half built building - just surreal.


Fort Perch Rock - Afternoon

Sad Pig headlined the afternoon's proceedings with a mixture of popular music, traditional folk, and adverts for their own festival! I missed most of it on the phone, but Gill enjoyed it very much.

Third Man played- Alison Parker's band, sadly they couldn't hear each other's instruments because of a technical glitch,so Alison wasn't very impressed with the results, but whatever the problems, they still had us all listening and dancing, a sign of the professionalism and skill of this local band.

And then there was Bayou Rhythms -

a thrown together band of locals and ex-pats including Ginger, Bob on bass, triangle, accordian, harp and washboard, Ian on guitar and several others we didn't know, they played an infectious mix of songs that had us all tieing ourselves in knots attempting to dance.

Wirral Folk on the Coast - Ceilidh and Session

Fort Perch Rock hosted the some of the weekend's events, its an ancient monument - well it's a World War 2 gun emplacement that may be a little bit older, and its a museum of itself too - strange place for:

A Ceilidh - called and accompanied by Arthur Marshall and the Lifeboat band - we missed the first half, but had a good dance in part 2, slightly hampered by the poles keeping the marquee up, but it was a good fling. It was a bit chilly out of the dance area, so being under the warm lights was a bonus.

Anthony John Clarke also played some fine songs, maybe a bit subdued for the middle of a Ceilidh but he is a good song writer and would be worth a second listen sometime.

ps FORT PERCH ROCK was built as a coastal defense battery during the Napoleonic period to protect the Port of Liverpool. It was paid for by Liverpool merchants. - Gill

Session in the cellar:

A lovely warmth and unity filled the room this evening despite the wide mix of musical styles that we experienced, unaccompanied folk, there was cajun, Jerry Lee Lewis' Niece singing Amazing Grace, Alison's blues, John's lilt, Shay's Irish, Mal's lovely reedy voice and many others. We sang on until the landlord threw us out about 2am, of course we all went quietly!

Wirral Folk on the Coast - Real Time at Parkgate Folk Club

Day 2 of the Festival and we're all still buzzing from last night with Cream of the Barley. Tonight it's Real Time from the borderlands of Northumbria and Scotland.

Judy Denning has previously sung with Jez Lowe and Bad Pennies and has been professionally trained, and you could tell, she has a great voice, well honed and clear. Young Joe Wright, fiddle player with the band is a previous Scottish Champion - and he's only 27 - and you could tell that too - his style is very neat, no need for frills, he plays to the mood and in at least one person's opinion, he holds the band together. The keyboard player on the other hand is always swaying about and making great gestures as if to say "I'm here too"- there's a maverick voice at the back of my head that's whispering about folk music not needing keyboards, unless its a harmonium of course, but I'm not really that opinionated, its just that the last few times I've come across them they seem to be a bit incongruous. Kenny Speirs' guitar and vocals didn't leave much of an impression on me, not to say that he wasn't good at either.

I came away a bit disappointed because they spoilt the act for me when the 2 older men appeared to be publicly bidding for Judy's favours, it felt like old chauvenism and it has no place. Shame really because they did produce some fine moments, Dougie Macleans's Turning Away and a song by Burns to name but two.

Wirral Folk on the Coast - Cream of the Barley

Opening up the Festival, our friend Mal and the residents of Bromborough Folk Club provided a keen if nervous set of favourites, Brass Tacks followed and Phil Chisnall played some fine guitar and sang for us in his well known and well liked manner.

Discussing it later Gill thought we should have had more traditional and local songs to celebrate the Wirral, and I have to agree, in fact the more we think about it, the more focused we are becoming. These opening sets were all "run of the mill" - by which I mean familiar rather anything derogatory, but when Cream of the Barley appeared at the microphones there was a palpable change in the whole room, it was as Gill said, as if a bolt of lightening had passed through and left excess energy in every pore.

Storming into - well to be honest I can't remember - looking back (and it was only 2 days ago) - it seems like there was a maelstrom of players and instruments in front of us, out of which was pouring a boiling liquid Ireland whose vapour became music that so intoxicated the audience that those of us lucky enough to have been there will not forget it in a hurry, and many of us will seek out more of the same.

"The Leaving of Liverpool", "Dublin in the Rare Old Times", "Molly Malone" were included in the set, all delivered with the love and care for the music that I like to see in musicians, but with an extra layer of manic enthusiasm that was at least partly Guiness fuelled, but certainly include a heady mix of Liverpool and Irish humour. The band's rare talents include PJ on vocals, Bodhram, and Spoons, and there are few that can play as well as he does - his wrist is a complete blur as the stick races around the skin producing such rhythms that left us gasping. Eddie on banjo was on some kind of trip, jumping up from his seat, whooping and calling, performing high kicks, and yet played his parts with such empathy to the music - his banjo often providing the pathos componant to the music. The fiddler played the scouse clown with Eddie, his deadpan face occasionally twitching into a smile, his fiddle smooth as silk and the bloke on vocals with the guitar kept it all together without needing any recourse to humour at all!

This was live music in every sense of the word - music played live, music about life, life affirming music and music that makes us feel so alive and eager to live more.

Special mention for the Landlord who was called up to sing Danny Boy with the band.

Coming Soon! Wirral - Folk on the Coast

Wirr' al looking forward to Folk on the Coast - Wirral's FREE folk festival coming up this week.

Lots of reviews to follow as soon as I have time to write them up.

Monsieur Pantin at Chester Folk Festival - 30th May 2005

Mr Pantin in full swing
Tucked away in the corner of Kelsall's Social Club on the last night of a 4 day festival, by which time many people had gone home, was the livliest little band I'd seen all weekend. Three men sat on chairs, with the middle chair apparantly surrounded on 3 sides by a pile of cushions and recorders: Paul Martin, left and his Mandocello, Steve Cobham, right on Acoustic Guitar and Jean-Pierre Rasle, centre woodwind, bagpipes and vocals.

While the 2 strings players were clearly enjoying themselves, Mr Rasle was having a whale of a time - he switched instruments often - though not effortlessly, there seemed to be several occasions when the bagpipes were due on but weren't quite fully inflated - and he sang his heart out (in French), often piping with both his legs bouncing up and down, managing almost all of the time to miss the microphone with the drones. This was exciting stuff, Gaellic sounding tunes with energetic backing from the strings, the instrumentals becoming almost folk-trance at times.

The songs were perhaps slightly less pleasing, maybe because being in French I couldn't follow the lyrics, despite having had the story explained in advance, but Jean-Pierre has a fine and distinctive voice and he sings with the same passion as that with which he plays.

I was pleased that the little tingle that had struck me when I read the advance information about this band proved to be a portend of good things to come, and the CD which I purchased right after the performance is nonetheless exciting either.

Chester Folk Festival - Saturday 28th May to Monday 30th May 2005

Our first attempt at attending a Folk Festival in earnest, although we're not ready for camping out yet, but this one is on our patch, so we were able to drive in each day. Saturday we started late after a difficult night, so by the time we had parked it was too late for the daytime programme, but this didn't matter at all, within minutes we had met friends and stood talking, drinking and enjoying The Witchmen performing Morris dances in the Black tradition - i.e. with attitude.

In the evening we were really torn between the sessions going in the Olive Tree and the concert in the main marquee. In the end we went for the marquee (and missed a legendary night in the pub in the process!) and arrived just in time to see the future. The future is called things like Heyfeva and its in good shape. Three lads, they can't be more than 15, playing fiddle, accordion, keyboards, guitar and rocking out like they've been at it for 30 years - fantastic stuff. They even managed to do a theatrical ending as one by one they left the stage leaving the poor pianist all alone for a few agonizing seconds before he stopped playing and they burst back on to take the well deserved applause.

We also saw The Waite Collective, a mother and two daughters singing in close harmony in fine style, Tom Lewis who sang sea songs in a big voice, Sean Cannon previously of the Dubliners and his son, both of whom were a delight, Sean playing Durham Jail much better than Jez Lowe had done a few nights earlier (see elsewhere) and his son gave a brilliant rendition of Rainy Night in Soho - again the future seems safe.

Bernard Wrigley was much funnier than we'd dare hope - his bass concertina providing a memorable sound or two!

The end came a little disappointedly with a lackluster performance by the Poozies, and that cut back due to lack of time. It could have been a really good set, but the gaps between the songs while they changed and retuned instruments were lazy and the introductions a bit vague, including a contradiction by one member about what the next song was all about after it was explained by another. One of the harps had a section that came over as an electric bass, but this seemed to dominate an otherwise delicate sound, and often it seemed to be just plain wrong. Gill commented on this too.

Later we found out that the session in the Olive Tree was perhaps the best ever - well according to Brass Tacks John it was the first one that kept him out of the Marquee, so it must have been good.

We had a good time on Sat night with some people from Rhuddlan, we went back to their tent after the pub and everyone was singing and playing instruments. It was pitch black and they had a small fire under the gazebo, they were mostly drunk, it was really funny. They
called Mally 'Fid' because they thought he looked like Fidel Castro, which he did! A welsh couple appeared out of the blackness and sang the most beautiful welsh folk songs in close harmony, then later a Texan bloke turned up and sang 'Help me make it through the yard' and others in a similar vein! Very funny! Annie, one of the group, played a tiny sailers squeezebox, in fact it was so small she could play it in the pub making no apparent movement so that you couldn't see who was playing.

Sunday we arrived and stumbled upon Shay and Jenny guarding the campsite, and within an hour we'd spent money on a Bodhram at Pete's tent - a fascinating emporium with lots of vintage accordions and other delights, including an indescribably delicious looking hand made guitar from the 40's complete with original case and a period copy of News of the World as a liner. It had been owned by man who used it every week in a jazz band, but had lain in an attic for years since. There was also an old hammered dulcimer which everybody had a tentative bash at, but it was Mally that got the best from it later in the day.

Naturally we had missed a good blues session in one of the pubs, and a "cracking" Irish music session that finished just as we arrived.... So we drifted around enjoying some bluegrass under the pagoda and moved on to the Social Club for the evening where we enjoyed Mr Pantin ( see separate), but felt that the following acts were a bit dull, so we went home about 10:30.

Our Texan crooner met us on the way down the hill and told us about the closing ceremony about which we knew nothing, but it was too late for us by then.

I don't want it to end on a downer though, we had a good time and heard some great music, certainly met some good friends and enjoyed the sun while it shone.

The barman in the Olive Tree reckoned that 9000 pints of beer had been consumed by Sunday tea time.....

Jez Lowe and the Bad Pennies at Parkgate Folk Club - 26th May 2005

Now I have to say in advance of writing further that whilst this is not going to be a rave review, the first I will have written here that has any real critisism, I fully appreciate that these folk are very talented, very popular and they are out there performing and I'm not.

I just didn't seem to be able to get too much out of this gig, and it's troubled me a little because I like to like music. Gill too has expressed disquiet, and is reserving judgement until we have given them a second chance. Certainly Jez Lowe has written some fine songs, we heard Black Diamonds on a CD over the weekend and it is already growing on us, but there is an overall naivity in his song-writing that doesn't seem to work for me, and this has been underlined by listening to others at the Chester Folk Festival where I found he original material to be lacking when compared to the wealth of traditional and older songs that are around.

So maybe I'm just an old traditionalist?

Anyway Jez Lowe's band are pretty good, if a bit wooden (shy even!) in fact the young man who plays the pipes and keyboards is apparantly a champion piper, and I think I've said enough - I couldn't even come close!

On a technical note, the band features a lovely smooth 5 string electric bass and a 5 string violin.

E.S.T. at Buxton Opera House

The Esbjorn Svensson Sextet!

The very next day, while still reeling from the after effects of Manchester, Gill & Sue are having a natter about things and suddenly there is an imperative to travel to Buxton! For me this means a hasty dinner while we look at the map, the clock, find out if there are tickets, decide that it is feasible, get changed and we're off. Neston to Buxton via the Cat and Fiddle in 110 minutes and all within the speed limit!

Buxton Opera House is a lovely slice of olde Englande and it provides a nice cosy setting for E.S.T. to strut their stuff, but apologies first to the Eivind Aarset Trio - time was so against us that we arrived about 5 bars from the end of their last number - or just in time to get to the loo before the interval rush! I will make a point of checking this band out on CD as soon as possible because they sounded so good in Manchester and they deserve more attention.

So we settled down at the back of the stalls just a few feet from the mixing desk and waited to see what would happen - I paid the 50p for a pair of plastic opera glasses, but the venue is small enough to not need them - the stage was set up as described yesterday, except that the 5 banners were closer together, necessitated by the size of the stage. That said, the E.S.T. instrumentation is clustered so close together that there was plenty of space around them if they felt the need to wander around.

"A Picture of Doris Traveling With Boris" opened the set, Esbjorn starting off with an almost classical style swirling piano introduction, with Dan's bass and effects setting the tone and Magnus' constant, consistent and often cymbal-led beat setting the pace.

We were surprised by how different the set was, why I don't know, this band have such a large repertoire to call on, never mind the standards,and they seem to have adjusted the set to fit the more intimate venue, the event having something closer to the feel of the familiar jazz trio, but without loosing the special E.S.T. magic. So we heard renditions of "Mingle in the mincing Machine","Viaticum","The Infamous Fable and the Unstable Table" and so many that went unannounced, Esbjorn's announcements seeming to indicate that he can never remember the names either, its the music that counts anyway.

"Evaluations of Love" featured some cunning doctoring of selected piano notes, and this piece demonstrated E.S.T.'s superb ability to take the music to the highest crescendo and then suddenly stop and revert to a simple rhythm played by one hand on the piano before the tune continues. I picked out "O.D.R.I.P" (for the encore?) and possibly "Tide of Trepidation", "In the Tail of Her Eye" (drum solo),"Letter from the Leviathon" and "In My Garage" too. "Seven Days of Falling" ended in a simple, slow subtle dreamlike drone of the bow being very gently rubbed on the bass strings in a circular motion.

Visually I will remember this gig as being mostly red and gold light reflecting off every surface possible, with the projections adding a little moving interest behind.

Afterwards we hung about and were last in the queue for signatures and were rewarded with the group photo - the Esbjorn Svensson Sextet for 2 minutes.....

So was it worth the dash half way across the country? Too right it was, we all left full of praise and eager for more - though I don't think Leicester will be troubled by us tonight, its just a bit too far - and I have to sleep sometime!


PS Our apologies to Joseph Topping, but he'll be round again before E.S.T.

Something to look forward to - Vegan Beer!

I was looking for somewhere to eat in Manchester tonight and Google came up with this place: Marble Beers

I intend to look further into this but not tonight.

We were intending to go to The Eighth Day, but its shut on Sunday, as are so many of the few Veggie places.

Stay tuned to see where we end up!

E.S.T. at Manchester Bridgewater Hall

JS up in the gods

Gill and I are agreed that when E.S.T. are on form (and we have only ever heard them on form), they are the best in the World. Words like pure, precise, intense, real, and vibrant flow off our tongues as we reel out into the world beyond the concert hall doors.

Tonight was no exception and the reeling was even more marked because we both spent the first hour of the night's 2 performances gripped by some dreadful fear than can only have been vertigo brought on by the precipitous heights of the Hall's Gallery and the unusual amount of heat that seemed to have gathered under the Bridgewater's cavernous roof. This was a real shame because the support:

Eivind Aarset Trio were a fine band and musically challenging with the wealth of electronic effects being driven by the three young men and their guitar, bass and percussion. Our malaise was such that we both found ourselves thinking - "This is great but please stop so we can get out of here!" - as the sounds rose and fell in great swirls of rhythm and colour. They deserved better attention than we were able to give, and during the interval we revived our spirits with fresh air, ice cream, red wine (or water) and found ourselves a seat further back from the rail. And so to the much anticipated:

E.S.T.

I make no bones about my regard for this band - they are the cream of live music - full stop. There is so much oozing from those three men and their instruments when they play on stage that its awe inspiring. Several times, Esbjorn, announcing the songs in his quiet, slow English style paused as if waiting for a reaction and was then prompted to ask "Are you still alive?" - well we were - but the whole audience was stunned into reverent silence that was only broken at the end of pieces for heartfelt applause, not least when the Dan put down his bass after the last piece - surely not - already?

The set was superb, leading out with "Rubes song"??? Written for Esbjorn's son, we heard several tunes from the new album Viaticum, and other older pieces, many of them mixed into medleys of 3 or 4 pieces. These included "Tide of Trepidation","Eighty-eight days in my veins","Viaticum", "Mingle in the Mixing Machine" and my favourite of the night: "The Unstable Table & The Infamous Fable" in which Esbjorn keeps up a classic style arpeggio(?) throughout whilst Dan lets rip with the bow on his bass and Magnus keeps the incessant beat going.

I wonder if the the recent shift from being the Esbjorn Svensson Trio to E.S.T. is not at least partly driven by the their being a band - a unit - in which all 3 players play an equal and high role, with each of them demonstrating virtuoso levels of performance: Magnus played the most amazing thing - an interesting drum solo - mixing percussion with echo and no doubt other electronic effects brought out a new dynamic that I'm at a loss to find words for it, and provides a spectrum of texture in his playing that underpins the Trio's music, whilst Dan finds so many colours in his bass and provides so very much excitement in the music. Esbjorn of course has the name and plays his piano with such an intense and passionate manner, not just the keys, but the strings too, and his posture makes me fear for his back in later years!

A word too about the stage - 5 simple vertical strips of white material hung behind the band and they received projections of patterns and at one stage a three dimensional image of Esbjorn's head rotating slowly, whilst the band were lit by a simple but effective set of lights, including an earthy orange light that seemed so rich, supplemented by 3 rotating pattern lights from above which which added further movement to the overall effect. The lighting highlight was an intense pool of purple that was centered by red-orange and that further centered by a yellow, giving the band a warm, sumptuous, fiery glow.

The handout brochure is effusive in its praise - invoking the name of Hendrix and rightfully noting that E.S.T. link 21st century dance rhythms with the acoustic of the jazz piano trio, Gill coined it well on the way home - "Heavy Jazz". Heavy yes, but when needed E.S.T. can be light and delicate as proved on the beautiful, lace thin rendition of "Believe, Beleft, Below" they used as an encore - encore? Already?

No need for gatecrashing tonight, the Trio turned out to sign CDs and be photographed in the foyer - another snap for Sycophant's Corner is bagged - and we reel out into the Manchester night - thanks Gill for a top birthday present, and thank you E.S.T.