The Isle of Skye Music Festival 2007 - Day 3

The second day of the festival was brighter and less wet, and with a lunchtime start following a 4am-ish finish the night before, we arrived to find a fairly subdued crowd, many probably recovering from the night before. This sad state of affairs meant that lots of punters missed the great set that The Low Miffs put out on the Mainstage in the early afternoon. You have possibly guessed by now that I hadn't done much homework for this festival, in fact I can honestly say that with one or two exceptions I had no clue at all about who the acts were, so it was all a bit pot luck as to who we saw, but this lack of forethought provided a day full of surprises - and this was the first. The Low Miffs are 5 young men, fronted by the diminutive but marvelous Leo Condie from Glasgow, played song after song of energetic music, performed with passion and showmanship, Condie first sitting on the edge of the stage with his silver topped cane, then racing around the stage, next leaping the fence to sing his impassioned appeals to the audience before returning to have guitar duels with his sidesman. Special mention to Thomas Brogan whose saxophone adds major extra dimension to the guitar heavy sound. Besuited and rather like a mini Llewelyn-Bowen, Leo Condie is a star on the rise - his voice is unaccountably large for such a small frame, goodness knows where he gets his energy from, but I hope to see lots more of these Low Miffs and I hope nobody ever tells them to slow down!

From the sublime to the ridiculous - Barry Peters - DJ extraordinaire with his "son" Kevin and partner in dance Derek Japan were pulling in an excited crowd in the non-stop stage tent. Side-splitting humour from Barry ("I've never been on stage this f@@@g early in the afternoon before" ) - who knew everybody and had been everywhere, and amazing dance routines from "Double Penetration" to the very best in disco music kept us rooted as the act unfolded to include a roller skate dance routine, break dancing and finally Barry's return from retirement to dance again as a trio - off came the pants to reveal sparkly gold tights and away they went - you really had to be there, we were, enjoyed a real feast.











After a break to recover from all that excitement we took up position in the Non Stop Stage tent to see the main event. But first there was Mark Olson, a man in an un-enviable position. Mark's music is mostly "acoustic" - guitar, fiddle and a little percussion or piano - and he was in a tent between Mungo's booming bass and the Union of Knives on the Mainstage, plus the crew was busy putting the gear together for the next act, so it was quite a triumph that we could hear and enjoy this lovely set from a man who sings American country style music with heart and soul, and to me he has more than a hint of favourite Dave Mallet in both music and lyric - check out his stuff on MySpace - it really hits a spot for me.






And so to the main event - at 5:45 pm in a side tent, the legend that is John Martyn was wheeled onto stage and set to for an hour - yes we had come some 400 odd miles and spent a small fortune on getting to this place for just this moment... John is nearing the end (Liverpool, Friday, we will be there!) of a hugely extended UK tour performing the album Solid Air in full, topped and tailed by other favourites, and having been to a few of the gigs, we thought we knew what might be coming. First change for this leg of the tour though was the inclusion of Foss Patterson in place of Spencer Cozens on keyboards, Spencer is currently on tour with Joan Armatrading. Foss is an old hand having played with John Martyn off and on for years,so it was good for us newcomers to see him live as well.











Martin Winnings is still doing sax duty, and while he has his detractors amongst some of the cognoscenti, but I like the way he watches John like a hawk and plays to his signals. Martin plays with a real passion too and has been a real asset to the lineup.


















John was on great form and started out as expected, exhorting the band "Come on girls, hurry up!" before launching into "Cooltide" but was soon ripping up the running order, sending back his acoustic guitar so that he could hang onto the Fender to play "Lookin' On" and later "Big Muff". From our vantage point we could see everything going on between John and the band and see the joy and pain in his face, and I hope he saw the tears that he put in my eye's too - tears of joy and wonder - John's music always invokes something in me that is more powerful than the sum of the notes and words alone - and the distance, cost and time were well worth every last bit as far as I'm concerned.














AlanThompson's bass and Arran Ahmun's drumming where as impeccable as ever and after a delighted crowd sang along with "May You Never" it was the passionate, electric, growling "Rock Salt & Nails" that closed this all too short set and left us once again bereft of the great man - at least 'till Friday.

The small tent was packed and the crowd keen and vocal - the sound from where we were - right at the front under John's nose - was less than hifi but good enough considering how everything is put together in the wings and wheeled on without there being time for a real soundcheck, and the reception for John was as huge as ever, we cheered and hollered and we nearly got an encore, but it was just too late for the schedule to be held up.












After all that there was nothing for it but to recover, eat and head back to the Shipping Forecast for some dancing - oh and Seth Lakeman - Folk's new superstar who we have managed to miss up to now - not by design you understand, just never been in the right place. This year though he is following us around the festivals! There was one of those interminable delays while they got the kit sorted out, then suddenly out rushes Seth from behind the stage and they're off on a musical romp with violins guitars and mandolins everywhere, horse hair shredded from his bow, earnest, solid looking and ever so confident, Seth took the big crowd for a white knuckle ride and wore us all out jumping and dancing. I have to confess to being slightly pre-occupied with trying to get the perfect Seth Portrait having found a new setting on the camera (judge for yourselves.....) but Gilly loved it and I promise to pay more attention at the next gig honest.





























What did grab me and hold my attention though was the stunning set played next by Session A9 - four fiddles, keyboard, guitar and new drum hero Iain Copeland on snare - Iain's playing was so laid back yet en pointe - I was captivated - the rest were pretty good too!! Dougie Maclean apparently said they are "the best band to come out of Scotland in a hundred years" - so there!

And that was it - well there was more, but we had peaked and it was time to go wake the campers again back at base. A quick word about catering - there wasn't much, but there was a refreshing mix of decent fast food available, including fresh fruit smoothies, salads, chips, falafel, porridge and baked potatoes - a welcome change from burgers and more burgers! A good day indeed - special thanks to new friend John for the coffee and the special stageside access for Seth Lakeman. We'll be back to the paradise that is Skye for sure, the festival will have to try a little harder though.