The Great British Folk Festival - Skegness 2012 DAY2

[BRC]

DAY 2 – 1 December 2012

Having made the decisions of performances to see for the evening the ‘military operation’ of the previous evening was planned to perfection – read on. The main plan was to see ‘The Billy Mitchell Band’, ‘Fay Hield & The Hurricane Party’, ‘June Taybor & The Oysterband’ and ‘Show of Hands’ – and any others we could fit in. That still left a lot to be missed.

After a bracing constitutional walk in the Skeggie sunshine (still cold enough to cause severe discomfort to cupro-zinc simians) we went to the venues.

THE BILLY MITCHELL BAND

Sadly by the time we arrived just at 16:00 all seats had been taken and even standing room was at a premium, which meant it was difficult to appreciate the music being played. It sounded good but we were unable to determine what numbers were being performed. As evening meals started at 16:30 we made the decision to eat early and then get in the queue for Oysterband, preceded by Fay Hield.

Two of us got in the lengthening queue at around 17:30 and …. froze. We forgot to put on the thermal underwear (I know, too much information). On doors opening at 18:30 we rushed to get front row tables and chairs for four. We duly accomplished the mission.

FAY HIELD & THE HURRICANE PARTY

Fay has what I would describe as a traditional female folk singer voice, a la Maddy Prior, which was tuneful and on key. Fay was very engaging in her introductions of the songs, though, for me, at times a little indistinct in the delivery of the songs. I don’t mean in a horrible way but what another friend of mine describes as ‘finger-in-the-ear yokel’ singing. Maybe my years away from the folk scene have changed my listening skills.

The musicianship throughout was superb with the band, including John Boden and Sam Sweeney (both from Bellowhead), delivering a solid and dynamic performance which transcended the titles of the songs. That is just an excuse for me not writing them down.

Notwithstanding my comments above, this was a greatly enjoyable experience of their performance.

JUNE TAYBOR & OYSTERBAND

Having seen Oysterband at the Broadstairs Festival in the summer we were looking forward to this collaboration with June Tabor, following ‘The Ragged Kingdom’ album and tour. Fine performances were delivered of ‘Bonny Bunch of Roses’, ‘Love Will Tear Us Apart’ and ‘Bells of Rhymney’. John Jones then gave his usual superb performance of ‘Molly Bond’.

Ray Cooper, bass guitar and cello, was missing from the line-up, though the (unnamed) substitutes – one for each instrument - put in faultless performances. All was well with the performances. However what was noticeable, after Fay Hield had performed, was a trickle of people gathering immediately in front of the stage area that increased considerably during June Tabor & Oysterbands performance. Oysterband seemed to have developed a ‘groupie’ following. They obscured the view of the band and started to make life rather uncomfortable. I asked one such person who was almost on our table if he could move out of the way to be greeted by a stream of expletives and invective that was totally at odds with the festival. That was the cue to leave, though I still cannot get my mind around this type of behaviour in the setting and overall atmosphere of the weekend.

MATT GORDON & LEONARD PODOLAK

They had not been on our ‘must see’ list but having moved to the other theatre there were no seats free when we arrived, so just stood and enjoyed a quite different bit of folk music. This Canadian duo performed on fiddle, mandolin, harmonica and hambone (the part of the leg between knee and buttock) plus clogs.

I didn’t know any of the songs/music they played but it was very entertaining and professionally performed. I don’t know if there is such a thing as a professional ‘hambone’ player, if there isn’t there should be with these two in top place. Great stuff.

We tried to get to see ‘Show of Hands’ in the this theatre but it was so packed that standing was almost impossible, and there was serious danger of a safety risk, with people still trying to get into that theatre. Commonsense dictated that we call it quits for the evening, and head back to the apartment. Another time, maybe, for ‘Show of Hands’