Slightly late, but a quick recap of Broadstairs folk festival. I know other people were there - anyone else fancy posting their feedback too?

Unfortunately there wasn't a repeat of last year's record temperatures - the first weekend was nice, but Mon-Wed were pretty damp. We were in a hotel on the seafront, and we were seriously glad of it! We were especially glad of it when we heard stories about the toilets being blocked on the campsite for days in a row ("several days on the trot" could have a whole new meaning) and the showers being as persistently feeble as they were last year. I really can't see how having these facilities working properly is so difficult - do schools not need to have working toilets? Ho hum. Still it's easy to criticise, so I'd better say full marks to all the volunteers on the workforce who made things (mostly) go well. And Thur/Fri were better, so I think everyone managed to pack up dry.

Last year I did a lot of workshops, but this year there wasn't as much to interest me - I'd done most of the guitar workshops last year, and this year was the same stuff (actually fewer workshops this year). So I spent more time checking out the music instead, which was seriously good. (One workshop I did do was bellydancing, for the second year running - great fun, and need to get more guys doing it. No I'm not posting the photos! :-)

High points:-

Terra Folk were stunning (especially with thunder and lightning going off outside the marquee). The whole performance is really something else - you'd need a DVD to capture it bcos a CD just wouldn't work.

Dougie Maclean was brilliant too. The sound tech got it really nailed for this one too, which really helped.

Artisan - saw them a few times, and I'm still amazed at the quality of singing and gobsmacked at Brian Bedford's songwriting ability.

Lynn Heraud's group doing their silly turn on the final night (stick-dancing cleaning ladies).

Some of the "supporting acts" were scarily talented too. Favourites: Vicki Swann and Johnny Dyer (Scottish smallpipes/flute and guitar respectively - *very* good tunes and mostly self-penned); Pete Smith and John Buckley (two very good guitarists playing jazz with occasional lapses into quotes from Guns'n'Roses and others); Rosie Doonan and Ben Murray (guitar and keys - I didn't think you could play folk on a keyboard, but BM does it seriously well).

Some of the other acts were disappointing though. Gordon Haskell was too "easy listening" and the PA was cranked up to the point of pain - whilst the first is down to musical taste, the second was an unforgiveable cockup by the soundman; Les Barker did nothing for me (good material but can't stand his style); Here Be Dragons were, simply, crap - think Sex Pistols without the energy, originality, charisma or slightest talent (if you want something loud to pogo to, I'd recommend putting on a CD instead of paying for these jokers, which was disappointing since they occupied the same spot as the very good Blue Horses last year); and Tim Edey's talk about recording techniques was a bit of a washout (not helped by Tim's overindulgence the night before, lack of preparation, and several people in the workshop who wanted to add their 2p's-worth and turn a group teaching session into their own 1-to-1 discussion). I'm very glad I had a season ticket, because otherwise I might have wasted £40 on the above-mentioned. I don't mind not liking someone I'm hearing for the first time, but Gordon Haskell's gig and Tim Edey's workshop were spoilt by lack of professionalism, which what you want when you're paying money.

Also on the critical theme, someone needs to teach some of the soundmen to recognise when instruments pick up resonances in the room/PA. At least twice, guitars had the low E string "booming", and the soundmen didn't try to fix it (or possibly didn't notice it). For god's sake, guys - if that's happening, turn the low-end down a little more - it ain't rocket science!

Having had the obligatory moan though, I *can* say that I'm very glad I went. Broadstairs is an amazing event, in a lovely town, with a damn fine bunch of musicians there (with the few exceptions above! ;-) Make sure you go there next year!

Graham.

Ps. Also a high point - wearing my Mudcat T-shirt and getting stopped by two random people shouting "Who are you?" Said random people turned out to be Bassic and rock chick. :-)