Ely Folk Fest 6-8 July 2007 UK

Subject: Ely Folk Fest 6-8 July 2007
From: Richard Bridge
Date: 03 Jul 07 - 09:13 PM

http://www.elyfolk.co.uk/

Who'll be there? The beer tent is usually excellent!

Subject: RE: Ely Folk Fest 6-8 July 2007 UK
From: muppitz
Date: 04 Jul 07 - 10:35 AM

Last year we were next to the beer tent! Easy access, which we like.
I'll be slaving away over a hot appliance or two as usual.

muppitz
x

Subject: RE: Ely Folk Fest 6-8 July 2007 UK
From: Hamish
Date: 04 Jul 07 - 01:46 PM

I'll be there - but just for the Saturday. Day ticket/serious punter duties only. Looks good...

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Hamish

Subject: RE: Ely Folk Fest 6-8 July 2007 UK
From: Mrs_Annie
Date: 04 Jul 07 - 03:19 PM

We will be there.

What stall do you have muppitz?

Subject: RE: Ely Folk Fest 6-8 July 2007 UK
From: Richard Bridge
Date: 04 Jul 07 - 04:20 PM

Muppitz is usually on Moor and Coast.

I'll be with Bishop Gundulf

Subject: RE: Ely Folk Fest 6-8 July 2007 UK
From: The Barden of England
Date: 04 Jul 07 - 05:33 PM

Need I say more - look in the beer tent; not behind the bar!!! Lovely festival.
John Barden

Subject: RE: Ely Folk Fest 6-8 July 2007 UK
From: Hamish
Date: 06 Jul 07 - 02:59 AM

Forecast's looking good...

...bring it on!!!

Subject: RE: Ely Folk Fest 6-8 July 2007 UK
From: Hamish
Date: 06 Jul 07 - 04:44 PM

Well I guess you're already there...

~8^)

Subject: RE: Ely Folk Fest 6-8 July 2007 UK
From: Richard Bridge
Date: 08 Jul 07 - 05:24 PM

Hmm. Not the beer tent evenings that I remember.....

And I missed all the performers I REALLY wanted to see, since I was playing for the Morris at all critical times.

Subject: RE: Ely Folk Fest 6-8 July 2007 UK
From: Dilligaf
Date: 08 Jul 07 - 05:39 PM

Thank you one and all who where involved in the Ely Festival, Bishop Gundulf Morris had a great time, thank you for letting us dance, The Hoffmister bear Mr Bridge is only happy when he,s being miserable. Love you Richard even you can,t complain about the weather today xx

Subject: RE: Ely Folk Fest 6-8 July 2007 UK
From: Hamish
Date: 08 Jul 07 - 05:53 PM

And absolutely delightful it was, too. A pretty nearly perfect day. A great little festival in a very compact site, but with a big stage, a medium stage and a small stage. Lots of good food outlets, great beer...

...and some wonderful performances, including the prodigious guitarist Gareth Pearson, the totally lovely Anthony John Clarke, the magical Suntrap, with The battlefield Band and Shooglenifty whipping it all up to close off the evening.

I've got some photos here: photos and a YouTube of Gareth here: Gareth

Enjoy!

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Hamish

Subject: RE: Ely Folk Fest 6-8 July 2007 UK
From: Richard Bridge
Date: 08 Jul 07 - 06:53 PM

Oh, go in, shall I really get stuck in?

I heard Suntrap sing ONE folk song. I heard Jacqui Oates (was that her name?) do a set of them and that was nice (you know about damning with faint praise?) Otherwise - no English folk song on stage (AFAIK).

Sound man on Marquee One had cloth ears and totally ruined the guitar sound on every guitarist I heard on that stage. Guitarists nice, including Vin Garbutt - guitar sound totally naff. A nasty snapping bite, with every bit of fret rattle sticking out like a dick in a porno flick. Performers spend fortunes on their guitars and the pickups in them. Is it beyond the wit of soundman to make them sound like guitars through the PA?

Plenty of participative musicians unhappy with the level of sound penetration across the site. I LIKE loud, but it seems marquee sound levels are getting louder and louder, so that every place of performance suffers sound wash from the other such places.

No beer stronger than Dragonslayer at 4.6. No decent spirits, and the cheap ones at high pub prices.

Nowhere for singers to sing. Beer tent largely driven by diddlers and humpties. The sign-up for the club tent was at a time when every morris side was in Ely, so no chance for dancers or their bands to sign up for that tent. The programme promised singarounds. Where and when were they?

I missed Nuada - no-one should have to miss Nuada! The best drones on the planet!

"Folk" bands with pianos. AAAARGH! "Miss Barfoot will now perform a folk song with accompaniment on the pianoforte" AAARGH!

Impossible for sides to camp together. The thought police put tents on one site and trailers on another, and it was impossible for a side to have its pitch (as for example Gundulf does every year at Broadstairs). A bit of common sense about tent separation, rather than a 3 metre rule, would have been good, too.

No water on the overflow campsite. Don't B&Q sell hoses any more?


What happened to that wonderful West Indian food stall that was there the first year I went (down on the old site by the sewage works)? NO food as interesting as that.

Oh, and what pillock organises the tee shirts for a folk festival with NO XXL, or XXXL sizes? How many folk singers are S, or M, or even merely L?

How about some tow-on showers, like Broadstairs manages?


But what happened to the spirit of Ely? The heart of Ely? It used to be worth going to Ely (even if you happened to be in Australia) because in the beer tent, once it had shut, the professionals and the amateurs would get together and sing till dawn. Not now. RIP Ely.



Otherwise - bogs better than last time I was there (let's see, it was the year Simon Vogel was booked, and Nuada did the drones workshop, and the Browns did the bodhran workshop). Stewards mostly (except from reported fire space episodes) helpful and friendly. Mostly nice middle-class children (spot the double-edged sword?). Most dogs properly under control.

Subject: RE: Ely Folk Fest 6-8 July 2007 UK
From: muppitz
Date: 09 Jul 07 - 07:14 AM

Richard, when you say there was no English folk on stage, are you sure you didn't mean traditional folk? There was plenty of FOLK music from where I was listening, which incidently was mainly in marquee one which leads to my next disagreement, when you said the sound was too loud, it wasn't, I've heard sound that had my ears ringing for days afterwards, this weekend was nowhere near it. At varying times I was at the back, middle and front of the main marquee and had no complaints about the volume.
The standard of the sound is always subject to opinion.

I do however agree with the lack of singers sessions, the beer tent was pretty much it, I went up to Ely on the bus and found sweet FA in the way of sessions or singarounds.
Also the club tent sign up was a little dis-organised, I only just managed to get in on it, could have been a little better.

But at least the weather held out, after a fashion!

muppitz
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Subject: RE: Ely Folk Fest 6-8 July 2007 UK
From: Richard Bridge
Date: 09 Jul 07 - 07:50 AM

Ah, Hi Muppitz. I did drop into the Moor and Coast to say hello but you must have seen me coming as there you weren't.

Yes, I mean "folk" ie of no known author, handed down and modified by the oral tradition. Some contemporary music rooted in the tradition is also quite nice (and some isn't) but it ain't "folk".

The sound was not loud loud in the marquee (s) - it's hard to get that sort of pressure in the open air - but as you will have found you could listen to the Marquee 1 artists perfectly well from the Moor & Coast stall, and probably the Marquee 2 ones as well. Both at the same time.

Subject: RE: Ely Folk Fest 6-8 July 2007 UK
From: muppitz
Date: 09 Jul 07 - 11:02 AM

Ok, I get you now!
However, you couldn't hear one marquee while being in the other which is something that happens frequently at Bromyard for instance!

I only did the late shifts in the tent, I got to see lots for a change!

muppitz

Subject: RE: Ely Folk Fest 6-8 July 2007 UK
From: Richard Bridge
Date: 09 Jul 07 - 01:52 PM

Actually, Dilligaf was saying to me today that while in M1 for the Battlefield Band she was being overwhelmed by whoever was playing in M2 - I think it might have been Hedgepig.

Subject: RE: Ely Folk Fest 6-8 July 2007 UK
From: Hamish
Date: 09 Jul 07 - 02:10 PM

Overwhelmed? Hardly. I mean, yes, Hedgepig were audible. Just about. But not intrusively so.

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Hamish