Show of Hands@Abbotsbury

Subject: Show of Hands@Abbotsbury
From: GUEST,folkfreak
Date: 14 Jul 06 - 11:03 AM

Not the best Abbotsbury I've ever attended, sadly the new stuff from their latest cd is not up to their usual high standards. It's a shame to see them leaving folk music even further behind in a wave of drum machines. Even Country Life couldn't raise the crowd's spirits

Is it some kind of mid-life crisis? Who knows, only one set from Show of Hands, they came on very late and rushed through it. An attempt to engage the yoof led to the dj set once again rearing it's ugly head and by God that dj has an ugly head, even when wrapped in headphones. He blared out mangled version of traditional songs while the bemused audience wandered about and hit the bar. Knightley didn't let performing get in the way of his drinking either, maybe that accounted for the changed lyrics and bum notes.

Highspot of the day for me was Chris While, who always gives good value and the Mawkin youngsters who I had never heard if before but I'll be watching out for them in future.

Subject: RE: Show of Hands@Abbotsbury
From: GUEST,Do me a SoH favour mate!
Date: 14 Jul 06 - 12:00 PM

News just in from An Official Show Of Hands Fan:

"I'd like to apologise for the Complete Load Of Codswallop above.

We were there last Saturday and had to park next to The Moaning Minnie Charabang in the car park. It was filled with doddering folkfreak twits, armed with rotten eggs and tomatoes, apparently on a Fearsome Folkie's Funday Outing.

They became extremely miffed on reaching the Abbotsbury entrance kiosk only to be turned away, due to the 'sold out' situation at the Show of Hands gig. They took their Folkie Rugs outside and sat beside their Charabang, their mouths turning downwards at every angle. Cries of "Bah Humbug!" echoed round the valley, just after the cheers and applause had finally ceased, following Country Life and Roots. This was followed by shouts of "We'll get you yet SoH, you just see if we don't! We'll invade the messageboards with stories about you two and......." but whatever followed was then drowned out by the whistles, whoops and yays! from the 1200 strong crowd inside the grounds, most of whom were on their feet by this time, clapping their hands above their heads to show their appreciation.

We've been waiting for them to appear ever since and now, as you can see, here they are. I do apologise for this slight hiccup and hope you will bear with us until 'normal service' is resumed as quickly as possible."

I've been asked to circulate that, so I hope it sheds light on the initial post.

DMASoHFM!

Subject: RE: Show of Hands@Abbotsbury
From: The Borchester Echo
Date: 14 Jul 06 - 12:16 PM

Welcome to the latest flame war, courtesy of Lizzie Cornish.

Subject: RE: Show of Hands@Abbotsbury
From: andrewq
Date: 14 Jul 06 - 12:43 PM

If anyone's interested, next Thursday's "The Drift" programme on BBC Radio Lancashire is an hour's live set from Show of Hands.

The show goes out live from 8pm-9pm on Thursday 20th July and is available on Listen Again for a week following transmission.


http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio/aod/lancashire.shtml

Subject: RE: Show of Hands@Abbotsbury
From: GUEST,Liam
Date: 14 Jul 06 - 01:29 PM

Now I thought Abbotsbury this year was MUCH better than last year when they had that awful traddie duo with the singer that sounds like Bernard Cribbins doing "Right Said Fred" and the drippy Scottish Woman.

This year was a much better balance of acts. Show of Hands do have a little bit of a problem though. THEY themselves are quite innovative, but they do have some fairly conservative fans who just hate change. I guess they just have to hope that the new fans they win through changing outweigh the ones they lose. So far that has always worked. From where I sit it looks like it is still working.

Abbotsbury has gone from being a 500 seater to 1200 over about 5 years. Last time they sold the Royal Albert Hall out over a period of about 10 months, this time most of the seats are gone and it has only been on sale six weeks.

Subject: RE: Show of Hands@Abbotsbury
From: GUEST, folkfreak
Date: 18 Jul 06 - 09:19 AM

As I'm new to chat rooms perhaps I'm not going about this correctly. I was recomended to this one as a good place for folk chat, so I'm not sure what to make of the above replies.

Having spent some thirty years playing in rock bands as an amateur, I thought Show of Hands a revelation when I first discovered them. I find traditional folk music hard going, but I enjoy the Show of Hands blend of folk and rock. I discovered them some five years ago and have seen them live many times since. I've enjoyed learning their songs and I find it refreshing that they're not afraid to bring politics into their music. But to me the new cd just doesn't compare to Country Life, it's very overproduced and busy. I had hoped it would be better live but that wasn't the case at Abbotsbury.

The Abbotbury day out has become part of my holidays, my daughter and her family have joined me the past few years and it's a great day out for us all. I thought last years was wonderful, but I wasn't keen on the dj, I was maybe a bit rude about him before but I swear to God he looked like Uncle Festus from the Addams family and his inclusion for the second year running was a bad idea if you ask me. If they think they need him should they not put him on later? Then people with children could get off and those who enjoy that kind of thing could stay. In any case he was much too loud, a woman by me was trying to feed her baby and the poor wee thing jumped when he started.

I didn't know it was out of order to say I hadn't enjoyed myself, so I'm sorry if I offended anyone. I was hoping to have a discussion about how their music has changed recently but maybe the internet isn't the place for me to do this.