Reviews

Festival: Pig's Ear Kentish Horse Folk Ale Festival

Artists: Pig's Ear, Wasps in the Woodshed, The Dealers
Venue: Kentish Horse
Town: Edenbridge
Date: 29/05/09 - 31/05/09
Websites:
Venue: http://www.kentishhorse.co.uk/index.html
Pigs Ear: http://www.myspace.com/pigsear
Wasps in The Woodshed: http://www.pollysnightout.com
The Dealers: http://www.thedealersonline.com

Have to apologise from the start that this was a three day festival, of which we only attended the first evening, so can only give a review for a small fraction of the event.

The Kentish Horse is in the middle of nowhere. We were beginning to suspect that our Satnav was conducting some private joke after the fifth consecutive left turn, but eventually we did find it.

First thought on seeing the pub was that it was just a quiet little village pub - this was unlikely to be much of a festival. On discovering a large marquee at the back we thought that they were being very optimistic. Naively assumed that it was far too big a tent for such a tiny little village. Assumed that there would be hardly anyone there. Then noticed a row of Portaloos at the foot of the car park, and discovered a massive field behind the pub, completely full of tents. This was in deed a full blown festival, and yes, the marquee was completely packed.

The whole event is organised and funded by the pub and by the band Pig's Ear, (hence the rather strange name of the festval). I don't think there's any sponsorship or assistance from the local council, so it's quite a major feat. As it's their festival, Pig's Ear open the show on the first night, play on the second day, and close on the third evening.

On arrival, we were greeted by a guy who recognised us from a gig we went to in Deal a couple of years ago. Turns out he is an even bigger fan of Dave Cousins and the Strawbs than we are. It also turned out that he was Keith Rule, one of the members of the band "Pig's Ear".

We arrived quite early, intending to eat in the pub and maybe have a quick explore of the village, and so had a chance to chat to a few of the locals. Every one was unbelievely friendly.

We asked at the bar if they were serving food. Turned out that the kitchen closed at two, and didn't open again until six o'clock. No problem, as it was half five, so not a long wait, but some amazingly kind person, thinking we might be about to starve, went out to their car and brought a loaf of bread and some fruit over to us. Wow, I've never seen kindness like that before. We thanked them profusely and explained that the half an hour wait for the kitchen wasn't a problem.

It was a beautiful warm sunny day, so we sat outside in the garden, but when the sun set it began to get chilly so we went back in the pub and ordered a coffee. Whilst there we heard the music commence from the marquee, so missed the first half of the first track from Pig's Ear. I can't therefore give a proper set list for Pig's Ear, as I didn't catch the title of their first song.

Pig's Ear describe themselves as an "eclectic family". They are Sue Rule, (vocals, guitar, fiddle, flageolet, recorder, and dulcimer), Grant Rule, (vocals, bodhran and dulcimer), their eldest daughter Lyndsey Rule, (vocals, flageolet, soprano recorder, descant recorder, treble recorder, flute, oboe and Uilleann pipes) and Grant's brother, Keith Rule, (vocals, bodhran, cymbal, percussion). One amazingly talented family!

Both Sue and Keith write, but their songs come from many other sources as well, including traditional songs and material from other local writers.

Many apologies if I've got the titles wrong, but after the first song, the set list ran something like: The Weaver's Dance, Tom Payne, Black Crow (a capella) How The Mighty Fall, Blackboard Stick (instrumental), Old Harry's Books, 51st Highland Division's Farewell To Sicily, Ash Burton Summer Show, Night Owl Goes a Hunting (a capella), and Drink Old England Dry

Their sound, I guess, is pretty much in the Steeleye Span vein. Unlike many bands who play this ilk of music though, they have so much variation with their instruments, that no two songs sound similar, so they're well worth seeing.

Pig's ear started at 7:30 and played for a full hour. There was then a short changeover, and then Wasps in the Woodshed came on. Had been warned in advance that they were good, but we were stunned at how good they actually were.

Firstly, must apologise for the photo. I didn't think to take a single photograph that included all members of the band, so I joined several shots together to try to give a panoramic sweep of the stage. It's not a perfect photo, but I'm quite pleased with the overall result.

From the first few notes that they played we knew that Wasps in the Woodshed was an amazing band that we would want to see again and again. Which is a problem as apart from their web-site promoting their new album, they have almost no internet presence. I have emailed them to see if they could let me know if they have any more gigs in the pipeline, and am waiting a reply.

The members are: Liehsja Andrea (Harp and vocals), Eoni Blaxland-de Lange (vocals and violin), Andy Lower (Guitar and bodhran), Liz Lower (Vocals, mandolin, and tenor mandolin), and Dan Vidler (Vocals,Whistles, Uilleann pipes, bougarabou and didgeridoo)

I did discover from the internet that Liehsja and Eoni are sisters, and I also found the site where Dan bought his didgeridoo, but no signs of any more gigs.

Most of their songs are traditional, arranged by them, interspersed with their own compositions.

They introduced each song with some excellent banter between them, which delighted the audience and made us feel part of the family. Dan, for instance feigned upset that he hadn't been told that Eoni and Liz were going to be wearing coloured tights. He'd have worn his if he'd known.

Didn't manage to catch the names of all of their songs, but a rough set list was:
"The Devil's Courtship", a song about a guy offering larger and larger sums of wealth to a girl till she eventually relents and agrees to be his, only to discover, too late, that he is cloven hoofed.
"Polly's Night Out". Written by Dan, and the title track of their new album.
"Tibbie Fowler", a 17th Century Scottish song about a rich woman who married a poor man without telling him she was wealthy. He then left to earn his fortune, she lost her money and was destitute, but finally he returned, now wealthy.
An instrumental, whose title I didn't catch.
"Eleanor Plunket" (I think), a harp solo from Liehsja.
A song about a woman's unconditional love for her drunkard husband, (Didn't catch the title).
"Journeyman"/"Frieze Breeches" - a couple of jigs.
"Black is The Colour" - another Scottish song.
A three part medley, "Twa Corbies", "Tadesch" and "Julia Delaney". This featured the didgeridoo and blew me away. What a beautiful instrument.
"Jack O'Byte", presumably a pun on Jacobite.

All in all, they were wonderful. Have bought their CD, and hope to post a review on Fatea soon.

Again the wasps played for about an hour, followed by another short changeover. Final act of the evening was The Dealers, the reason why we where there. It was quite late by the time they started, but they still played two full sets, finishing about midnight.

As ever, can't fault Bessie Sayce and Pierre Vincent. They're set list changes every time, so their gigs are always different. They write and play with such skill and passion that the songs that you've heard over and over again always sound fresh.

All songs they played were their own compositions apart from two: "The Well Below the Valley", which hasn't been included in the last few gigs, and their second encore, a cover of John Prine's "All The Way With You".

We had a long journey ahead of us so didn't hang around to chat. Heard though that they have finally found somewhere to record their third album, so with any luck it could be ready in time for the Broadstairs folk week in August.

In addition to the events in the marquee, I believe that throughout the evening there was live music informally played in the bar. I think that Pierre was scheduled to play a solo set in the bar on the next day. Would have loved to have stayed to see that, but I must say, it was nice to get home to a real bed, rather than a tent.

Set list was:

Set 1
To Be With Me
Five Minute Star
Bitter Pill
Drowning
Lost Keys
Hangman's Lane
I Was the First
You'll Never Break Me

Set 2
Well Below The Valley
Finding The One
The Good Times
Cost
I Don't See How
Bring Out Your Dead
Rodeo Clown
No Playing Games
Wondering

Encore
Forever
All The Way With You

Despite a really good evening's music, I do have one niggle. There was an awful lot of chatter amongst the audiance throughout. There were several children there and as the evening drew on, they were getting tired, but I think most of the chatter came from the parents. Understandable, I guess, as all those staying in the campsite were effectively on holiday, so were probably quite excited, and chances are they were running into old friends that they hadn't seen since last year. Would have been nicer, though, if they could have shown a bit more respect to the musicians.

Pete Bradley