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Shrewsbury Folk Festival

Venue: West Midlands Showground
Town: Shrewsbury
Dates: 23rd-26th August
Website: http://www.shrewsburyfolkfestival.co.uk

Reviews

Joe Grint(See Below)

Mike Rolland

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Joe Grint's Shrewsbury

On Sunday morning we were going to 'Meet the Wilsons' but the room they were in was unsurprisingly rammed so it was off to briefly see the Playford Liberation Front in the dance tent - they were a bit too sedate for me but at least this meant I could get back across to the Village Stage to see all of Roger Davies's set. I have long championed Roger's unique take on West Yorkshire life and it was great to hear the songs in a different geographic context. I was delighted to see he went down extremely well with the crowd and apparently sold out of CDs. Hopefully he will be returning to Shrewsbury before too long.

Another highlight of the weekend followed immediately after Roger's set - over in Marquee 1 the Melrose Quartet (Nancy Kerr/James Fagan/Jess & Richard Arrowsmith) had harmonies to die for (both vocally and instrumentally) and a superb choice of material - they reacquainted me with Jess Arrowsmith's stunning anti war song 'Pilgrimage' which I had loved when performed by the Arrowsmith's other band Crucible. Elbow Jane who followed were pleasant enough but didn't really captivate (the sound was partly to blame as there seemed to be too many bass frequencies muddying it) but then Heidi Talbot accompanied by an 'all star' band and guests ended the afternoon on a definite high.

I nearly gave the first band that evening a miss - I'm not a huge bluegrass fan but Barnstar from the USA were so full of energy and fun (and memorable songs including Josh Ritters 'Darlin') that they had overcome my prejudices by the third song. 'Bright Phoebus sings Tom Waits' was a curates egg - another stellar line up mainly appearing individually or in small groups (Jon Boden, Fay Hield, Roy Bailey, Martin Simpson to name only a few) - it kept the attention during the performance but the detail was probably only of lasting memory to fans of Waits's songs. Mind you Jon Boden could sing the telephone directory and I would be enthralled!

I knew I wasn't going to be particularly keen on bill toppers Carolina Chocolate Drops as I had tended to reach for the off switch when I heard them on the radio - nothing to do with the quality of their music, just not my thing. I have to say, though, if it hadn't have been for the temptation of an Oyster Band Ceilidh going on at the same time I would have stayed as they certainly knew how to entertain and inform and the crowd adored them. There is nothing, however, that lifts my heart more than watching a room full of dancers throwing themselves into a dance accompanied by a great dance band and the Oysters can still most definitely be so categorised. On a musical high I met back up with my partner, who had stayed to watch CCD, for a couple of wind down pints in the Berwick Pavillion bar which was as usual buzzing with discussion of the day's events.

One thing about a long - weekend festival is that by the time Monday comes one often starts to feel like home is an attractive option. The final day's line up therefore has to be pretty special to keep one enthused. An hour listening to Jamie Smith's Mabon at their ceilidh was a good start to the day (though one of the dance descriptions by the caller was somewhat interminable) and the appearance of Jez Lowe at Marquee 2 was unmissable. I have known Jez since my earliest days as a folk fan and he never disappoints. This set was particularly fine and, amongst a number of highlights, he sang my favourite songs 'Greek Lightning' and 'The Bergen' one after another. As always, Jez demonstrated his mastery of the between song dialogue, not least with a particularly amusing story about his experiences during the Darwin Song project that Shrewsbury Folk Festival had initiated a few years ago.

I'd never heard any of the Be Good Tanyas' music so was intruiged to hear them over in Marquee1. Though I really enjoyed their songs they were the only artists I saw that weekend who had no charisma whatsoever. Perhaps it was jet lag (their bass player just arrived in time to play on the last couple of songs) but their attempts at communication with the audience seemed to fail miserably. Capercaille who followed played a typically professional set but as so often before they failed to excite me - it almost seems too controlled with nothing left to chance.

Appropriately the festival ended with John Jones and Steve Knightley joining forces in their 'Patron's Set' accompanied at times by a range of the festival's guests. A mixture of traditional songs, an Everly Brothers classic and the duo's self penned material (including a second outing for some songs that weekend) made for an enjoyable hour. An emotional finale included an appearance by the Festival Directors to whom so many people owe so much for their work in staging this great annual event.

Though the festival was over it was not the end of the music - one of the delights of Shrewsbury is the videoing of all the Marquee 1 performances by MicroVideo. The videos are streamed over internet during the weekend and then for the following week so one can relive the best concerts and catch those you missed.

A supremely well run and friendly event I dare say we will be there again next year - whatever the line up!

Joe Grint

Pictures:Roger Davies, Seven Champions Molly Dancers