ELY
FOLK WEEKEND REVIEW
Laden down with more
communications hardware than you can fit onto the back of a Dixon’s
lorry, The Folk Boy Three once again shuffled down to Downham Road
for a slice of The 18th Ely Folk Weekend. As I’ve mentioned
before in previous reviews, neither myself or the remainder of the
Ely On-Line team are bona fide Folksters: we shave regularly, seldom
stick fingers in our ears and wouldn’t know a bodhran if we
tripped over one. Actually I’m lying, Lee is actually
a multi instrumentalist and student of ancient music dating back
to the Romans and considers anything more recent than 300BC to be
‘modern rubbish’.
After
the obligatory photo opportunity in front of the Ship Of The Fens
it was time to sample the delights of the Beer Tent. Again, an excellent
range of beers was on offer and even if there had been no music
it would have been a creditable mini beer festival. Having suffered
at the hands of Dragon Slayer in previous years I decided to play
safe and stuck to the gorgeous mid-summer ales which were the perfect
accompaniment to listen to the festival openers: Alie Byrne and
Chris King.
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Ali and Chris expressed some surprise that they were actually performing.
As winners of an open-mike competition they were rewarded with the opportunity
to strut their stuff in front of the rapidly swelling main tent. The duo
have previously played in competitions at Towersey and Sidmouth and occasionally
play clubs and festivals.This was folk with nowt taken out. With some
fluid guitar from Chris and stories aplenty to illustrate the songs, Ali
sang beautifully and won the warm applause of an appreciative audience.
The only dissenter was a rogue dog that decided to howl mournfully during
the second song. I suggest that at future gigs Ali should suggest that
everyone switch off their dogs before the start of the show.
After
the completion of a short set which coincided with the emptying of our
glasses we wandered back across to the Beer Tent past the lengthening
queue at the Samaritans tent. That’s a joke, by the way, but with
Folk artists tending to explain the source material of some of their more
macabre songs in great detail, I’m sometimes tempted to visit the
Sams – just for a chat, like: ‘That song was sooo sad. That
and the beer has made me all melancholy and I don’t think I can
go on any more’. That kind of thing. However, most folk acts do
normally follow up a ‘weepy’ with a songs like, “I Rolled
In The Straw With A Buxom Wench”, and force everyone onto their
feet. Light and shade – light and shade me boys.
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