Diario

Fri 1 Aug – The Big Chill 08

Only a short review as it was a while ago now and also the reason it was my favorite festival of the year may have something to do with the amount of stuff consumed in the company of wonderful new friends. I've read one or two comments on discussion forums about the festival being spoiled by too many obviously "out of it" people - I fear our group may have been at least partly responsible for this lowering of the tone. Whooops.

I had heard the usual stuff about the "poshness" of this festival but, having been to Latitude recently this felt decidedly un-posh. (this review of Latitude says it all)
I assume the addition of the Sunrise festival crowd added a welcome "edge" that any self respecting festival needs.
That said I did over hear two uniformed police walking through the live-in vehicle area discussing the relative merits of the tipi and yurt.

In no particular order, Alabama 3, Leonard Cohen…

So I thought I'd better get round to writing a review of last week's Okkervil River gig (Tue 5 Feb – Okkervil River).

My cunning knowledge of the venue, ensured an excellent view, mainly through the tactic of turning up early and staking out a good place before the crowds descended (it always seems to be completely packed in the Scala).

Support was from the traditional folk singer Rachel Unthank and band (who my friend was pleasantly surprised to see, having bought her album as a Christmas present for his parents), and Jay Jay Pistolet. Both very good to listen to, but maybe not quite enough for me to go out and buy some of their stuff.

There was an interesting interlude while waiting for the band to appear - some guy hopped out of the audience onto stage and started to sing into the microphone (mercifully not yet turned on). Cue massive security guard, entering stage left. Surprisingly he didn't throw the guy out, just told him to get back into the audience. Nice to see some slightly more relaxed venue security.
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