TalkAwhile - The Folk Corporation Forum

Has anyone been yet??

Any reviews/comments??

Going tonight - pix, hopefully, at the weekend....

Hope to be at Worcester on Friday.

Lichfield Saturday.. I hope!

Monday at Wavendon :D :D

Terrific ensemble playing at Tewkesbury last night, a great spot from Chris and the Horses Brawl "drum solo" from DM which opened the second half was worth the price of admission alone!  Looking good for the August gig (although I'm being greedy and catching them again in Worcester tomorrow evening.)

Oh, and there was a walk-on part for your own - your very own - Mr Chris Bates.........

Steve

Oohh tell us more....

We're going to the Brooke, Chatham on the 9th, anyone else?

Worcester last night:

If you haven't booked to see FoF on this tour do so immediately - you won't see a better gig this year, or any year. With a team of eleven (Phil Beer absent this time), it's the folk equivalent of Hendrix, Clapton, Page and Garcia all being on stage together. And they really rock - Mattacks and co at the back are both precise and powerful and the lead guitar work of Martin Vincent is sometimes very Donahue-esque.

When the whole ensemble are playing it's folk-rock at its best; when the individuals take the stage you are taken on a joyride through jazz, fusion, country, to Brittany, to Scotland, Australia and, er, Oxfordhire. It'd be invidious to pick out individual stars - they all have a brilliant touch. You'll laugh, cry and be inspired.

Talking of which, we took three kids: 7, 10 and 13: two fiddlers and a flautist. They all came away buzzing, wanting to learn the tunes and hear more of the music. But they were just about the only youngsters in the audience. I think we need a "take your kids to gigs" campaign. Discuss.

Mine come with me to every gig/festival I go to. They are now 10 and 13 and have been to so many I couldn't begun to list them. The youngest has slept through many of them, including feast of fiddles last year! :o

A brilliant night in Lichfield!

A full band at the back..  DM on drums, Hugh Crabtree on melodeon, a lead guitar, rhthym guitar and bass.. and in front, seven fiddlers... what a line up!

Almost disaster though as Joe Broughton tripped on the step as he made his entrance and went flying....  his fiddle was OK ;)

Beginning with a couple of ensemble sets from all twelve (YES 12) in the band.  leading to several solo/duo sets.  Starting with Chris L.. who seemed to have a heavy cold, then Tom Leary with Peter Knight and so on.  The first half lasted well over an hour ending with the whole band again.

Second set began with more ensemble pieces and lead into other solo spots.. rounding off en masse at the end. We were treated to Breton tunes, Morris tunes, Scottish tunes, a song from Brian MacNeill, a song with Phil Beer leading.. Pugs was impressed when they played The Trumpet Hornpipe! The whole evening was packed with variety.  Peter Knight did an improvisation in honour of the magnificent building.. the Lichfield Guildhall is impressive..  and later he lead the whole group in a stunning Afro beat set which was magnificent.

In total they played for well over two hours..  we were near the front of this long thin room, the sound was a little distorted Puggs said. An excellent night...  can't remember the names of all the tunes, just enjoyed the music...looking forward to their set at Croppers.

In one of the solo spots - Peter Knights, if I remember correctly, he brings on a chair & sits down.

No one appeared to have given thought to having it removed when the ensemble rejoined after his solo spot - and of course, the  chair had to go to give them room...I was the only one around, side-of-dtage, so I put my camera down & retrieved it quickly.

For some strange reason, I got a decent round of applause....

Applause for Mr Chair remover.... :D :D :D

A very apt name - Feast of Fiddles :) :)

They were superb at the Stables last night............I started by trying to be analytical about it so I could write a considered review, but quickly gave up and enjoyed it immensely.

What a beautiful noise ;) ;)

Go see them - they're brilliant ;D

Lichfield, what a great Knight. Sorry!

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They were truly fantastic on Sunday, though I cannot give a better review than what has already been written by Amy.  Only down side was there was no Chris Leslie, double booked :'( or Phil Beer. Peter Knights Sharpe goes Walkabout was spellbindingly beautifull. Hugh Crabtree commented on the fact that Brian McNeill had bought the weather down with him, we thought he was joking untill we looked out of the window and saw the snow blizzarding down, had to scrape it off the car before driving home in blizzard conditions in April :o.